20 
Alleys or roads were found running amongst them, to which 
the lecturer gave the name of ‘“‘ curved ways.” These are always 
curved and slightly raised; their course can be traced from the 
hill above. They begin in the topmost pits and run in a semi- 
circle, with a diameter of about one hundred yards, curving up 
again amongst the depressions until they are lost where these end. 
The ‘‘ curved ways” are about two feet six inches wide, and on 
cutting through the humus it was found that they had a pavement 
of slabs of odlite stone close-set on edge, and bonded like a brick 
floor. At their side is a ditch to carry off surface water. 
There was evidence that considerable care was taken in keeping 
the dwellings dry, as their entrance was always at the lowest point 
of the circumference, and they were protected from water pouring 
down the hill by immense mounds which must have served as 
dams until the water percolated into the ground. 
It was suggested that this great ring of habitations served 
as a defence for the cattle against wolves. In their exposed position 
on the sides of the hills, these pit dwellings formed an effectual 
protection against the wind. Amongst a pastoral people, hides 
must have been plentiful, and it was suggested that the pits 
were roofed over with that material. Traces of the dwelling 
combining the burrow and the tent are still to be found in Iceland 
and China. 
With these primitive people an infinitude of labour took the 
place of skill in their vast works. In spite of the destruction of 
centuries of ploughing, there is still a great extent of ‘‘ crumpled 
ground” all along the Cotswolds. Dr. Hubbard estimated that 
the present population of the district is not one hundredth part 
of what it was in neolithic times. 
Mr, George Hubbard, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A., then gave a lecture 
on Crockern Tor, Dartmoor, a Prehistoric Seat of Parliament. 
The lecturer pointed out that in all archeological research the 
investigator had to approach his subject with an unbiassed mind, 
and that the imagination had to play an important part if a solution 
was to be found of the evidences of prehistoric man’s works. In 
short, the archeologist had to work from the known to the unknown, 
or from the historic to the prehistoric, and that work required 
an unbiassed imagination. By the application of this method of 
enquiry to Crockern Tor, Mr. Hubbard considered, much pre- 
sumptive evidence could be adduced to show that during a pre- 
historic Celtic period Crockern Tor may very probably have been 
a seat of Parliament. } 
