REMAINS OF A SUPPOSED PILE-DWELLING. 281 



assumes naturally that this dam, as tlie smaller of the two, is the 

 earlier.^ 



At the present time, the bed of the stream cuts through the 

 middle of wliat was once the bed of this smaller pool. 

 Some months ago, I happened to notice in one of its banks, 

 at a spot which must have been near the centre of the 

 pool, a remarkable horizontal stratum of very black earth. 

 This black soil proved, on examination, to be formed of 

 burned vegetable matter, and to contain a very large 

 number of small flints, very much cracked and calcined, with a 

 smaller number of sandstone pebbles, now soft and friable 

 through having been exposed to intense heat. I have placed 

 specimens of these stones in the Essex Field Club Museum at 

 West Ham. 



The black deposit containing these stones, as it shows in the 

 bank of the stream, is from twelve to fifteen inches thick, and 

 may be traced horizontally for seven or eight feet. Probably it 

 extends further at each end ; but, if so, it is concealed by the 

 roots of trees and bushes. Probably, also, it might be traced in 

 the opposite bank of the stream, but a good deal of fallen 

 surface-soil would have to be removed to ascertain this definitely. 

 The black earth and flints rest directly on yellowish sandy clay, 

 which clearly once formed the bottom of the valley and is quite 

 undisturbed. Above the black deposit is modern alluvium, to a 

 thickness of eighteen inches or two feet. 



The questions arise : What is the age of this deposit ? Of 

 what is it the remains ? 



That it is of considerable age may be inferred, I think, from 

 the thickness of the overlying alluvium ; from the absence of any 

 traces, of undecayed vegetable tissue ; and from its extreme 

 solidity, the flints being so wedged together that it is not easy to 

 insert a hammer-point between them. I assume, indeed, that 

 the deposit belongs, without doubt, to the Pre-historic Period. 



To explain how the deposit (whatever its age) came to be in 

 the position in which we find it is more difficult. Many would 

 dismiss it, no doubt, as merely an early hearth-place. It may be 

 so, but I can see no obvious reason why Early Man should have 



I Mr. Mothersole points out that, as a large amount of earth has clearly been removed 

 from one end of the large dam, the smaller dam may have been made out of part of the 

 material of the larger ; in which case, the smaller would be the later. I think, however, 

 that the earth missing from the larger dam was probably washed away when the dam was 

 broken. 



