By William Goidand, F.S.A., F.I.O. 



55 



similar materials are found in the Lake District, North Wales, and 

 Devon and Cornwall. Their absence from the " bluest ones " of 

 Stonehenge, while they are represented in considerable numbers 

 among the fragments from the excavations, is doubtless due to 

 their fissility and ease of decomposition. Stones of this kind set up 

 on edge and exposed to the action of frost could not withstand 

 such agencies like the "diabases," "hornstones," and "sarsen-stones" 

 which constitute the survivors of the Stonehenge assemblage of 

 monoliths. There are numerous gradations between the areno- 

 argillaceous rocks and the more purely argillaceous flagstones and 

 slates. 



VII. Argillaceous Flagstones and Slates. — Among these we have 

 a perfect gradation from coarse imperfectly fissile rocks, with more 

 or less sandy material in their composition, to very pure argillaceous 

 rocks which may be described as clay-slates. Like the rocks of 

 the last group, these flagstones and slates would be especially liable 

 to break up under the action of frost, especially when the fissile 

 masses were set with their cleavage planes vertical. 



VIII. Glauconitic Sandstone. — A few fragments of a fine-grained 

 sandstone with glauconitic grains occurred. A similar rock con- 

 taining foraminifera was also among the fragments of which slides 

 were sent by Mr. Cunnington to Mr. Teall. These rocks were 

 probably Cretaceous in age (Upper Greensand ?). Their presence 

 may be accidental, thongh it is just possible that a boulder of this 

 kind might have been utilised by the architects of Stonehenge. 



IX. Flints, both in their ordinary condition and whitened or 

 bleached condition, occur. These are probably fragments broken 

 from the flint tools in working, or sometimes, it may be, fragments 

 struck off in renewing the points of the tools. The flint fragments 

 do not seem to be sufficiently numerous to suggest that in either 

 of the comparatively small excavations made we have come upon 

 a " workshop " where the rude flint-tools were fashioned. It is not 

 at present possible to say, therefore, whether the flint-tools were 

 made at Stonehenge or elsewhere. One of the whitened chalk- 

 flints showed in thin sections specimens of Globigerina cretacea, 

 with sponge spicules and traces of other fossils. 



