TEEEACED SLOPES IN NOETH TYNEDALE. 63 



further of the social hfe of these pre-historic dalesmen, who seem 

 also to have been in the habit of depositing a portion of the corn 

 grown on these terraces within the burial cist itself (to judge 

 from the pulverised contents of an urn found therein) for the use 

 of their departed friends in their journey to the "unseen land of 

 Anmvn'[ — the " happy hunting grounds" of the yet unchristian- 

 ised Briton. 



In conclusion I would wish merely to sum up the process and 

 results of the present enquiry in a few words. We have seen 

 how comparatively numerous are the examples of these singular 

 and much contested terraced-slopes in this southern district of 

 North Tynedale ; that, though the era of the glacial drift has 

 left traces of erosive action in the valley, it is very questionable 

 whether such traces are exemplified to any appreciable extent in 

 the parallel ledges now existing ; that, moreover, certain pecu- 

 liarities in their present form militate against the suppositions, 

 equally of their purely natural origin, and of their artifical forma- 

 mation as military lines of entrenchment. And that, passing by 

 various untenable notions on the subject, we are led to adopt, 

 as the sole remaining alternative, the theory which views them 

 as examples of that terrace cultivation seen to have been in use 

 among many different nations, and well adapted to meet the 

 meagre requirements of the semi-savage tribes who inhabited 

 the neighbouring hill forts and valley fastnesses, probably both 

 in the Neo-lithic or later Stone Age, and in times verging on 

 the dawn of recorded history, as well as afterwards in the Ro- 

 man-British period. In this inference drawn from separate and 

 independent data, as to its salient points at all events, it is satis- 

 factory to have the strongly-expressed opinions in agreement 

 therewith of several well-known and experienced archaeologists,* 

 among whom may be specially mentioned the Rev. W. Greenwell, 

 Mr. Geo. Tate, F.G.S., and Mr. H. MacLauchlan, F.G.S., who 

 have accompanied the writer in an examination of the chief pre- 

 historic vestiges yet existing m the district. 



♦See the remarks of Sir K. Colt Iloarc on this subjeit, quoted In "The Celt, llic Konian. 

 and the Saxon," Cap. 2, p. 88. 



