III.—The Raised Beach of North Devon: its relation to others and to Palæolithic Man

Abstract

While mapping the Upper Devonian and Carboniferous Rocks in North Devon I took the opportunity of examining the raised beach of Barnstaple Bay and the deposits resting upon it. As a result of my observations I found that the sequence of these deposits is identical bed for bed with that of Cornwall, South Wales, and Southern Ireland, except that in place of the Boulder-clay there is in North Devon a bed of clay with striated stones which may not be of glacial origin. The position of the Boulder-clay over the ancient head, however, corresponds with the position of the bed of glaciated stones and indicates the infra-Glacial age of the ‘head’. The fact that the ‘head’ is contemporaneous with ‘Coombe Rock’ has been held by all geologists familiar with the subject. It is a fact of first-class importance with regard to the relationship of man to the Glacial period, for it proves that man existed before these Boulder-clays were deposited. The evidence is inferential and supplied by the occurrence of Palæolithic implements of Le Moustier type in the Coombe Rock of Southern England and France. Granting, then, that the Le Moustier period is infra-Glacial, it remains to be seen to what Palæolithic period the raised beach belongs. We will proceed to consider the evidence available up to date, commencing with a brief account of the raised beach of North Devon.