44)4 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



the ordinary pieces of stone found on the surface of the ground. 

 Thousands of arrow-points, chippings of flint, fragments of pottery, 

 and even natural but peculiarly-shaped bits of stone have been 

 brought to him ; but amongst all this numerous assemblage, only 

 two portions of axes have come into his possession, and not a single 

 whole one. Where an occupation appears to have been extensive 

 and long-continued, as may fairly be inferred to have been the 

 case here, from the large number of certain implements which have 

 been met with, it is remarkable that others of a different but equally 

 important class should be so uncommon. This is the more strange 

 when it is considered that in other localities where one kind is 

 abundant the other is relatively and, in proportion to an assumed 

 requirement, equally numerous. Nor is it easy to understand how 

 a population which it might be supposed would require axes to cut 

 down trees, adzes to work upon the wood, and hoes to break up the 

 soil, equally with other people who appear to have lived under much 

 the same conditions, was able to construct the essential requisites 

 of domestic life, or to obtain some of the main products of the soil, 

 without such tools. I do not believe it would be possible to find a 

 parallel to this in any other part of Britain, at all events in so 

 great a degree ; nor can I discover anything in the natural features 

 of the district which would seem to remove it out of the ordinary 

 conditions of other parts of the country, where both larger and 

 smaller implements of stone are equally, though relatively, abundant. 

 The same may be said of the later implements of bronze, which 

 appear to have been discovered very exceptionally, a fact which 

 may be considered in connection with the almost entire absence of 

 the larger kinds of stone implements. The very infrequent 

 occurrence of both of these classes can scarcely have arisen from 

 any sparseness of population, for that, judging by other and suflicient 

 data, was certainly considerable ^ 



Sepulchral remains are numerous, and many barrows still remain 

 of both kinds, long and round, the former, as is always the case, 

 bearing a very small numerical proportion to the latter. An 

 account of the examination of four long barrows will be found in 

 that part of this volume which is devoted to the class in question. 

 Some features of a remarkable and instructive nature presented 

 themselves ; and the evidence afforded by them with regard to the 



^ In connection with this subject it may be noticed that in Kent and Sussex, and 

 generally in the district south of the Thames, aiTOW-points are of the very rarest 

 occuiTence. 



