92 Earthen Vase found in Boulder Clay at Stockport. 



of 164 ft. from a high rock upon a softer one below, 

 which, by attrition, is undermined and tumbles in. Its 

 rate of recession is rather more than 2 ft. per annum ; 

 but it is to be observed that the river above the falls 

 has hardly lowered its original bed for thousands of 

 years. It is only at, and below, the falls that it chisels 

 out the rock before it. 



The red sandstone rock at Stockport, as a barrier to 

 the ancient river Mersey, may be taken for the purpose 

 of this paper as ending at the present sewage outfall 

 opposite to Heaton Mersey, a distance of 9,800 feet 

 from the Permian sandstone fault at Teviot Dale Station. 

 If we take the retrogression of the Niagara Falls as a 

 basis of calculation, we have at least a period of 4,500 

 years since this vase was deposited upon or within the 

 boulder clay of Portwood. 



There are, however, other conditions to be considered 

 before such a period can be accepted ; and these are 

 the nature of the rock, which is not so hard as that of 

 Niagara, and the sawing through it by' water instead of 

 its being chiselled out in blocks from its face. 



Another point worth mentioning is, that there were 

 three vases together, of different sizes, to contain the 

 wine, corn, and oil, or, figuratively, anything which would 

 denote light, food, and nourishment, and that neither 

 was large enough to form an urn or cinerarium. As 

 such vessels were usually placed in mounds, it is obvious 

 that this mound must have been placed upon the boulder 

 clay before the inrush of alluvials occurred- Assuming 

 this, it is plain that the vase, along with the others, was 

 submerged from a higher level at some flood time, which 

 silted the boulder clay ; and it must have occurred very 

 soon after, if not during, the glacial epoch. We have, there- 

 fore, possibly here a specimen of man's remotest handi- 

 craft which has, perhaps, ever been found in these islands. 



