157 
side, that points in a contrary direction to those on the 
head. Were the bases of a barbed arrow head and of a 
harpoon joined together, the resultant would be a form 
analogous to this in question. There can be no doubt that 
man occupied the spot before the accumulation of the over- 
lying of stones. Ample use for his harpoon he would find 
in the mere, now drained and turned into green fields, 
which lie but a short distance away. So far as the work 
has proceeded there is no trace of metal at this horizon in 
the section. 
The value of the evidence hitherto obtained lies in 
the fact that the Roman stratum is separated from the 
lower bed from which the flints, harpoon, and bear 
were found by the talus of angular stones. And this in a 
rough way will enable a computation to be made of the 
lapse of time between them. If we allow that for a con- 
siderable time past the disintegration of the cliff has been 
equal in equal times, the accumulation of stones above the 
Roman stratum is an index to the date of the lower horizon. 
This amounts to a maximum of two feet. If then in 1,200 
years — to put it at the lowest — only a thickness of two feet 
has been accumulated, it would take 3,600 years for a 
deposit of six feet to be formed. And thus the harpoon and 
flint stratum would be about 4,000 years old allowing about 
400 years for the accumulation of that which contained 
Roman remains. The accuracy of this calculation is 
indeed injured by the possibility that the winter cold 
was more intense, and the splitting action of the frost 
greater then, than during the last 1,200 years. Never- 
theless, the change from the Arctic severity of the post- 
glacial winter to the climate which we now enjoy in 
Britain, has been so gradual, and spread over such a length 
of time, that it may be assumed to have been very small 
in so short a period as 4,000 or 5,000 years. 
