Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixv. (1921), No. 13 21 



but there are other concentrations due to local circumstances, 

 such as the presence of a good clay for pottery, a good soil 

 for hops, or the possession of any of the thousand and one 

 mineral substances that play their part in the civilisation of 

 the country. So, in the same way, we should expect to find 

 the megalith-builders concentrated in those regions where they 

 found what they desired most, and more scattered in other 

 places where the desired object was of less importance or less 

 abundant. The evidence from Wales entirely bears out the 

 contention that the search for certain forms of wealth has 

 determined the distribution of the megalith-builders. We 

 have moreover found that the association with certain 

 geological formations also holds good. This is marked in 

 the non-metalliferous area, where the megaliths are with few 

 exceptions near to metalliferous formations. 



To turn now to the county of Shropshire, to the mining 

 district on the border of Wales that lies near Shelve and 

 Minsterley : — -What could have possessed the megalith- 

 builders to leave behind them at least three stone circles in 

 such a place ? One cannot plead high ground, or suitable 

 soil for cultivation, or a nice climate, or proximity to the coast, 

 or trade routes, or anything of that sort. For, in the words of 

 the author of a monograph on this district : " Shelve is a 

 mining district. The land is poor and profitless on the 

 surface, while the rocks beneath are rich in mineral wealth. 

 The veins of lead have been worked at intervals since soon 

 after the Romans landed in Britain, and they still yield large 

 quantities of ore. When they were first discovered it is 

 probable that the lead was exposed in ridges down the hill 

 sides, for even now the siliceous contents of some of them can 

 be traced along the surface ; and between the Grit Mines the 

 Ryder vein forms a projecting wall for several yards. The 

 very early occupation of this secluded spot of England by 

 the Romans shows that they attached considerable importance 

 to its mineral wealth " (13, 23). What valid reason is there 

 for not believing the same of the megalith-builders? The 

 soil is poor, the region inhospitable. If it be said that these 

 people were driven westward by invaders, I should ask why 

 they did not hide in the Long Mynd instead of in the countrv 

 round Minsterley ? Such an explanation explains nothing. 

 But if it be agreed that the men who made the circles were 

 lead miners, then we have a rational solution of the problem. 

 We find once again a concentration in metalliferous regions, 

 and an entire neglect of those barren of minerals. 



In his work on " Early Man in Britain," Sir William Boyd 



