252 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



part of picks or pick and hammer combined, and varying from 5 to 

 15 inches in length, wrought with great labour and considerable 

 skill out of a tough hornblendic rock. None of these tools were 

 pierced for the insertion of handles, but all were encu'cled by- 

 grooves for the reception of withes or thongs; in this, as in 

 the character of the material of which they were formed, resem- 

 bling many of the stone implements of Europe, and being appa- 

 rently the product of the same age, or more accm-ately speaking, 

 of the same stage of intellectual development. The same author 

 mentions that in the mountains of Karthli-Imeritia are excavated 

 (" troglodyte ") houses, and an entu-e city has been discovered, 

 wrought out of the rocky walls which border the narrow valley 

 of the river Ljokhwa, an affluent of the Kur. He was also present 

 and assisted (in 1864) at the opening of two royal tombs which had 

 been found in one of two tumuli, called the twin tumuli, situated 

 upon the peninsula of Taman. They proved to be of Greek origin, 

 and contained two sarcophagi of cypress wood, carved and gilded. 

 The contents of the sepulchral vault were very rich and varied, 

 and belonged to a period of high art and civilization. 



Early in September last, in making excavations for a sewer at 

 Trowse, near Norwich, a number of oak piles were discovered by 

 the workmen, driven into a bed of compact river-gravel, 7 feet 

 beneath the surface, and covered by 3 feet of peat, containing fresh- 

 water shells and abundance of bones ; but no flint or other imple- 

 ments were met with. The evidence is too scanty to form any 

 positive conclusion upon ; but in this broad but shallow valley, before 

 the peat accumulated, it is suggested the piles stood in the water, 

 and formed the base of a pile-work habitation, from which the large 

 quantity of bones were thrown into the water. The animals iden- 

 tified were sheep, horse, deer ; so plentiful were the bones that the 

 navvies sold them by bushels to the dealers. Owing to the nature 

 of the contract, the trench was again retiUed within forty-eight 

 hours from the discovery being made, and so all further search was 

 stopped. If the site of a habitation, it must have been at a coni- 

 2Mrativehj late i^eriod. 



In the ' Journal of the Proceedings of the Essex Institute,' * 

 Salem, ]\Iassachusctts, Mr. F. W. Putnam gave an account of the 

 exploration of several Indian shell-banks at Goose Island, in Casco 

 Bay, and at Ipswich. Many rehcs were found of great interest to 

 the archaeologist. 



He also exhibited a series of Indian stone implements, found in 

 Essex county, consisting of axes, tomahawks, gouges, arrow-heads, 

 and many others to wliich no accurate name could be given. Some 

 he considered were " sinkers," from their beuig found on the shore 



* Vol. v., No. viii. Dec, 18G8. 



