A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT. 119
of detached huts with passages between, or form a continuous
platform. It has been noticed that portions of this layer were
different from the rest, and the relics found in them were stained
a different colour. This might be caused by the accumulation in
the passage between the huts, and in such a deposit one would
expect to find the most relics.
Concerning the age of this layer, I do not think there is any
positive evidence of its construction in Neolithic times, although
such may be the case, and its occupation may have been con-
tinued through and beyond the Bronze Age, as Mr. Kenworthy
suggests. The great majority of the relics might point equally
to the Bronze Age or to Neolithic times. The Stone Imple-
ments—the knife (fig. 7) and the arrowhead (fig. 8) with its
fully developed tangs—are such as were used down into Romano-
British times. There is little to guide us in the pottery, as the
only pieces which can with certainty be said to have come from
this level, are some fragments of the large vessel referred to
before, the portion of the base of which is represented (fig. 16).
The base is much coarser than the other fragments, but I think
this may be due to its having been placed on twigs and straw to
dry before firing. The other portions undoubtedly show marks
of having been wheel-turned.
There is but one small fragment which can be said to be
hand-made and to resemble the pottery of the Stone or Bronze
Age, and the exact locality of this has not been recorded. At
the same time, some of the ordinary Late Celtic pottery, such as
occurs plentifully in the level above (No. III.), is supposed to
have come from this level, but as an accurate record has not
been kept, this point must be deferred for future investigation.
The fact that no bronze or metal objects have come to light
from this bed may perhaps be accounted for by the difficulty of
recognising objects in the black peaty soil of which it is com-
posed. It is also to be noted that no metal objects have been
found in the higher levels, with the exception of a few horse-
shoes near the surface. Evidences of the use of metal tools are,
I think, to be found in the cutting of several of the antler-tools
and bones ; notably in the Red-deer skull (Plate II). The
principal cuts are too flat and sharp to warrant one imagining
that they were made by a stone implement. The cuts are here
figured on a larger scale (fig. 17). The cutting marks on the
antler tool (fig. 11) also suggests a metal tool and the longi-
tudinal, tapering boring (see fig. 12) appears to have been done
to receive the tang of a metal knife or other tool.