35 



clayey bottom, there were great quantities of shells of S. cantiana, H. 

 ericetoriim and Cyclostoma elegans. These possibly were washed into and 

 through the interstices of the flints, and reaching the bottom, thus be- 

 came embedded in the clay. The -wliole of these "finds" were made in 

 the clayey layer below the flints. The flints, shells, &c., near the base 

 were, in many places, forming into a breccia, by the deposit of lime 

 dissolved from the soil. 



The "find" suggests several queries. First. — How came such a large 

 quantity of flints (about 600 loads) together ? Were they washed in by 

 an excessive rainfall ? Has the chalk been dissolved from beneath them, 

 or have they been placed there by man? If they were washed in, a 

 great body of water, operating in a short period of time, would appear 

 to be necessary, and such a body of water would, in all probability, have 

 removed all traces of man's work from the surface long before the flints 

 could have been deposited. Then. — How came the implements, &c., 

 beneath the stones ? That they were used upon the spot there can be no 

 question ; such a collection could not have been brought together hap- 

 hazard, for whatever may be said with regard to the bones and imple- 

 ments, the pottery, pot-stones, and charcoal, having been found in one 

 spot is sufficient evidence of they having remained undisturbed since used 

 by man. 



The position of the "finds," viz., beneath the flints, preclude the 

 possibility of sub-aerial denudation. The flints filling the depression 

 are not such as are scattered upon the surface of the soil, they are all 

 lai'ge, and from their clear and unweathered appearance, with their fresh 

 looking fractures, they must have been torn from their original position 

 in the chalk, and at once subjected to much rougher usage than they 

 would have received if simply removed from the surface and cast into a 

 great heap. 



As a possible soli;tion to the above queries I would suggest that the 

 depression in which the flints were found is the remains of a " hut-circle " 

 or series of "hut-circles" that date back to neolithic times, for the 

 abrupt termination of the soil, where it rests upon the bed of flints, 

 suggests previous excavations. Denudation has, it is true, removed all 

 such traces fi-om the surface, as well as the conseqrient tool-marks in the 

 chalk, if such were there, and at the same time more or less destroyed 

 the shape of the openings that presumably were made, but the clearly 

 cut sides remain. The ii-regularity of the outline, together with the fact, 

 that at a short distance from the main deposit of flints, another, but much 

 smaller, was foiind, adds confirmation to the idea of a series of " circles." 

 If this supposition is correct it will account for the preservation of the 

 handiworks of man, even though the flints wei'e washed in by some 

 deluge of water. 



The fact of the various objects being protected by the sides of the 

 excavations forming the " hut circle," is sufficient to account for this. 



Now as to the method of deposit. That water, if in any quantity, 



