TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 649 
but seldom exceed three feet in height. As no certain traces of wooden troughs 
have been found, it is probable that the boiling-vessel was a hide-lined hole in 
the ground, or a hide slung like a hammock. 
In Anglesey, Mr. E. Neil Baynes has recently found that some of the cooking 
places contain a paved hearth. 
In South Staffordshire and North Warwickshire, during the past three years 
we have found fifteen examples near Rugeley, Pelsall, Aldridge, and Middleton, 
all within reach of Birmingham, the remains consisting of the usual heap of 
burnt, reddened, and broken pebbles (here quartzites from the Bunter), having 
much the appearance of road-metal mingled with charcoal-dust, and situated 
generally near running water. 
From the examples quoted above it is clear that stone-boiling was extensively 
practised in the British Isles in prehistoric times, and doubtless further search 
will result in similar discoveries in other parts of the kingdom, and may perhaps 
decide the nature of the cooking-vessel and the period to which the practice 
should be attributed. It is evident from previous records in the archeological 
publications that in some cases these heaps of pot-boilers have been mistaken for 
burial-mounds and for primitive smelting-places. The boiling-troughs, where of 
wood, have been supposed to be canoes; and where of stone, have been assumed 
to be sepulchral cists. Sometimes the hearth or floor of the cooking-place was 
roughly paved with stone slabs and fenced with a low stone wall, and these 
features have been mistaken for ‘stone circles,’ or for the lower courses of bee- 
hive huts. In fine, there is little doubt that certain obscure accumulations of 
calcined stones disclosed by some of the earlier excavations are explicable as 
traces of stone-boiling. 
2. Hxcavations in the Kinkell Cave, St. Andrews. 
By Dr. T. J. JEnv and A. J. B. Wace; M.A. 
The Kinkell Cave lies on the cliffs to the east of St. Andrews. The beds of 
calciferous sandstone exposed in the cliffs here dip to the east at an angle of 
33 degrees, and the cave has been made by invasion of the sea along the bedding 
planes. Excavations were carried on here with a grant from the University of 
St. Andrews between May 26 and June 12, 1913. The cave was found to have 
been eroded by the sea prior to the emergence of land, evinced by the 25 feet 
raised beach, on the lower margin of which it lies. This raised beach records 
an uplift of land after the appearance of Neolithic man. The cave had been 
inhabited in Roman and early Christian times. A roughly-laid floor of sand- 
stone slabs was found, and above this a thick deposit from the refuse of human 
habitation. The central date of this deposit is given by a sherd of ferra sigillata 
(Samian ware), found half-way down it. Quantities of shells and animal bones 
were discovered, all the remains of food. The former are those of limpets, 
whelks, and periwinkles, common on the shore below. The animal bones are 
principally those of oxen, sheep, and pigs. The oxen were probably Celtic 
shorthorns (Bos longifrons), and the sheep of the type called Ovis aries palustris, 
and akin to the Soay race. The pig bones include many boar-tusks—interesting 
in view of the historical traditions as to the prevalence of wild boars in Fife- 
shire. On the top of this stratum a slab of red sandstone, with incised crosses, 
was discovered, which probably belongs to the early Christian period. 
3. The Early Bronze Age in the Lower Rhone Valley. 
By H. J. EH. Peake. 
A survey of the implements found in the lower valley of the Rhone shows 
that the inhabitants of this part of France were only slightly acquainted with 
the use of metal during the earlier phases of the Bronze Age. A map showing 
the distribution of flat celts throughout this area seems to indicate that during 
the first Bronze Period the people were in a neolithic state of culture, though a 
few bronze implements had reached the edge of the area either from Switzerland 
or from ‘the north-west. A comparison between the numbers found here and 
those found in equal areas of Great Britain or Germany is very striking. The 
