42 NATURAL SCIENCE. „^^ch. 



hoes ; the fractured surface is more or less smoothened, and seems 

 to indicate such a use. A large granitoid stone of oval torm, 

 exceeding a foot in diameter, with a smooth, flat surface, was found, 

 which may have been used for grinding food ; and other smaller 

 rounded and abraded stones were apparently used to pound corn. 

 Numerous hazel nuts were obtained. In addition to the bones of 

 ox, red deer, horse, sheep, dogs, and smaller animals, the jaws of 

 wolves and tusks of wild boars were found. The objects were all 

 obtained from a depth of more than six feet below the surface of the 

 ground. 



The excavation proved that the structure which has been 

 described, for some reason or other became untenable, and apparently, 

 after the lapse of a considerable time, a second one was erected above 

 it. The two platforms together occupy a thickness of four to five feet. 

 The newer one is arranged much in the same way as the lower. 

 Timbers are placed horizontally and held in position by piles which 

 not infrequently pierce the timbers of the lower stage, which at that 

 time must have become more or less decayed. The later piles are 

 distinguished from the earlier ones by possessing a long sharp point, 

 and appear to have been shaped by a sharp metal instrument, those of 

 the lower being cut by flint implements. Between the two platforms 

 is an intervening mass of peaty brushwood two feet in thickness, and 

 above the upper one three feet of peat, and one foot of warpy soil 

 connects it with the surface of the ground. Between the two 

 platforms bronze implements have been found, amongst others, a fine 

 spear-head. There is no evidence of iron tools, and taking this fact 

 into consideration it may be reasonably inferred that the latter metal 

 was unknown to the pile-dwellers, and we may approximately form an 

 idea of the period during which the structure was erected. The use 

 of iron was known to the people whom the Romans found occupying 

 the country, and it was probably in use two or three centuries 

 previously ; so that the later pile-dwellers must have occupied their 

 abode earlier than the second or third century B.C. The lower 

 structure existed during a period of much greater antiquity. 



Since the discovery of the pile dwelling at Ulrome others have 

 been found, and it is probable that they exist in considerable numbers 

 throughout the district. 



During excavations made at Preston, in Lancashire, three or 

 four years ago, the Rev. E. Maule Cole found evidences of a pile- 

 dwelhng, which were recorded in the Leeds Mercury, but so far the 

 matter has not received the attention it appeared to deserve. 



Probably the first records of Lake dwellings were made in 

 Ireland, where this method of habitation has been in existence from 

 remote periods to comparatively recent times. There is documentary 

 evidence that some of the Irish Crannogs were in existence and 

 occupied in the time of EHzabeth. They were usually approached 

 in canoes, and were not connected with the shore by a gangway. In 



