CoFFKY AND PkaegilR — TJiB Antrim liaised Beach. 161 



Another important general account of the central Scottish post- 

 Glacial series is given by James Geikie.^ After pointing out the 

 apparent break in the succession (see p. 152, supra) which occurs 

 between the newest Glacial deposits and the overlying beds, he says 

 that the submerged peat, which is in many places present as the oldest 

 member of the post-Glacial series, is in the estuaries of the Porth and 

 Tav of clearly older date than the 2 5 -foot raised beaches and the 

 Carse clays, since it may everywhere be seen passing underneath them. 

 The peat is now generally found at about mean-tide level, but varies 

 in level from high tide to below low tide. It is abundantly proved to 

 be an old land-surface, and shows a higher former land-level than 

 that at present existing. The plants of the peat i^rove that the 

 climate at the period of its deposition was not less genial than 

 the present climate. The Carse clays overlie the peat to a depth 

 of from 10 to 45 feet, their surface being generally from 25 to 45 

 feet above present sea-level. These clays are of estuarine origin ; 

 marine shells occur in them in the lower parts of the valleys, 

 Scrolicularia piperata being characteristic. They consist of fine 

 silts, usually dull brown or dirty gray in colour ; and certain characters 

 seem to point to a greater rainfall than at present, and a lower 

 winter temperature, with local glaciation in the mountain valleys. 



the evidence assigning a Roman or post-Roman date to the upheaval is destruc- 

 tively criticised in detail, and the Kincardine Roman road and bronze caldron are 

 discussed as proving a pre-Roman land-level as high as that existing at present. 

 Towards the close of the Paper, some further important evidence is quoted — 

 namely, the finding of a Bronze Age cemetery at Joppa (Proc. S. A. Scotland, 

 vol. xvi., p. 419. 1882), the interments being 4 to 6 feet below a ground surface 

 which is only 12 to 14 feet above high-water mark ; and the finding of a set of 

 bronze axes of early type on the sea-shore, near Culzean Castle, Ayrshire (Proc. 

 S. A. Scotland, vol. xvii., p. 436. 1883;, in a crevice beneath, a ledge of rock, 

 against which were heaped up a few feet of gravel, the spot being about 25 feet 

 above high water. The first of these finds clearly proves that the movement of 

 elevation Avas at least nearly complete in Bronze Age times. From the circum- 

 stances of the second find, Dr. Munro draws the conclusion that the upheaval was 

 not yet complete at the beginning of the Bronze Age, siuce lie assumes the "few 

 feet of gravel" to be deposited by the sea. But in the absence of geological evi- 

 dence bearing out this assumption, and showing that the gravel was actually portion 

 of an undisturbed raised beach, we cannot consider the case for a termination of the 

 tmergence so late as the Bronze Age, as proved. But, in any case, it is difficult 

 U) distinguish between late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and the main facts go 

 to maintain a very much pre-Roman date for the emergence. 

 ^ " Prehistoric Europe," chaps, xvi. -xvii. 1881. 



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