EXPLORATION OF SOME "RED-HILLS" IN ESSEX. 183
" One of the two pieces from Peldon appears to belong to the class of ware
known as late-Celtic.8
"As there was an overlapping of the late-Celtic and Roman period, and
the forms of the fictile vessels of both these sources of culture appear to have
been made simultaneously, it is common to find the two in association. The
occurrence of late-Celtic types, therefore, does not necessarily indicate an
earlier period. I have already drawn attention to this elsewhere, but it is a point
that cannot be too strongly insisted upon. There is no reason why some
Red-hills should not have originated in pre-Roman times, but this can only be
determined by extended enquiry; such a conclusion cannot be drawn from
isolated specimens. The weight of evidence so far points to their origin in
Romano-British times."
As before stated, I simply put forward the above supposi-
tions in a tentative way to suggest further enquiry, which the
newly-appointed Committee of the Essex Archaeological Society
and the Club will doubtless give to the matter, to confirm,
extend, or possibly confute, the conclusions here set forth. There
are numerous very interesting questions connected with geology,
topography, and even the biology of our coast suggested by the
problems of the Red-hills. The density and salinity of the
estuarine waters as compared with the open sea is one of them,
and the age of the alluvium and the older sea-walls, are others.
It is a large and very interesting subject, and one worker
can do very little, but my brothers and I have had much
satisfaction in making up the above sheets, and recalling the
many pleasant days spent on the breezy Essex marshes with the
Red-hills and the curlews.
[The Club is indebted to Mr. H. A. Cole, for the drawings accompanying this paper. It
should be stated that the drawings on pp. 175 and 176 are one-half the natural size of the
objects.]
8 These pieces came from Mr. Stopes, and ate presumably the fragments alluded to in
his paper, E.N. I., page 99.