318 THE CONE OF THE TINIERE. 



of ten feet (2.97 metres) including the thickness of the layer. 

 In it have been found several fragments of unglazed pottery, 

 and a pair of tweezers in bronze. The third layer has been 

 followed for 3,500 square feet ; it was six or seven inches in 

 thickness, and lay at a depth of nineteen feet (5,69 metres) 

 below the present surface : in it were found some fragments 

 of very rude pottery, some pieces of charcoal, some broken 

 bones, and a human skeleton with a small, round, and very 

 thick skull. Fragments of charcoal were even found a foot 

 deeper, and it is also worthy of notice that no trace of tiles 

 was found below the upper layer of earth. 



Towards the centre of the cone, the three layers disappear, 

 since, at this part, the torrent has most force, and has de- 

 posited the coarsest materials, even some blocks as much as 

 three feet in diameter. The further we go from this central 

 region, the smaller are the materials deposited, and the more 

 easily might a layer of earth, formed since the last great 

 inundations, be covered over by fresh deposits. Thus, at a 

 depth of ten feet, in the gravel on the south of the cone, at 

 a part where the layer of earth belonging to the Bronze age 

 had already disappeared, two un-rolled bronze implements 

 were discovered. They had probably been retained by their 

 weight, when the earth which once covered them was washed 

 away by the torrent. After disappearing towards the centre 

 of the cone, the three layers reappear on the north side, at 

 slightly greater depth, but with the same regularity, and the 

 same relative position. The layer of the Stone age was but 

 slightly interrupted, while that of the Bronze era was easily 

 distinguishable by its peculiar character and color. 



Here, therefore, we have phenomena so regular and so 

 well marked that M. Morlot has thought himself justified 

 in applying to them a calculation, with some little con- 

 fidence of at least approximate accuracy. Making some 

 allowances; for instance, admitting three hundred years 



