GENERAL EFFECTS 



33 



What information do the strata yield? Mr Grieve dis- 

 tinguishes three series of layers lower, middle and upper 

 in both accumulations. The lower layer in the mound 

 is the oldest, and obviously the superimposed layers in the 

 shell-mound, and following upon that, in the cave, belong 

 to more and more recent periods of occupation. 



When man first arrived in Colonsay, domestic animals 

 were absent, but Red Deer were abundant, although they 

 became scarcer with the continued presence of man. Their 

 bones are plentiful in the lowest layer of the shell-mound, but 

 decrease in number in the middle and upper layers, while 

 only one fragment of an antler was discovered in the cave, 

 and that in the lowest stratum. Along with the Red Deer 

 occurred the Wild Boar, which also became extinct, so far 

 as we can gather, before the later strata were formed. It is 

 represented by several bones throughout the mound but 

 occurs only in the lowest stratum of the cave. The Sheep 

 seems to have been the first domestic animal introduced, for 

 it is represented by a single bone in the highest layer of the 

 shell-mound, and its* remains become common in the layers 

 of the cave. Then followed the Ox, in the middle and upper 

 layers of the cave, where some bones were found embedded in 

 the stalagmite which encrusted the cave floor. Lastly came 

 the Horse, represented by bones solely in the upper stratum 

 of the cave and on the surface of the floor. No traces of the 

 Dog were found. 



The results of this very interesting excavation may be 

 scanned at a glance in a simple tabular statement : 



SUCCESSION OF ANIMAL LIFE IN ORONSAY AND COLONSAY AS REVEALED 

 BY KITCHEN-MIDDENS 



x present. xx common. 

 R. 



xxx abundant. blanks indicate absence. 



