AN EARLY NEOLITHIC KITCHEN-MIDDEN. 73 



midden is of very early Neolithic date. The accompanying fauna, 

 the character of the flaking ot the flints, and the unaltered contour 

 of the ground, show that it cannot well be Palaeolithic. 



If we examine next the remains of the animals and plants not 

 brought by man, we learn still more about the character of the 

 country at that period. The leaves belong to the hazel, elm, and 

 oak just the trees that we should expect to find at Blashenwell 

 if the country were left to itself. The land and freshwater shells 

 are all species still inhabiting Dorset, though the character of the 

 Isle of Purbeck has considerably altered since they lived there. 

 The list includes several distinctly woodland forms ; and the open 

 country species so abundant in the Roman layer and on the surface 

 above are missing. The woods in that neighbourhood seem to 

 have been destroyed in Celtic times. The complete list of the land 

 and freshwater mollusca from the tufa is as follows : 



Limnaea truncatula (rare ; the only freshwater species). 



Hyalinia cellaria (abundant). 



crystallina (common at the base, rare above). 



fulva (one). 



Helix aculeata (rare). 



nemoralis (abundant). 



hortensis (abundant). 



arbustorum (common). 



hispida (common). 



rotundata (abundant). 



pulchella (one). 



lapicida (rare). 



Bulimus montanus (rare). 

 Pupa umbilicata (one). 

 Vertigo pusilla (one). 

 Clausilia rugosa (common). 



laminata (rare). 



Zua lubrica (rare). 



Carychium minimum (common). 



Cyclostoma elegans (abundant). 



