159 



The EXCAVATION of the NEOLITHIC STONE 

 CIKCLE near POET EKIN, ISLE OF MAN. 



By W. A.. Herdman, D.Sc, F.R.S., Professor of Natural 



History in University College, Liverpool; 



and P. M. C. Kermode, F.S.A. Scot., Hon. Secretary, 



Isle of Man Nat. Hist, and Antiquarian Society. 



With Plates X to XII. 



[Read October 13th, 1893.] 



At the south end of the Isle of Man, next to the Calf 

 Island, is a group of low rounded hills which stand out 

 rather prominently from being nearly completely separ- 

 ated off from the remainder of the land by the narrow neck 

 of low-lying country which runs from Port Erin on the 

 west to Port St. Mary on the east. This is the "Meayll" 

 (pronounced "Mule," derived possibly from the Scandina- 

 vian " Muli," a muzzle or snout, or more likely from the 

 Celtic "Meall," = a hill or rising ground of rounded 

 shape; so " Meaull " in Galloway, and " Moyle " in 

 Ireland), a district very well suited to be a stronghold 

 in savage times as it is surrounded on three sides by lofty 

 and precipitous sea cliffs extending from the formidable 

 Spanish Head and the Chasms round by the Calf Sound 

 to Port Erin, while on the fourth side is the low neck of 

 land which was formerly submerged and after that for a 

 time was no doubt a swamp or morass. This commanding 

 situation probably rendered it a favourite habitation in 

 early times — possibly it was a last refuge in the Isle of Man 

 of the preceltic race — and on the higher parts of the hills, 

 still uncultivated, we can trace the lines of ancient bound- 

 ary fences dividing the moorland into small plots, we can 



