A NEOLITHIC FLOOR.
255
Although the salting is more or less covered by every high-
tide, the edge of the salting forms practically the boundary of
the high-water channel, and this has been eroded so as to leave
a steep bank about five or six feet high. The bare mud slope
between this and the low-water channel is known as the "cant,"
and it is at the top of this and the base of the eroded salting-
edge that the layer of peat occurs. This deposit is about one
foot in thickness, and shows prominently on account of its dark
rich colour as compared with the light grey river-silt in which
it has become buried, and owing also to the greater resistance
Fig. 5.—MAP OF HULLBRIDGE SITE.
which its tough substance offers to the wash of the tides.
(Plate XVI.)
A considerable quantity of this deposit was exposed, although
we were told that much of it had recently been washed away,
owing to severe storms. In it were standing many pieces of
wood, which on being dug out we found to be clearly the remains
of the roots and lower stems of trees, which had been growing
when the peat formed the surface. Many of these trees were
silver birch, the white bark of which was excellently preserved.
The most interesting feature was the number of well-formed
flint-flakes, which lay about profusely, and also many burnt