A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT.
99
III.—This bed is about two feet in depth, and contains
Late Celtic Pottery.
IV.—Romano-British objects occur first at about a depth
of four feet. I think that the silting-up has been much
more rapid since the occupation by the Romans, owing,
probably, to the destruction of the forest and its under-
growth, the land cultivation, and the baring of the virgin
soil. Bearing this consideration in mind, we may say that
the pre-historic accumulation was, perhaps, ten times slower
than the Roman, and that of recent years much more rapid
than the Roman and Mediaeval.
V.- This is the Post-Roman and Mediaeval layer, and
here iron horse-shoes occur in numbers, with fragments of
glazed pottery.
Explanation of Sections. Figs. 2 and 3.
Section I. on line Y Z of Plan (p. 97) was taken on the spot when Mr.
Kenworthy's observations commenced. At this point the digging is
carried to the present river's edge,
Section II. on line W X of Plan, marks the point to which the excavations
have reached. The cutting stops at the hedge some 50 feet before
reaching the river.
The Relic-bearing Bed No. If. is shaded darker at the top to indicate
that more traces of fire have been noticed here than in the lower parts of the
bed. The shading dies out as this bed approaches its old shore, and the
present river to show the extent of the artificial mixture (Packwerk). —F.W.R.
B. Pleistocene Brick-earth. The original Lake or River bank.
A. London Clay.
Site of the Dwelling-places.
If it be necessary to show that upright piles were found
in situ, on which a platform of wood could be erected by the
dwellers, in order to prove that the Skitts Hill site was a Lake-
habitation, I cannot say for a certainty that it was so. Many of
the logs of wood were found in a leaning position ; the stems of
trees, deprived of their roots and torn-off branches, amounted to
hundreds. The logs were placed in position by man, and they
were staked and secured in their place from the scour of the
floods. Among the debris, logs of various woods, such as fir,
spruce, elm, beech, oak, birch, abounded, and maple in small
pieces. Speaking generally, the oak remains are quite hard and
sound, and some pieces were much harder than in the fresh con-
dition. The Faggot or "Fascine" Dwellings at Skitts Hill, I
believe to have been contemporary with the Pile-dwellings.
Both kinds have been found in many parts of England, as well