80 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 
The age of the Holderness Lake-dwelling, or fascine as it should 
properly be called, is one of its most interesting characters. It is 
undoubtedly one of the oldest of the numerous Lake-dwellings that 
have been found in the British Isles, and is probably contem- 
poraneous with the well-known structures of Central Europe. The 
lower platform is of very great antiquity. The relics found with 
it are quite distinct from any collection obtained in similar struc- 
tures elsewhere in Britain, and throw a flood of light upon the 
former mode of living of our early inhabitants. Their dwellings 
would seldom be utilised during warfare, excepting for the purpose of 
defence. ‘The finds undoubtedly show that the occupiers were well 
versed in the arts of agriculture and hunting, and probably they 
troubled little about fighting unless they were first molested; the 
proportion of weapons amongst the relics is small, whilst agricul- 
tural and domestic utensils are plentiful. So much for the 
Holderness Lake-dwellings. 
More recently, near Pickering, a pile structure has been found. 
It is on the banks of the Costa, and, though not in Holderness, it 
is at no very great distance, and as it is the most recent find of its 
kind we have had, a few words in reference to it may not be out 
of place here, ‘ 
Attention was first called to it by Mr. J. Spink at a meeting 
of the Yorkshire Geological Society at York, at which I had the 
good fortune to be present. Specimens were then exhibited, con- 
sisting of pottery, bones, and implements, and there was little 
doubt that a dwelling of some kind had been discovered. Mr. Spink’s 
notes were subsequently published,! and more recently the Hon. 
Cecil Duncombe, F.G.S., has given an account of the finds.? 
It appears that whilst a stream was being cleared out in the 
Spring of 1893 Mr. Mitchelson, of the Hall, Pickering, noticed 
that some pieces of coarse pottery had been thrown out. Other 
finds were made, and subsequently four rows of piles were discovered 
in the vicinity, crossing the Costa, at a distance of about 100 yards 
from each other. These rows of piles seem to converge upon a 
point forming the centre of a quasi-island, which it is thought 
represents the site of a group of Lake-dwellings. Excavations 
were made near the piles, and after penetrating ten inches of soil, 
two feet six inches of stiff blue clay, and six feet of peat, an 
enormous heap of bones, broken pottery, etc., was found, resting 
on the Kimmeridge Clay, which evidently formed the beds of the 
ancient lakes in this locality. Seeing that in one excavation alone 
enough bones were obtained to fill a cart, it would seem that a find 
(1) Proc. Yorks. Geol. and Polyt. Soc., 1895, pp. 21-24. 
(2) “ Evidence of Lake-dwellings on the Banks of the Costa, near Pickering, North Riding 
of Yorkshire,” Jour. Anthrop. Institute, August and November, 1898, pp; 150-154 see also 
The Naturalist, April, 1899, p. 112. 
