88 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
to us in Essex as hitherto Peterborough ware had been recorded
from only one site (Lion Point, Clacton) in our county.10
From this same pit I also obtained a bracer, the stone guard
worn on the left wrist by bowmen of the very early phase of the
Bronze Age to protect their wrists from the bow string. These
Beaker folk, as they are called, knew about metal, but probably-
possessed none of it. As neither the bracer nor the bit of Peter-
borough ware was found in situ (the workman obtained them
from the floor of the pit) it is not certain that they were con-
temporaneous but the man found them at the same time, so
it is very possible that they were contemporaneous. If so, the
find is another instance of the somewhat frequent fusing of the
Peterborough culture with that of the Beaker folk.11
It is clear from these finds that even so early as the 19th
century B.C. men who cultivated the soil to a certain extent,
had domesticated animals, and made pottery, must have visited
this part of Essex.
In the spring of 1932 Messrs. Durham and Burr took over
the field and started digging for gravel in a new portion of it;
and as the work was pressed forward vigorously a large amount
of gravel had in a short time been excavated. Thanks to
Messrs. Durham and Burr I obtained from the pit a fair amount
of broken bits of pottery, which were described by Mr. G. C.
Dunning in The Antiquaries Journal for January, 1933, and
April, 1934.
None of this pottery was found in situ, most of it being
picked up at the bottom of the pit, into which it had obviously
fallen from above: it dated from two periods, (1) Hallstatt
and (2) La Tene III, the pottery of the second period consisting
of coarse and finer ware (Belgic). The Hallstatt pottery was
made by hand of a ware containing much flint and quartz grit.
The La Tene III pottery was, as a rule, made on the wheel and
the Belgic portion of it was of a fine hard ware. Included in
the finds was a triangular weight, made of coarse clay and
weighing 61bs., for use with the loom. When found it was
intact, but the workman, curious to see if there was anything
inside it, broke it with his pick into three or four pieces. It has
been repaired and with most of the finds is now in Colchester
10 Neolithic Pottery. Piggott. The Archaeological Journal, 1931.
11 Neolithic Pottery. Piggott. The Archaeological Journal, 1931.