A GALLOWAY STONE-AGE VILLAGE. : 89 
The position selected for these pit-dwellings, if such they 
were, seems to have been chosen because of its comparative 
dryness, the place being not lower than any of the surrounding 
stretches of country, yet we find the constructors had to face the 
difficulty of under-surface moisture. It has been seen how de- 
sirable a half or wholly hidden under-surface dwelling would be 
in primitive times, and that where the climate and the subsoil 
are wet, a damp floor would result in this class of house unless 
special measures were taken to overcome the difficulty. What 
these measures were is now perhaps elucidated. 
A common feature of pre-historic exploratory work is the 
disclosure of pits. A review of some of these discoveries shows 
that none are quite similar to the sites at Stoneykirk. 
Portery. 
As already mentioned, vestiges of pottery were observed at 
Site No. 3 only. The fragments are in a poor condition, and 
are portions of hand-made, non-glazed vessels of darkish coarse 
paste. The paste has been mixed with pounded-up fragments 
of some whitish sandy stone. When extracted, the pieces were 
scarcely recognisable as pottery, being coated with soil; but 
after slow natural drying the crust of soil was picked off, and by 
‘the application of a soft brush the particles of charcoal, loam, 
.and sand which filled the interstices were got rid of, disclosing 
the original skin of the ware. The ornamentation upon the skin 
is quite distinct. The fragments consist of more than one set, 
Tepresenting more than one vessel. One set was found at the 
north end, and the other at the south end. i 
NortH END. So far as can be guessed from the appearance 
of the few fragments, the feature of the vessel (or vessels) from 
the north end was that the pottery had rounded, plain, raised 
ridges of varying breadth which ran, more or less parallel, hori- 
_zontally round the exterior of the ware. The walls were 4 inch 
. 
in thickness, and where mouldings occur the thickness was about 
% inch greater. The average breadth of the mouldings was 
about 4 inch. The intervening space between the ridges varied 
from 1 to 2 inches, and had (lying approximately parallel to the 
mouldings) rows of little closely-set, indented, squarish punctua- 
tions, impressed as with a comb-shaped implement before the 
¢lay was fired, and resembling the surface-work on some modern 
