PEAT. 307 



objects are found has been carefully noted by M. Boucher 

 de Perthes. 



"Prenant," he says, "pour terme moyen du sol de la 

 vallee, une hauteur de 2 metres audessus du niveau de la 

 Somme, c'est a 30 a 40 centimetres de la surface qu'on 

 rencontre le plus abondamment les traces du moyen-age. 

 Cinquante centimetres plus bas, on commence a trouver des 

 debris romains, puis gallo- remains. On continue a suivre 

 ces derniers pendant un metre, c'est a dire jusqu'au niveau 

 de la Somme. Apres eux, viennent les vestiges gaulois purs 

 qui descendent sans interruption jusqu'a pres de 2 metres 

 audessous de ce niveau, preuve de la longue habitation de ces 

 peuples dans la vallee. C'est a un metre plus bas, ou a 4 

 metres environ audessous de ce meme niveau, qu'on arrive au 

 centre du sol que nous avons nomme Celtique, celui que 

 foulerent les Gaulois primitives ou les peuples qui les prece*- 

 derent;" and which belonged, therefore, to the ordinary 

 stone period. It is, however, hardly necessary to add that 

 these thicknesses are only given by M: Boucher de Perthes 

 " comme terme approximatif." 



The "Antiquites Celtiques" was published several years 

 before the Swiss archaeologists had made us acquainted with 

 the nature of the Pfahlbauten ; but, from some indications 

 given by M. Boucher de Perthes, it would appear that there 

 must have been, at one time, lake-habitations in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Abbeville. He found considerable platforms of 

 wood, with large quantities of bones, stone implements, and 

 handles closely resembling those which come from the Swiss 

 lakes. 



These weapons cannot for an instant be confounded with 

 the ruder ones from the drift gravel. They are ground to a 

 smooth surface and a cutting edge, while the more ancient 

 ones are merely chipped, not one of the many hundreds 

 already found having shown the slightest trace of grinding. 



