382 
Vegetable Soil. 
rjuly, 
Buried Antiquities . 
In Chapter IV. of “ Vegetable Mould and Earth Worms ” 
the author intimates that the antiquarian is often indebted 
to worm-work for the preservation of antiquities, and he 
brings forward prominently the curvature of the floor of 
buried buildings and the curvature of the surface of the 
ground over buried ruins in support of the case. But might 
not these things happen without the aid of worm-work ? 
Let us first consider the iron arrow-heads he mentions as 
found in surprising numbers on the northern side of the 
Severn, not far from Shrewsbury. These arrow-heads appa- 
rently were originally dropped on the surface of the ground; 
and if the worms worked their best, and the years were the 
most favourable for worm-work, the worms could not have 
covered them up in two or three years, or more, during 
which time many of them would have decayed away. But 
if a battle was fought on the place, and especially if much 
blood was spilled, the vegetation afterwards would have 
been most luxurious, and during the succeeding summer it 
would have taken a cute observer to detedt an arrow-head 
without digging up the ground. These arrow-heads “were 
found at the bottom of the furrow,” — that is, at one regular 
depth below the surface ; vegetable growth and decay would 
bury them at one regular depth, which worm-work could 
rarely do. A few years ago, near Donnybrook, Co. Dublin, 
the burial-place of a Norse Viking chieftain was discovered, 
which has been described by Dr. W. Fraser, F.R.C.S.I., in 
the “ Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,” 2nd ser., 
vol. ii. (Pol. Lit. and Antiq.), p. 29. I assisted him one 
day during his excavations, and from my observations, and 
those published by him, these prehistoric remains were all 
on one regular surface, over which the soil had since grown. 
When I was there a large surface of the mould had been 
cleared away, leaving an even surface above which no re- 
mains were found, all being immediately under it. Some of 
the remains had originally been left on the surface of the 
ground, such as “ fire-heaps ” and heaps of human heads, I 
while some of the bodies had been buried in rude trenches ; 
and the buried trenches, the “ fire-heaps,” and the heaps of j 
human heads had not been disturbed since they were first 
made or placed, the mould evidently having grown over 
them, and not having been brought up from under them. ; 
Similarly, in other places where I have made explorations, 
I have found that antiquities lie on regular old surfaces, ; 
