Pa 
A GALLOWAY STONE-AGE VILLAGE. 85 
The layer of charcoal and the pottery bed on the end margin 
of No. 3 gave a valuable clue as to the height of the flooring 
relative to the pre-historic surface and to the level at which the 
tops of the piles appeared during the examination of the site. 
Assuming, as may quite safely be done, a floor 6 inches thick 
and a layer of charcoal 2 inches in depth, the floor level must 
have been between 14 feet and 2 feet above the tops of the piles 
—that is, the tops as discovered in the diggings. 
This indicates that, owing to the comparative dryness of the 
layer immediately underneath the flooring, the timber in that 
zone had so decayed as to be unrecognisable among the silted 
and other vegetable matter. 
In other words, the logs as extracted had 18 to 24 inches of 
their top portions decayed. 
The perishing of the timber of the flooring, and the wood 
immediately beneath the flooring, would set in, no doubt, rapidly 
after desertion of the settlement, owing to the comparative 
dryness and openness of the soil in that part. But this did not 
take place in the still lower zones, where the wetness, the pre- 
sence of clay, and the depth from the surface would all tend 
practically to seal hermetically the contents, thus ensuring the 
preservation of the shape and contour of all the pieces of timber. 
SUPPOSED WATTLE-WorK AT SITE No. 3. 
Round the walls of the pit at No. 3 Site, on the margin of 
the area in which the piles occurred, and imbedded in the sand 
and clay, were found twigs and small branches, some set verti- 
cally and others at angles. Some modern tree-roots were en- 
countered, but were not confused with the ancient wood. In no 
instance were the twigs seen to be horizontally placed, but they 
occasionally crossed each other. The thickness of the twigs 
varied from 4 inch to 2 inches. Some of them were placed 
immediately outside the wooden substructure, while others were 
found 14 feet from it. They were detected in different condi- 
tions of decay according to the stratum at all the levels, except 
in the layer of vegetable matter at the modern surface. Con- 
sidering first their condition in the deepest zone—the stratum in 
which the piles were encountered—the twigs were in the same 
state of preservation as the piles, spongy but unaltered in shape. 
In the zone immediately above, the same pieces of wood were 
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