A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT. 115
state which many still retain. In the drier overlaying beds, the
condition of the specimens was different ; there the bones were
left on the surface of the soil, exposed to atmospheric influences
before being finally covered up by the floods, and they are there-
fore generally very earthy, and, in many cases, completely
decayed. In the lowest bed, at the depth of 9 to 10 feet, not
only the bones, but leaves, grasses, rushes, acorns, &c., have
been saved from decay by the anti-septic action of the peaty
matter. The objects, like the material in which they were enve-
loped, were stained of various hues of green, red, and bluish-
black, by the percolation of coloured fluid. Whole spadesfull of
the earth were noticed to be deeply coloured when first lifted up.
General Conclusions.
One of the first questions which suggests itself in taking
a retrospect of the subject is—what could have been the motive
which led early man to form lake-settlements and habitations ?
Light may be thrown upon this by a comparison of the settle-
ment now under notice with those of Switzerland, so fully
treated of by Dr. Keller and other Continental writers, and
from the summary of their works given by Stevens in Flint
Chips. Their conclusions are that the motive was the desire of
protection and defence, in the first place, against the wild ani-
mals, and, secondly, against the aborigines who, it is suggested,
might have been fierce enemies of the Lake-dwelling invaders
and colonizers.
Taking the evidence of the flints, we come to the conclusion
that Neolithic man here, at Braintree, lived in villages, and had
their settled habitations within, or very near, the watercourse
and sloping ground suitable for cultivation. At the same time,
they were herders of tame cattle, as well as hunters in the
forests. The river served two purposes to the dwellers—giving
a constant water-supply, and a line of defence from predatory
man and beast. It is most probable that both sides of the
valley were occupied by the same people ; and, in fact, on the
opposite side of the Pods brook and its slope traces of
workings or of habitations have been discovered.
Whether the lake-habitations at Skitts Hill belong to the
earliest Neolithic settlers in this locality, or not ; or whether
there were in the district earlier and ruder men of the Stone-
age before the arrival of the lake-dwellers ; or whether this