Notes
A Levallois Flake in Babraham Park, Cambs.—Mr. M. C. Burkitt, F.S.A.,
contributes the following:—In August 1944 I took my battalion of Army Cadets
to a brigade camp held in Babraham Park, some half-dozen miles to the south of
Cambridge, just over the Gog Magog hills. While sitting in a small clump of
trees about 16 yards to the south of the northern drive not far from the gate
into the main road my hand lighted on a small levallois flake. Whether this object
was actually in situ in the area now occupied by the small clump of trees or whether
it was derived from gravels used in making the nearby drive hardly matters much
since small gravel pits do exist in the park and doubtless any gravel used for making
the drives, etc., came from these local sources of supply. The park slopes
A Levalloisflakefrom Babraham Park, Cambs. (\)
gently down to a little stream (called the Granta in Bartholomew's map) which
joins the Essex Cam at Great Shelford. The description of the object is as follows:
Material: dark-coloured flint.
State of preservation: somewhat rolled; thick, dark-ochreous, glossy patina.
Primary flaking: object is a flake, the upper surface showing a number of
irregular flake scars, the under surface being the main flake surface struck
off from a multifaceted prepared striking platform at right angles to the main
flake surface. A bulb and large bulbar scar are present as well as rings,
though the latter are largely masked by the patina.
Secondary flaking: a very little edge trimming occurs up part of one side, but
as it is mostly unpatinated it is probably of recent origin, the result of
modern accidents.
Age and date: object is a levallois flake, probably a fairly late one. But the
exact age remains to be determined on geological grounds.
I know of no such find from anywhere else in this neighbourhood.
A Lance-point of Upper Palaeolithic type from Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire.—
Dr. J. WILFRID JACKSON, F.S.A., sends the following:—Some years ago, during
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148
THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL
researches in the Victoria Cave, Settle, a local worker, Mr. J. Simpson, made a most
important discovery of a lance-point of Upper Palaeolithic type. This was submitted
to me soon after its discovery, but circumstances prevented it being recorded. It
constitutes an interesting addition to our knowledge of early man in the north of
England. The lance-point is of reindeer-antler and was found in a part of the cave
not explored previously. It was in three pieces which fitted together accurately, and
occurred below a bed of stalagmite. The point is slightly curved and measures
221 mm. in length, the greatest diameters being 10 mm. and 13 mm. One end
tapers to a point and the other to a single-bevelled base. The bevel is 55 mm. long,
hollowed slightly along its length as if scooped out by a round-nosed flint scraper,
and is situated upon the broad concave side, which, for the greater part of its length,
is ornamented with three indistinct and fine wavy lines, making a saw-tooth or dogtooth design. The convex side is deeply grooved from near the base to the tip of the
other end. Both the narrow sides are smooth. The whole surface shows traces of
carbonic acid weathering (pi. xu, a).
The new find confirms a suggestion made in 1922 by the Abbe Breuil (P.S.J.
Scot. V I I I , 5th Ser., p. 276, fig. 9) that two fossilized rods (one with a double bevel)
of reindeer antler, also from Victoria Cave, were probably Magdalenian. These
were among the old cave material housed at that time in the Giggleswick School
Museum and now in the Museum of the Settle Naturalist and Antiquarian Society.
Unfortunately there is no information as to their position in the cave. It would
appear from the classification of Magdalenian lance-points adopted by the Abbe
Breuil that Mr. Simpson's example is not one of the most advanced in type. The
point is now in the hands of Mr. Tot Lord, of Settle.
It is of interest to note that a portion of a thin cylindrical rod of reindeer antler
was found by Mr. W. K. Mattinson, of Austwick, in Kinsey Cave, on Giggleswick
Scars, in 1931. This measures about 85 mm. in length: it is broken at both ends
and in section is oblong with rounded corners. Three of its sides have been smoothed.
It was described and figured by the finder and myself in The Naturalist, January
8
%
The Holly Seal.—Mr. W. J. Hemp, F.S.A., contributes the following:—The
Holly seal, owned by our Fellow Mr. H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence, is an early and
fine example of the small private seal cut in steel and one which can be dated with
some precision (pi. x m , a).
The revolving body has three faces, which are held in position by a spring concealed in the shaft of the handle; one bears the crest of Holly, a sea lion sejant,
another an oval shield with the arms of Holly, or on a chev. sa. three unicorns' heads
erased arg. and the third Holly impaling Richars, or two bars gu. on each as many
fleurs-de-lys arg.
The wife of the original owner of the seal is commemorated by a stone in St.
Margaret's church, King's Lynn, which bears the Holly coat and the following
inscription: 'Here lieth Alice the wife of Benjamin Holly, Gent, and Daughter of
Mr John Richars of Terrington with four of their children. She died Novemb. 17.
1714 aged 27 years.' They were married in 1708.
The seal is therefore not likely to have been made after 1714 and certainly not
before 1708. The framing of the Holly coat has much in common with that on the
seal of Richard Langford, Archdeacon of Merioneth, illustrated in Archaeologia
Cambrensis, 1919, p. 200; this is dated 1717.
The tinctures are not indicated by the engraver.
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T H E ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL
PLATE XII
a. A lance-point of Upper Palaeolithic type from Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire. (£
b. Fragment of a Norman pitcher from Dover, (f)
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