THE FOSSIL HORSE OF BISHOPS STORTFORD. 135
In Pleistocene times, the "Forest" type is said to have been
common in the South of England, Prof. Ewart having recog-
nized a skull, and also short broad limb-bones, such as are
characteristic of this variety. Drawings from Combarelles cave
(Commune of Tayac) seem to bring out all the characters of the
Forest type; while a drawing from La Madelaine emphasises
the chief peculiarities of the Steppe variety (E. prejvalskii), and
bones referable to the latter have been found in the Rhine valley.
One drawing from La Madelaine seems to represent the Celtic
type; for, besides having its general form, there are lines
apparently intended to indicate the peculiar and remarkable
tail-lock.
When the Romans first came to England, the Britons had
only small horses, too small to ride, but very swift under their
chariots. The Romans introduced, however, a larger breed,
which they had apparently got from the Gauls, who are said to
have imported a larger breed of horses from southern Europe
about the middle of the second century b.c.
Prof. Ewart says:
"The Bishop's Stortford horse differs from all the known wild horses of the
Pleistocene period—from, e.g., the small stout horse of the 'elephant' bed at
Brighton; the small slender-limbed horse of the Oreston Cavern, believed by
Owen to be an ass or a zebra; the Prejvalsky-like diluvial horse of Remagen ;
and the coarse-limbed horse of Westeregeln. On the other hand, the horse
described by Dr. Irving and figured in the Illustrated London News (June 5)
closely resembles a variety from Walthamstow, believed to be of Neolithic
or Bronze age. This Walthamstow horse was probably a blend of a 'forest' and
a 'steppe' variety, in which the broad-browed forest ancestors were dominant.
The limb-bones indicate that the Bishop's Stortford horse measured from 14 to
14.2 hands (56 to 58 inches) at the withers—several inches more than the
Walthamstow horses represented in the British Museum."
"It is generally assumed that the horse did not live under domestication in
Britain until the end of the Bronze or the beginning of the Iron Age, and that
the native British horses, up to the coming of Caesar, were too small to carry men.
The Bishop's Stortford horse was, however, as large and powerful as the
Galloways used in border raids. Should the Bishop's Stortford horse be
proved to be of Neolithic or Bronze age, we may have to modify our views as to
the size of the horses in the possession of the ancient Britons."
It is obvious from these conclusions of Prof. Ewart that the
Bishop's Stortford horse-bones present no characters which
would indicate their being of prehistoric age; on the contrary,
their agreement with the bones of modern horses points rather
to a much more modern origin.