[ 35 3 



posts. There were no steps cut in the sides such as would admit 

 of being used for ascent, but this would hardly be necessary, as a 

 rude kind of ladder made of a tree, with its branches cut off about 

 a foot from their conjunction with the trunk, would answer the 

 purpose, and, moreover, could be removed from one shaft to 

 another, as occasion i-equired. 



It now remained but to compare these workings with those 

 found in other parts of the country, and then to consider what 

 conclusion, as to any date that may be assigned to their use, may be 

 safely arrived at from the evidence before them. Grime's Graves, 

 near Brandon, explored by Canon Greenwell, of which a full 

 account appeared in the Ethnological Journal of January, 1871, 

 Buckenham and Eaton in Norfolk, Orayford and Dartford in 

 Kent, the Spiennes workings in Belgium, and the Penpits in 

 Wiltshire. Time would allow him to refer only to the first of 

 these. Considering the similai-ities and differences between the 

 Grime's Graves workings and the Cissbury pit, the former were 

 found so numerous and the latter so unimportant, that if additional 

 evidence was wanting to support the " Flint working theoiy at 

 Cissbury," thei-e would be overwhelming testimony. There wei'e 

 the workings, which were in full swing some thirty centuries ago, 

 still carried on, and it was a most interesting example of how 

 natural features, assisted by tradition, might afford the same 

 employment to succeeding generations in one locality. The flint 

 at Grime's Graves lay rather deeper than at Cissbury, being 39ft. 

 from the surface, instead of 20, though at Brandon, distant only 

 about a mile to the south-west, this same layer came much nearer 

 the surface, but it was not there quite of such good quality. The 

 means of reaching and raising it were the same, viz., sinking 

 shafts at irregular distances, and driving headings laterally, though 

 the shaft, which was opened by Mr Greenwell, was found to de- 

 crease in width from 28ft. to 12ft., instead of being perpendicular, 

 A layer of inferior flint, called in Suffolk " wall flint " (for its un- 

 fitness for flint knapping and therefore used for building purposes), 

 was met with in both cases, that at Grime's Graves being 7Jft. 

 above the floor flint; that at Cissbury 10ft. The galleries at 

 Grime's Graves seemed to be driven more in straight lines than at 

 Cissbury, and the connection between the pits effected by larger 

 openings. One most remarkable occurrence was met with at the 



