UNEXPLORED FIELDS OF ESSEX ARCHAEOLOGY. 135
Some of our Essex roads, particularly those in the neighbour-
hood of the Roothings, were anciently forest paths. These, as a
rule, are easily separable from the other roads, and I do not
suppose that any conditions appertaining to woodland, agricul-
ture, or residence would obscure or much affect the ancient
system of roads which are in evidence all over the country.
The second stage of Essex Archaeology would appear to
terminate with the disappearance of the Lake Dwellers, and I
must think a hiatus then again occurs. The next relics (of
Bronze) overlap and are intermingled with Romano-British
remains, but they do not touch so far as I know in the other
direction, nor appear to have any connection with the Lake
Dwellers.
I have thus sketched out two fields for enquiry, and it will
often happen that their representative beds will lie in contiguity.
The relics likely to be found in the older, the Palaeolithic beds,
are (i.) chipped flints, the weapons and implements of the men
of the period ; (ii.) the bones and other remains of animals, some
of which may be quite extinct, and some locally so. No other
relics are likely to be found.
In the newer beds—the Neolithic —the relics are more
numerous. They would probably be (i.) chipped flints, or
occasionally a polished one, and implements of worked bone,
horn, or wood ; (ii.) coarse and badly baked pottery, not made
on a wheel; (iii.) calcined stones; (iv.) storage products, such
as hazel nuts; (v.) branches of wood and large quantities of
carbonaceous matter resulting from the decay of wood; (vi.)
oyster shells; (vii.) the bones and other remains of animals,
some of which may be locally extinct; and (viii.) possibly other
relics.