xlii Proceedings. [April i8th % igi6. 



All doubt, however, as to this point is removed by the 

 recent explorations of Wookey Hole Cavern, where the group 

 of objects in the Lake-villages was found in five well-defined 

 layers underneath two superficial strata of Roman age, the latter 

 being dated by the coins ranging from the time of Vespasian 

 (a.d. 69-79) to Valentinian II. (a.d. 375-392). Here we have 

 proof that the civilization of the Prehistoric Iron Age was pre- 

 Roman, and that it ended in Somerset with the Roman Con- 

 quest. It has been traced in other parts of Britain as far back 

 as 156 to 200 B.C. 



The Lake-villagers were of pure Iberic stock, without admix- 

 ture with other races. They belong to the small aborigines in 

 Britain in the Neolithic Age, characterised by long or oval 

 heads, who were conquered in the Bronze Age by the invading 

 Goidels, and in the Prehistoric Iron Age by the invading 

 Brythons, both of whom have left their mark in the topography 

 of the district,, by river names such as the Axe (Goidelic) and 

 the Avon (Brythonic) = water ; and hill names such as Dundry, 

 Dun (Goid.) = fort; Mendips, Maen (Bryth.) = stone; Pen 

 (Bryth.) = hill. From these it may be concluded that the 

 language spoken by the Lake-villagers was closely allied to the 

 Welsh. They were closely related to the Silures, the ruling 

 tribe in South Wales at the time of the Roman Conquest. 



The village was sacked, and, as the skulls on the table show, 

 the inhabitants had been massacred, probably during the con- 

 quest of that region by the Belgic tribes, whose further progress 

 was arrested by the Romans. This remarkable discovery is 

 being followed up by the examination of another Lake-village at 

 Meare, on the same water-way, belonging to the same pre- 

 Roman age. The excavations are being described by Messrs. 

 Arthur Bulleid, H. St. George Gray, and other workers (" The 

 Glastonbury Lake Village," by Arthur Bulleid and H. St. 

 George Gray.). The first volume was published in 191 1, and the 

 second is now nearly completed. When the whole story is told, 

 by these and other contributors, it will fill a blank in the pre- 

 history of Britain, and form a sound basis for history. 



