Joseph Prestwich and the Valley of the Somme
![]() |
Portrait of Joseph Prestwich, [1896-1897]. Archive ref: GSL/POR/13. |
Prestwich was treasurer of the Society’s Brixham Cave Committee and, after Hugh Falconer’s death in 1865, wrote the detailed final report of the excavation (finally published in 1873).
Despite being present at some of the flints’ excavation at Brixham Cave, Prestwich still harboured some doubts. He was concerned that perhaps there could be other natural explanations why the flints and animal remains were intermixed, perhaps as a result of an earthquake or even an influx of water.
Valley of the Somme
In November 1858, Hugh Falconer was in France where he visited the private collection of Jacques Boucher de Perthes. De Perthes (1788-1868) was a customs officer and amateur archaeologist who found in Abbeville, France, the jaw of a fossil elephant alongside a primitive axe in 1841. The French scientific community refused to accept his claims, despite his finding similar juxtapositions in other areas of the Somme Valley. Yet Falconer was convinced not only of the antiquity of the flints but also in the veracity of de Perthes’ claims. He therefore urged Prestwich to visit the sites in question.
In April 1859 Joseph Prestwich, accompanied by his close friend John Evans (1823-1908), travelled to France to meet with the now aged de Perthes. He showed them around his collection and took them to the various gravel pits in the area where the flint tools had been discovered. It was whilst visiting a site in Abbeville that he received a telegram stating that another flint tool had been found at Saint-Acheul, near Amiens and had been left in situ for Prestwich’s inspection. On 27 April 1859 Prestwich and Evans returned to Saint-Acheul to see it for themselves. Such was the momentous occasion, photographs were taken of the site before the flint’s removal. Prestwich was at last convinced. In his paper, presented at the Royal Society on 26 May 1859, he wrote:
![]() |
Joseph Prestwich's field book from April 1859 recording the flint's discovery. Archive ref: LDGSL/794/N14a. Click to enlarge. |
Next: John Evans and the Hoxne hand axes>>