PILE-DWELLING SITE AT SKITT'S HILL, BRAINTREE. 141
etc. Below is projected the additional filling found by the hole
that was dug below the level of the brick-making excavation.
I.—Sandy clay mixed with wood. This layer fairly well conforms to the
first spit, 12 inches deep; it represents the upper portion of the relic-bed, where
in former diggings the greater proportion of relics of human agency were found.
Nine burnt flints and three flint-flakes occurred.
2 and 2A.—The lower portion of the relic-bed, which was very irregular and
consisted for the most part of sand, one to two feet deep. At the end nearest
the bank of the stream (A) the soil was very black, containing a quantity of
vegetable remains, but this only continued for a distance of about 17 feet, when
it merged into white sand; (2A) which extended for another 12 feet, but this
stopped about five feet short of the end of the layer above it.
In the white sand very little wood or other organic matter occurred. Three
FIG. 5.—ENLARGED PORTION OF RELIC-BED ON LINE A—F.
burnt flints, three rib-bones, and seven vertebrae, (?) red-deer. A quantity of
hazelnuts were found in the black soil.
3.—Fine, grey, washed clay, which ran irregularly, rising almost to the top of
spit II. at A and to the top of spit I. at F, forming a basin in which the
relic-bed rested.
No wood or other objects occurred in the clay,
3A.— Fine grey, washed clay, the continuation of the deposit underlying the
relic-bed and extending below the base of the brickmaker's excavation to the
depth of one foot.
No organic remains.
4.—Log lying horizontally, four feet six inches long.
5.—Large log, 15 feet long, lying along the edge of the relic-bed, see plan,
Fig. 3.
5A.—Small log lying transversely.
6.—A layer of small pebbles and white sand, one inch thick.
7—Very black peaty deposit, containing quantities of leaves, eight inches
thick, hazel nuts, acorns, and plentiful remains of insects.