102 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT 



valleys with rivers flowing down the middle, the Isle of 

 Wight rivers were tributaries to the Solent river, and the 

 forest, as might be expected, extended up their valleys, 

 and covered the low ground of the Island. Under the 

 alluvial flats are remains of buried forests. In digging a 

 well at Sandford in 1906 large trunks of hard oak were 

 found blocking the sinking of the well. When the land 

 sank the sea flowed up the river valleys, converting them 

 into strait and estuary, and largely filling up the channels 

 with the silt, which now covers the peat. In the silt of 

 Newtown river are found bones of Bos primigenius, 

 which was found with the Neolithic remains In the peat 

 of Southampton docks. 



The remains of Neolithic man are not only found in 

 submerged forests, but over the present surface of the 

 land, or buried in recent deposits. He has left us the 

 tombs of his chiefs, known as long barrows great mounds 

 of earth covering a row of chambers made of flat 

 stones, such as the mounds of New Grange in Ireland, and 

 the cromlechs or dolmens still standing in Wales and 

 Cornwall. These consist of a large flat or curved stone it 

 may be 14 feet in length, supported on three or four 

 others. Originally a great mound of earth or stones was 

 piled on top. These have generally been removed since 

 by the hand of later man. The stones have been taken 

 for road metal, the earth to lay on the land. The great 

 cromlech at Lanyon in Cornwall was uncovered by a 

 farmer, who had removed 100 cart loads of earth to lay 

 on his stony land before he had any idea that it was not 

 a natural mound. Then he came on the great cromlech 

 underneath. Another form of monument was the great 

 standing stone or menhir, one of which, the Longstone on 

 the Down above Mottistone still stands to mark the tomb 

 of some chieftain of, it may be, 4,000 years ago. 



The implements of Neolithic man are found all over 

 England, the smooth polished axe head, commonly called 



