" STRANDL(X)PER ' rOTTKRV AT DUNBRODY. 23 1 



TiiK Pottery. 



The potsherds recovered belong to two easily distinguishable 

 makes of pottery. 



The first kind is yellow in colour, thin and well-baked ; the 

 second kind is red or black, thicker and friable. 



There is not enough of the yellow ware to enable the size 

 or shape of the vessel to be made out. One vessel of red ware 

 has been sufficiently restored to make conjecture as to its appear- 

 ance and dimensions feasible. The incised decoration on both 

 types agrees closely with that found on pottery from the shell 

 mounds at Port Alfred. There is a complete pot of this kind 

 in the Albany Aluseum : it is of the type described and figured 

 bv Dr. L. Peringuey as strandlooper. 



Conclusions. 



It is the opinion of the discoverer that the bed of shells was 

 originally thrown on the surface of the ground, and was sub- 

 sequently silted over. No trace of disturbance of the ground 

 was visible above the deposit. On the contrary, laminations 

 were traceable in the sand above it. The shape of the deposit, 

 which thinned ofif at the edges, is in favour of an original heap 

 rather than the filling in of a pit. 



On the supposition that the shells were originally laid on a 

 land surface and afterwards covered over by river action, time 

 has to be allowed for the accumulation of at least 6 feet of fine 

 sand, for this is the present height of the top of the cliff above 

 the shell bed. 



Again, the White River is now running- jn a course which 

 is 20 feet lower than the deposit. 



Time has therefore to be allowed since the silting up of the 

 deposit for the original stream to abandon its work of silting, 

 and for the same stream, or a new one, the White River, to 

 erode the beds of sand and gravel to the depth of 20 feet or 

 more. So there is at least a presumption of great age for 

 the deposit and its contents. 



In connection with this question, it is of interest to note that 

 the freshwater mussel is no longer found alive in the Sunday's 

 River, so far as I could ascertain from the inhabitants cf the 

 district. 



