GEOLOGICAL AND PREHISTORIC TRAPS. 3
forms are found upon the "floor," and it is sometimes claimed
that these are of Mesolithic date. I think they are survivals.
Better evidence was furnished by a hearth site in loam near
Wrabness in the Stour Estuary, which was surrounded by a
quantity of flint work of Mesolithic technique. At another spot,
this time at Stone Point, I also found a closely associated group
of Mesolithic character in the loam underlying the "floor."
In both these cases we have associated groups of special
character found at a lower horizon, that is to say, there are two
separate lines of evidence pointing in the same direction, and it
seems unlikely that this should be misleading.
Turning to another aspect of the submerged land surface,
I formerly attempted to make the evidences fit the supposition
that this country has been submerged at a fairly uniform rate
of about a foot per century. But as, year by year, I accumulated
fuller evidences of the relics found at different levels upon the
undulating "floor" it became clear that the whole accessible
range of level from low to high tide was submerged as one event
during the "B" Beaker period; moreover, that this sub-
mergence of nearly four thousand years ago brought the land
down to its present level, instead of being nearly 40 feet higher
as it should be in accordance with a supposed submerge of one
foot per century. Moreover at Jaywick I recently saw the silting
of a former salt-water creek situated between present tide marks,
containing Scrobicularia in the position of life together with
much Red Hill briquetage, Belgic pottery, bones and remains
of timbering. This indicated a definite occupation of the site,
and that at two thousand years ago the land also stood at
approximately the same level as it does to-day.
The work of Dr. Godwin in the central Fenland has proved
a re-elevation during the Bronze Age after the Late Neolithic
submergence; and this in turn was followed by further sub-
mergence during the Iron Age. It is not yet clear that the
detailed history was the same in all districts.
In other places there is good evidence of submergence at
dates later than the above, so much detailed work is needed
before these problems can be solved.
Superficial Geology in Epping Forest.—I have found
the protected area of Epping Forest a useful one for the observa-