272 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
the phenomena, that the rocky ledge under which the axes had 
been deposited, apparently for temporary concealment, was at that 
time open towards the shore, and that subsequently, during a 
storm, the crevice had been covered over with coarse sea-gravel. 
It does not appear that the owner, when finally parting with his 
kit of tools, suspected any danger from the proximity of the sea ; 
and hence there is some ground for supposing that the ordinary 
high tides were not wont to reach the spot. Now, had the 
relative level of sea and land been the same then as now, a 
storm could hardly account for their being covered over with 
sea-gravel. It is not, therefore, unreasonable to suppose that the 
upheaval had already, i.e. at the beginning of the Bronze Age, 
made considerable progress, for these axes are among the earliest 
objects of that period known in Scotland. 
In conclusion, I have only to express the opinion that the facts 
and arguments here advanced warrant us in assigning the upheaval 
which caused the 25-feet raised beaches of Central Scotland to a 
more restricted chronological range than that expressed in my 
former theory on the subject, viz., “ that it was subsequent to the 
appearance of man in the district, but prior to its occupation by 
the Romans.” The additional evidence points to the w T ell-founded 
inference that the process of elevation had been virtually com- 
pleted about the beginning of the Bronze Age. When it com- 
menced there is little evidence to show, beyond the fact that it 
was a considerable time posterior to the stranding of the school of 
whales on the tidal shore of the shallow sea which then covered 
the carse lands to the west of Stirling. 
(. Issued separately June 18 , 1904 .) 
