EXCAVATIONS IN PILLOW MOUNDS AT HIGH BEACH. 223
me that the pillow mounds would originally have been high
enough to be useful to rabbits, then you admit their antiquity.
Evidences of Date.—Passing from the objections to the
rabbit warren theory, we will now consider the positive evidences
of dating.
As the first general hint of notable antiquity I think the
lateral spread of the mounds is very suggestive. The change
from the original form is really a very big one, and I cannot think
it could happen so uniformly in mound after mound, except
through the lapse of many centuries.
Eliminating the debris of the present day tripper, which was
all definitely in the rabbit holes, we found no trace of the broken
clay pipes, beer bottles, or other items which workmen of half
a century ago might be expected to leave behind them.
That is negative. But on the positive side we did find the
Iron Age pottery; quite a number of pieces, all specifically of
one date. It may well be that the presence of this pottery is
accidental in the mound. That does not invalidate its evidence
for dating. Pottery of this class is not durable, and very soon
disintegrates and disappears unless buried contemporaneously
beneath the surface. If the soil were thrown up into mounds
to-day the mounds would contain bits of cocoanut shell, ginger-
beer bottle, even ladies' high heels (of which there were quite a
number in the rabbit holes), but not Iron Age pottery.
Again, Mr. Crawford independently, and without knowledge
of this information, strongly urges the association of the pillow
mounds with camps of the Early Iron Age at various localities
in six or seven counties.
As shown in the sections, the finish of the floor of the ditches
is not done in the ordinary manner of digging with an iron
spade, but rather as one would have to scrape the soil up on a
slope, with a wooden shovel. If I were throwing up banks like
these by spade work I should not do it as these are done, and I
do not think any workman would do so either.
Yet they appear to be remarkably uniform in finish all over
the country. The touch is suggestive of primitive ceremonial
of some sort.
Another possible item of evidence in favour of antiquity is
the fact that the mounds Q, R, and S are cut by the road, which
is therefore of later date than the mounds.