226 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 19, 



which these remains were found leave no possibility of doubt that the 

 land here has been upraised at least 24 feet, and that this upheaval 

 has been witnessed by man. The horn weapons do not indeed 

 indicate an advanced state of civilization ; yet they unquestionably 

 prove the presence of a human population perhaps contemporary 

 with that which built the ruder canoes of the primitive fleet of 

 Glasgow. 



In the elevated alluvial plains of the Forth, canoes similar to 

 some of those of the Clyde have also been found. One was dug up 

 on the Carse, not far from Ealkii'k, from a depth of 30 feet. Early in 

 the last century, too, a flood of the Hiver Carron, which flows through 

 the carse, undermined a part of the alluvial plain, and laid bare 

 what was pronounced at the time to be an antediluvian boat. It 

 lay 15 feet below the surface, and was covered over with layers of 

 clay, moss, shells, sand, and gravel. Its dimensions were greater 

 than those of any other canoe yet found in Scotland ; for it reached 

 a length of 36 feet, with a breadth of 4 feet. '' It was described by 

 a contemporary newspaper as finely polished and perfectly smooth, 

 both inside and outside, formed from a single oak-tree, with the 

 usual pointed stem and square stern *." 



These features seem to harmonize well with those of the more per- 

 fect of the Clyde canoes, and to justify the inference that they were 

 produced by the employment, not of stone, but of metal tools. 



But in the Carse of the Forth an implement of metal has actually 

 been found, and one formed not of bronze, but of iron. It was an iron 

 anchor, dug up a httle to the south-east of the place from whence 

 the Dunmore whale was obtained. The exact depth at which it lay 

 is not given; it was probably about 20 feet above high-water. 

 ** The flanks were much decayed ; but the beam, which was of a rude 

 square form, with an iron ring, was tolerably perfect. It hung 

 many years in the old tower near Dunmore, but was at length 

 stolen t." Pieces of broken anchors have also been found below 

 Larbert Bridge and near Camelon J. 



Putting together, therefore, the archaeological evidence to be 

 gathered from the contents of the elevated silt of the Forth, the in- 

 ference, I think, can hardly be avoided, that not only was the up- 

 heaval efiected subsequent to the first human immigration, but that 

 it did not take place until the natives along the banks of the Forth 

 had learnt to work in metal, and until vessels sailing over that broad 

 estuary had come to be moored with anchors of iron. There is some 

 additional evidence, however, from another class of works of art, 

 which will more appropriately be discussed in a subsequent part of 

 this paper. 



The Firth of Tay, Kke the estuaries already described, is bordered 

 with a flat plain, which on the north side expands into the broad 

 tract of country known as the Carse .of Gowrie. Its general 



* Prehistoric Ann. of Scot. p. 32. 

 t Edin. Phil. Journ. xi. p. 416. 



J Nimmo's 'History of Stirlingshire,' 2nd edit. p. 74; Chambers's 'Ancient 

 Sea Margins,' p. 160. 



