A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT. 99 



III. — This bed is about two feet in depth, and contains 

 Late Celtic Pottery. 



IV. — Romano-British objects occur first at about a depth 

 of four feet. I think that the siUing-up has been much 

 more rapid since the occupation by the Romans, owing, 

 probably, to the destruction of the forest and its under- 

 growth, the land cultivation, and the baring of the virgin 

 soil. Bearing this consideration in mind, we may say that 

 the pre-historic accumulation was, perhaps, ten times slower 

 than the Roman, and that of recent years much more rapid 

 than the Roman and Mediaeval. 



v.- This is the Post-Roman and Mediaeval layer, and 

 here iron horse-shoes occur in numbers, with fragments of 

 glazed pottery. 



Explanation of Sections. Figs. 2 and 3. 



Section I. on line Y Z of Plan (p. 97) was taken on the spot when Mr. 

 Kenworthy's observations commenced. At this point the digging is 

 carried to the present river's edge. 

 Section II. on line W X of Plan, marks the point to which the excavations 

 have reached, The cutting stops at the hedge some 50 feet before 

 reaching the river. 

 The Relic-bearing Bed No. II. is shaded darker at the top to indicate 

 that more traces of fire have been noticed here than in the lower parts of the 

 bed. The shading dies out as this bed approaches its old shore, and the 

 present river to show the extent of the artificial mixture (Packiverk). — F.W.R. 

 B. Pleistocene Brick-earth. The original Lake or River bank. 

 A. London Clay. 



Site of the Divelling-places. 

 If it be necessary to show that iipvight piles were found 

 in situ, on which a platform of wood could be erected by the 

 dwellers, in order to prove that the Skitts Hill site was a Lake- 

 habitation, I cannot say for a certainty that it was so. Many of 

 the logs of wood were found in a leaning position ; the stems of 

 trees, deprived of their roots and torn-off branches, amounted to 

 hundreds. The logs were placed in position by man, and they 

 were staked and secured in their place from the scour of the 

 floods. Among the debvis, logs of various woods, such as fir, 

 spruce, elm, beech, oak, birch, abounded, and maple in small 

 pieces. Speaking generally, the oak remains are quite hard and 

 sound, and some pieces were much harder than in the fresh con- 

 dition. The Faggot or " Fascine" Dwellings at Skitts Hill, I 

 beHeve to have been contemporary with the Pile-dwellings. 

 Both kinds have been found in many parts of England, as well 



