SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS —H. 527 
Neolithic times onwards. Broadly speaking, Britain south of the Forth- 
Clyde isthmus consists of two parts, the Highland Zone to the west, and the 
Lowland Zone to the east. 
The structure and soil-character of Lowland Britain explain in large 
measure the distribution of the population in this, the most important half 
of the country, in early times. ‘The chalk formation forms the main frame- 
work. To the west and north-west of this complex lie the limestone ridges 
of the Mendips and the Cotswolds ; an extension of the latter (the Jurassic 
outcrop) leads by way of Lincoln Edge to the Humber, beyond which is 
a habitable outlier of chalk—the Yorkshire Wolds. Waterways such as the 
Thames, the Fen rivers and the Trent provide easy access for invader or 
trader to every part of the Lowland Zone. 
The chalk and limestone downlands, gravel terraces by the rivers, and 
sandy heaths as in East Anglia, provide the settlement areas most sought 
after by early man; he shunned the claylands, the gradual utilisation of 
which is the story of civilisation as expressed in geographical distribution. 
The large extent of clay in the Midlands hindered the occupation and 
development of this area of Lowland Britain. 
EVENING. 
A folk dance exhibition by a traditional team from Great Easton, 
Leicestershire, and others, with local folk songs. Introductory remarks 
by Mr. Eric Swirt (8.0). 
Tuesday, September 12. 
Mr. OLiver Davies.—Sotiel Coronada : an illustration of Roman mining 
technique (10.0). 
The paper describes the remains of Roman mining and metallurgy’ at 
Sotiel Coronada and Sta. Rosa in south-west Spain on the Odiel. At 
Sotiel there were two periods of working, one by a Roman capitalist about 
the first century B.c., and the other probably by a government official trained 
at Rio Tinto of a rather later date. The latter worked to rule, though his 
knowledge was limited ; interesting evidence is to be found as to Roman 
methods of prospecting and surveying, the sections of their shafts, and their 
pairs of shafts. In the second period an iron tool was used, probably a gad ; 
in the first, it is likely that the rilled stone hammer was still common, and 
indeed this tool almost certainly continues until Roman times. Finally 
some remarks are made about a metallurgical establishment exposed at 
Sta. Rosa ; both liquation and cupellation seem to have been practised here, 
and there were found a smelting furnace and what appear to be cupels. 
Miss D, A. E. Garrop.—Excavation of the Mugharet el-Tabun, Mount 
Carmel (10.30). 
Mr. T. Burton Brown.—The Transition from the Neolithic Period to 
the Bronze Age of Western Asia (11.0). 
Prof. V. GorDON CHILDE.—WNotes on some painted potteries from India 
and East Iran (11.30). 
Corresponding to the uniform geographical area of alluvial cultivation 
dependent on a single river system and the advanced urban civilisation 
