78 MULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS’ OLUB. 
The structure was held together by upright piles driven through 
the brushwood and between the trunks. At the outer edge of the 
platform some stakes were driven in a slanting direction, evidently 
with the view of better holding it in position. Another thick 
layer of brushwood occurred below the timbers, and this rested 
upon the peaty bed of the lake, two feet in thickness. Below this 
was the original gravelly bottom. It would therefore appear that 
a considerable time had elapsed after the close of the Glacial period, 
sufficiently long, in fact, to allow for the accumulation of the two 
feet of peat, before the lake-dwellers commenced to build their home. 
The platform measured 90 feet in length by 60 feet in breadth, 
and was connected with the land at each end by a causeway, which 
was about 20 inches below the top of the structure, a fact which 
seems to show that it was erected by the first inhabitants. There 
were two different settlements on the site, as will be seen shortly. 
The piles were principally of oak, and were usually three or 
four inches in diameter. There were two kinds, one with rounded 
and blunt points, whilst the others had clearly been sharpened 
with a metal instrument. It was also noticed that the blunt ones 
were those originally driven into the lake bed, the sharpened piles 
frequently cutting into the timbers of the lower structure. This 
clearly indicated two distinct periods of occupation, represented by 
two platforms, one above the other, the latter having evidently 
been erected at a time when metal was in use, and upon a fascine 
dwelling which was of great age and much decayed when the new 
one was built. The finding of a single bronze spear-head amongst 
the brushwood in the later structure also confirms this view, and 
indicates that it had been built by the Bronze-age Britons. A 
fragment of a jet arm-band was found on the same horizon. 
Let us now examine the relics found with the lower dwelling. 
They-are all either, on the one hand, of stone or flint, or, on the 
other, of bone or horn. The stone implements include hammer- 
stones and anvils (usually beach pebbles slightly modified), a few 
polishers, or rubbers, and a large quantity of flint flakes. Some of 
the latter are well formed, and were probably used as scrapers. 
There is also a flint saw, and an object of the same material which 
might have been used as a knife. 
The horn and bone implements, however, are amongst the most 
interesting. Several are the articular ends of the leg bones of 
oxen, which have been perforated with a circular hole for the 
insertion of a wooden handle, and would probably be used as hoes 
for tilling the land. Deer antlers were made into hand picks, the 
(1) Some of these (Nos, 1 and 2) are shewn on the illustration on the next page, which has 
been kindly lent by Dr. Munro (see his Lake-dwellings of Europe, 1890, p. 473); No,3isa 
flint flake, and No. 4 the bronze spear-head already referred to. 
