48 o PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



Met. 



1. Fen or marshy deposit . . . . . 02 



2. Gray clay or sand, with sea-shells and brackish 



water bed above ...... - 83 



3. Blue clay, more or less sandy, with sea-shells . - 82 



4. Turf or peat ....... 1-10 



2-95 



Pottery of Gallo-Eoman age is found upon the surface of 

 the lowest bed of turf or peat, sometimes even at some little 

 depth below that surface ; and M. Debray is of opinion that the 

 formation of the peat had been nearly or even entirely completed 

 by the time the Eomans occupied the country. From the dis- 

 covery of coins and medals of Posthumus which lay upon the 

 surface of the peat, it may be inferred that the beds above cannot 

 date beyond the epoch at which that emperor lived. Now and 

 again flint implements, probably of Xeolithic age, occur in the 

 turf, which has also yielded the remains of many animals, such 

 as horse, ox, red -deer, roebuck, ram, dog or wolf, wild -boar, 

 polecat, duck, buzzard, domestic fowl, balene-whale, cachalot, 

 sturgeon, etc. "When dry the peat shows many wing-cases of 

 Donacice which have preserved their brilliant colours. 



The famous peat-deposits of the Somme Valley extend out 

 to sea, and belong approximately to the same date as those of 

 the Flemish coast. This is proved by the fact that Gallo-Eoman 

 remains are confined to the surface and superficial part of the 

 peat, while Xeolithic relics occur in the deeper portions. The 

 accumulation varies in thickness from a few feet up to ten yards 

 and more, and has yielded remains of many trees, such as oak, 

 alder, hazel, yew, fir, etc., together with numerous bones of 

 quadrupeds, comprising amongst others the beaver and the bear 

 (iJrsvs arctos)} The deep turbaries of Albert and Aveluy, 

 which also occur in the Department of the Somme, have fur- 

 nished, according to M. Debray, animal remains belonging to 

 horse, red -deer, roebuck, ox, wild -boar, badger, beaver, rat, 

 domestic fowL duck, and man — the latter represented by a skull, 



1 Antiquity of Man, 4 th ed., p. 154. 



