Abstract
A REMARKABLE OBJECT FBOM BENEATH THE RED CRAG.—In Man for April, Mr. J. Reid Moir describes a remarkable object obtained from beneath the Red Crag at a pit on the north bank of the River Gipping at Bramford, near Ipswich. It was obtained from the odetritus-bed lying below loamy sand, which in turn was below glacial gravel. The bed lies at about 100 O.D. upon tho surface of the London Clay. It is made up of typical sub-crag detrital material and odoes not exhibit any signs of glacial disturbance. The object was discovered in 1926, but beyond being labelled, was not specially noted until attention was directed to its remarkable character by the Abbé Breuil, who, on examining it, pronounced it shaped by the hand of man. In shape it is like an elongated egg with one end slightly blunter than the other. At each end is a small depression or punctuation, and similar marks are visible on other parts—in places four or five being grouped together as a rhomboid or as straight lines. It is possible that these may be due to decomposition of crystalline grains. The whole surface has been scraped with a flint, so that it is covered with a series of facets running fairly regularly from end to end. From each one is made up a number of longitudinal striations of unequal depth; a number of fine concentric incisions are visible at one of the poles. The specimen is of a greyish-brown colour, weighs approximately 1/2; ounce, and measures at its greatest length 1/6; 16 in., and at its greatest depth 1/4; 16 in. The exact nature of its material is in doubt. The Abbe Breuil compares it with the steatite sling stones of New Caledonia.
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Research Items. Nature 123, 693–695 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/123693a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/123693a0