118
A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT.
and prolonged observations worthy of the highest praise, and feel
confident that he has drawn attention to a matter that may prove
to be of great interest and importance.
There still remains about 200 superficial feet of this deposit
in the same meadow awaiting excavation, which operation will
probably extend over several years. This is the portion marked
on the Plan at page 97 between DE and F. It will be noticed
that as the excavation approaches the road it runs away from
the river ; the portion of the meadow adjoining the river having
been purchased so as to prevent these diggings encroaching too
nearly on the Braintree Mill premises.
This is a great misfortune for the Lake Dwelling researches.
Should the proprietors of the Brick Works ever carry out excava-
tions on the other side of the road, I think that still more might
be found, as here the old river bed widens out considerably, and
suggests a more favourable spot for such a settlement than the
narrow strip represented by the portion already excavated.
The points in favour of this bed being artificial are the
curious mixture of which it is composed, which corresponds with
similar beds known as "Packwerk," met with in the Continental
Lake Dwelling sites of "Fascine" formation, and that this
mixture dies out as the bed approaches the old shore and the
present river. I have indicated this by the shading on the
Section. That it was constructed and then occupied rather than
being a gradual accretion is shewn by the fact that the burnt
flints, ashes, and traces of fire occur mostly on the top of this
layer. The portion of this layer which is at present exposed
(D—E on Plan) was, when I first saw it, covered with ashes and
burnt flints, apparently a hearth ; but on turning it over, the
traces of fire disappeared after a few inches.
The preserved evidence of the pinning of the bed by shaped
stakes, exists only in the one specimen (fig. 5) ; but Mr.
Kenworthy remembers to have seen others that had apparently
been split and shaped in a similar manner. His idea of the
splitting of these stakes is ingenious, but requires, I think, more
evidence to confirm it. This is a point that should be carefully
watched in the future digging—where and how vertical stakes
occur. A Terramara formed with vertical inclined stakes, dis-
covered at Castione, is described and illustrated in Munro's Lake
Dwellings, p. 253, fig. 82, and is interesting by way of comparison.
An endeavour should be made to determine the shape of the
foundations of the dwellings—whether these represent a cluster