170 W. B. Wright $ A. M. Peach— Neolithic Man in Colonmy, 



are 5-g- x 2£ X If inches. It is of a similar type to the Loch Facia axe, 

 being pointed at the haft end. It is, however, somewhat thicker and 

 of a darker stone. The other, No. A.F. 497, is a much larger axe of 

 greenstone weathered very white but blue on fresh fractures. Its 

 dimensions are 11 X 4f X 2- i a 6 - inches. It was found at lleasagbuie, 

 about 1 mile north-east of Scalasaig, and was presented in 19U0 by 

 the llev. B. Mackenzie. It is much weathered, but the uneven 

 surface presents a pitted appearance as if it had been picked all over. 

 The pitting may, however, be merely an effect of the weathering. 

 The haft end is pointed as in the other two axes, but the body is very 

 cylindrical, and a further difference is apparent in the rapid divergence 

 towards the cutting edge, which is thus wider than any other part of 

 the axe. The form is very similar to that of an axe of much the 

 same size from Shetland which is figured in the Museum catalogue 

 (No. A.F. 226). 



All these axes taper to a point at the haft end and belong clearly to 

 Brogger's point-necked (' spidsnakket ') type. The surface has been 

 ground smooth, but does not at present exhibit any polish. They 

 are certainly not of an early Neolithic type, and, if Brogger's 

 classification has anything beyond a local value, ought to belong to 

 his 'Newer Stone Age', which immediately preceded the Copper 

 and Bronze Age. 1 



IV. The Newly Discovered Neolithic Floor. 



Flint implements showing obvious Neolithic workmanship were 

 first collected in Colonsay by the authors in the years 1907 and 1908. 

 They occurred in abundance on a well-marked floor in the sand-hills 

 north-east of Balnahard in the north end of the island. This floor 

 lies from 200 to 300 yards back from the present beach at a height of 

 22 to 24 feet above high-water mark of spring tides (see Fig. 2) ; and 

 it is remarkable that, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 floor where they have been let down by wind erosion of the underlying 

 sand, no implements occur at a lower level than this, or anywhere in 

 the more recent sand-hills near the shore. This relation is suggestive 

 of a higher sea-level at the time of the occupation of the floor. 

 A single case of the kind, however, cannot be said to be anything 

 more than suggestive, and we have not found any other accumulations 

 of obvious Neolithic implements in the island. 2 The difference in 

 level between the modern aud ' 25-foot ' shores has been estimated at 

 about 23 feet, but may be as little as 21, or as much as 25 feet. It 

 is just possible that the floor may correspond in date to the ' 25-foot' 

 maximum depression, but on the whole it is more probable from 

 its position that it is somewhat later. The sand which forms the 

 substratum is indistinguishable from that of the rest of the sand-hills, 



1 W. C. Brogger, " Strandliniens Beliggenhed under Stenalderen i det 

 Sydostlige Norge " : Norges Geologiske Undersogelse, No. 41 ; Kristiania, 1905. 



" We have found a small scraper at about the same level in the Kiloran 

 sand-hills and two worked fragments of flint on the surface of the ' 25-foot ' 

 beach in Port nan Fliuchan (Uragaig), as well as some rude chips on the links 

 near Machrins. The latter are not obviously Neolithic, and none of the other 

 cases are good enough to give much assistance. 



