THE "RED HILLS" OF CANVEY ISLAND. 155
The evidence of DIII is confirmatory.
A number of fragmentary rims and bases of crude ware pots
were found on the various sites. The shape of these fragments
indicates that the standard pot was similar in form to a I2in.
bucket of about 2 gals. capacity. Such a form with sides of
uniform thickness throughout would be suitable for the evapora-
tion of sea-water, and the pots may have been combined in sets,10
placed in an open furnace for this purpose; it would be less
suitable for the storage of food-products.
A fourth hole DIV (4ft. by 2ft. wide by 4ft. deep) was dug
12 yards to the S.W. of DI. The results obtained corresponded
to those obtained at DIII.
May Avenue.
This site is 500 yards to the east of Blackmore Avenue. It is
situated on the upper slope of a low "hill" running north from
the sea-wall, and is 450 yards from the shore.
The objects found on the site are similar to those found at
Blackmore Avenue and belong to the same period. In a hole
dug in the side of the mound and near the top the burnt earth
was found to rest on a layer of sandy clay containing 60 per cent.
of sand; no red-floor was located. In a second hole, dug at a
point 30ft. further down the slope and near the dyke the soil at
3ft. depth was a brown loam containing 30 per cent. of sand;
fragments of tile and pottery were present, but no burnt earth.
At a point on the same line of "hill," 150 yards from the
shore and near the top, the soil at 1ft. depth was loam, con-
taining 40 per cent. of sand, and at 2ft. depth a loam with 10 per
cent. of sand; there was no pottery or burnt earth.
Leigh Beck Marsh.
A further Red-hill site was explored on the marsh just outside
the eastern limit of the modern sea-wall, near the bus terminus
at Leigh Beck. The area lies within the line of the old Dutch
wall, erected in the 17th century and destroyed by the sea fifty
years ago.
The site explored covers an area of several acres. It is covered
by the spring tides, and much of the surface has been disturbed
10 H. H. Swinnerton, "Prehist. Pottery Sites of the Lincolnshire Coast," Antiq. Journ.
1932, p. 251.