A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT. 117
which may add to the accumulated materials for a better know-
ledge of ante-historic man in our country.4
REMARKS BY F. W. READER..
It may be remembered, by those who were present when
Mr. Kenworthy's paper was read at the meeting of the Club,
that a considerable discussion was raised as to whether his
discoveries related to a Lake Dwelling, or to the results of
alluvial wash.
As I have since then had the pleasure of assisting Mr.
Kenworthy and Mr. Cole in the preparation of the paper for
the Club's journal, and have spent a week at Braintree, making
the Plan and Sections already given in this paper, and otherwise
investigating the matter, it has been suggested that some remarks
from me might be of interest.
With regard to Mr. Kenworthy's conclusions, I think that
he has, in the main, ample grounds on which to base them ; but
I also think they should be considered as tentative only. For
the present the record should be regarded more as a basis for
future observation than as in anyway complete or conclusive.
There are one or two points that should be remembered in
considering this subject. In the first place, the excavations are
being carried out to obtain brick earth, and not for archaeological
research. Then it is only quite in the latter stage of his observa-
tions that Mr. Kenworthy developed the idea that layer No. II.
(see section on p. 98) was an artificial bed ; consequently, much
that might have been valuable evidence may have been over-
looked, such as the splitting, shaping, and position of the stakes.
For the same reason, the exact level of many of the apparently
less important relics has not been recorded, more particularly the
pottery. This is unfortunate, as pottery affords one of the best
means of evidence of the period of such remains. Further, the
black peaty soil of this bed renders objects very difficult of
recognition, and in the absence of continuous watching by
trained observers, no doubt much has been missed.
I do not intend to make these remarks in a critical spirit,
but rather as explanatory. I consider Mr. Kenworthy's patient
4 [It is much to be wished that all finders and possessors of objects of the kind would
follow Mr. Kenworthy's enlightened policy. In our county alone there are hundreds of
specimens In private hands practically useless playthings to their owners and always liable to
be lost or mislaid, but which if deposited in one or other of our local museums would be pre-
served with others of their kind, and would ultimately form most valuable scientific
evidence for the use of future workers in like subjects.—Ed.]