[*Petrie, Nagada and Ballas, p. 49.] Were this so, it
is patent that the Palaeolithic flints could not have been found on the
desert surface as they are. Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, of the Geological
Survey of Egypt, to whom we are indebted for the promulgation of the
more modern and probable view, says: "Is it certain that the high
plateau was then clothed with forests? What evidence is there to show
that it differed in any important respect from its present aspect? And
if, as I suggest, desert conditions obtained then as now, and man merely
worked his flints along the edges of the plateaus overlooking the
Nile valley, I see no reason why flint implements, dating even from
Palaeolithic times should not in favourable cases still be found in
the spots where they were left, surrounded by the flakes struck off in
manufacture. On the flat plateaus the occasional rains which fall--once
in three or four years--can effect but little transport of material, and
merely lower the general level by dissolving the underlying limestone,
so that the plateau surface is left with a coating of nodules and blocks
of insoluble flint and chert. Flint implements might thus be expected
to remain in many localities for indefinite periods, but they would
certainly become more or less 'patinated,' pitted on the surface, and
rounded at the angles after long exposure to heat, cold, and blown
sand.
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