260
A NEOLITHIC FLOOR.
the filling of the little stream known as the Pod's Brook.5 In
the upper of these deposits, occurred the Early Iron Age objects
of the supposed Pile-dwelling site, which the Rev. J. W. Ken-
worthy has fully described.6 No objects of human agency
were discovered in the lower band of peat, but its position would
make the Neolithic period a very probable one for its formation.
There are many striking proofs of altered physical conditions
on the Essex Coast, though the evidence of changes brought
about by recent subsidence is, perhaps, not very conclusive.
The excavations carried out during the last few years in the
Red Hills7 show that these mounds, which date from one or two
centuries before the coming of the Romans, were formed on
ground which was tide-washed. Distinct seams of tidal silt
occur in the red earth, clearly showing that the tide came over
Fig. 9—diagram showing the supposed alteration of surface level.
them during their formation. Most of the Red Hills are now
enclosed by the sea walls, and it is computed that, owing to the
shrinkage of the land through enclosure, their level is several
feet lower than it was originally.
In spite of this, and the supposed subsidence of the coast,
it seems very doubtful whether the Red Hills at the present
time are below the level of the tides. In fact, some of them
that have been left on the open saltings remain high and dry,
save, perhaps, for quite exceptional tides. Lines of "settlings,"
round their base mark the limits of ordinary tides, while the
general area of the mound is grown with fresh grass, and in some
instances they bear ancient stetch-marks, showing that they are
sufficiently out of the reach of the salt-water to have been
cultivated.
5 Essex Naturalist. Vol. xiv., pp. 137-147.
6 Essex Naturalist. Vol xi., pp. 94-126.
7 Proc. Soc. Antiquaries, and Ser., vol. xxii., pp. 164-215 ; and Ser., vol. xxiii. pp. 66-97.