NOTES. 141 



NOTES. 



7. Further Note on the Cup-marked Rock at Ktidagama. — 

 With reference to my note on a Cup-marked Rock found at 

 Kudagama in the North-Central Province {Spolia, Vol. VIII., 

 Part XXXII., p. 289), I placed myseK in communication with 

 Mr. H. Parker in order to ascertain his views on my theory as 

 to their origin. His remarks I annex, as they are very 

 interesting. 



I certainly have not tried the experiment which he suggests, 

 but I venture to suppose that witK such shallow holes, placed 

 as they were on a very large mass of stone, that the heat 

 raised, while sufficient to melt fragments of ironstone, could 

 hardly penetrate deep enough to melt the surrounding rock. 

 If one of these " cups " occupied a solitary piece of stone, and 

 that was bodily placed in a fiurnace, I anticipate the result 

 would be as Mi\ Parker suggests, but in this case we are 

 dealing with a very large table of solid rock, on the surface of 

 which are a number of pockets from 2| to 10 inches deep. 



As regards the pointed shape of the hole, I venture to 

 think that this can be accounted for by the amovmt of acuteness 

 in the apex of what I call the " drilling stone." I moreover 

 think that it was with the object of securing a tapered mould 

 that these were made, so as ultimately to obtain a cone-shaped 

 bit of metal to be fashioned into a wedge. If the outline was 

 circular onty, or campanulate, it would be necessary to expend 

 much labour and trouble to reduce the mass into a wedge-like 

 form. 



On the other hand, if the theory that these holes were used 

 as crucibles is untenable, we are forced to ask why they should 

 be arranged in such pecuhar order. They adopt no pattern, 

 and are not deep enough to allow us to suppose that they were 

 sockets for a superimposed structure. 



If the holes were cut to form a large " game board " — some 

 prehistoric billiard table in fact — one is met by a difficulty in 

 explaining the variety of depths, and also the difficulty that 



