CHAPTER IV - THE OLD STONE AGE

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Old Stone Age. The examples of the implements of flint and chert that the Old Stone Age man made, are found abundantly in Buckinghamshire, mainly in the terraces of gravels and brickearths which line the valley of the Thames. The most characteristic implement of the period is the pear-shaped or oval hand-axe though other forms, such as scrapers and choppers also occur. There were two distinct and different methods for working stone into implements that were employed. In one case, the core or block of stone was flaked into the desired shape, while in the other, the implement was fashioned from a flake struck from the block. In the late Palaeolithic times, these flake-tool cultures are often associated with cave-dwellings and rock-shelters, and are classified by archaeologists in a somewhat formidable number of subdivisions. However, in the main, there is nothing about them to suggest that man varied his hunting, fishing, and food-gathering way of life.