REMAINS OF A SUPPOSED PILE-DWELLING. 281
assumes naturally that this dam, as the smaller of the two, is the
earlier.1
At the present time, the bed of the stream cuts through the
middle of what was once the bed of this smaller pool.
Some months ago, I happened to notice in one of its banks,
at a spot which must have been near the centre of the
pool, a remarkable horizontal stratum of very black earth.
This black soil proved, on examination, to be formed of
burned vegetable matter, and to contain a very large
number of small flints, very much cracked and calcined, with a
smaller number of sandstone pebbles, now soft and friable
through having been exposed to intense heat. I have placed
specimens of these stones in the Essex Field Club Museum at
West Ham.
The black deposit containing these stones, as it shows in the
bank of the stream, is from twelve to fifteen inches thick, and
may be traced horizontally for seven or eight feet. Probably it
extends further at each end ; but, if so, it is concealed by the
roots of trees and bushes. Probably, also, it might be traced in
the opposite bank of the stream, but a good deal of fallen
surface-soil would have to be removed to ascertain this definitely.
The black earth and flints rest directly on yellowish sandy clay,
which clearly once formed the bottom of the valley and is quite
undisturbed. Above the black deposit is modern alluvium, to a
thickness of eighteen inches or two feet.
The questions arise : What is the age of this deposit ? Of
what is it the remains ?
That it is of considerable age may be inferred, I think, from
the thickness of the overlying alluvium ; from the absence of any
traces of undecayed vegetable tissue ; and from its extreme
solidity, the flints being so wedged together that it is not easy to
insert a hammer-point between them. I assume, indeed, that
the deposit belongs, without doubt, to the Pre-historic Period.
To explain how the deposit (whatever its age) came to be in
the position in which we find it is more difficult. Many would
dismiss it, no doubt, as merely an early hearth-place. It may be
so, but I can see no obvious reason why Early Man should have
1 Mr. Mothersole points out that, as a large amount of earth has clearly been removed
from one end of. the large dam, the smaller dam may have been made out of part of the
material of the larger ; in which case, the smaller would be the later. I think, however,
that the earth missing from the larger dam was probably washed away when the dam was
broken.