A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLFMENT. IIQ 



of detached huts with passages between, or form a continuous 

 platform. It has been noticed that portions of this layer were 

 different from the rest, and the relics found in them were stained 

 a different colour. This might be caused by the accumulation in 

 the passage between the huts, and in such a. deposit one would 

 expect to find the most relics. 



Concerning the age of this layer, I do not think there is any 

 positive evidence of its construction in Neolithic times, although 

 such may be the case, and its occupation may have been con- 

 tinued through and beyond the Bronze Age, as Mr. Kenworthy 

 suggests. The great majority of the relics might point equally 

 to the Bronze Age or to Neolithic times. The Stone Imple- 

 ments — the knife (fig. 7) and the arrowhead (fig. 8) with its 

 fully developed tangs — are such as were used down into Romano- 

 British times. There is little to guide us in the pottery, as the 

 only pieces which can with certainty be said to have come from 

 this level, are some fragments of the laige vessel referred to 

 before, the portion of the base of which is represented (fig. 16). 

 The base is much coarser than the other fragments, but I think 

 this may be due to its having been placed on twigs and straw to 

 dry before firing. The other portions undoubtedly show marks 

 of having been wheel-turned. 



There is but one small fragment which can be said to be 

 hand-made and to resemble the pottery of the Stone or Bronze 

 Age, and the exact locality of this has not been recorded. At 

 the same time, some of the ordinary Late Celtic pottery, such as 

 occurs plentifully in the level above (No. III.), is supposed to 

 have come from this level, but as an accurate record has not 

 been kept, this point must be deferred for future investigation. 



The lact that no bronze or metal objects have come to light 

 from this bed may perhaps be accounted for by the difficulty of 

 recognising objects in the black peaty soil of which it is com- 

 posed. It is also to be noted that no metal objects have been 

 found in the higher levels, with the exception of a few horse- 

 shoes near the surface. Evidences of the use of metal tools are, 

 I think, to be found in the cutting of several of the antler-tools 

 and bones ; notably in the Red-deer skull (Plate II). The 

 principal cuts are too flat and sharp to warrant one imagining 

 that they were made by a stone implement. The cuts are here 

 figured on a larger scale (fig. 17). The cutting marks on the 

 antler tool (fig. 11) also suggests a metal tool and the longi- 

 tudinal, tapering boring (see fig. 12) appears to have been done 

 to receive the tang of a metal knife or other tool. 



