The resemblance between the remains found in the Scottish and Irish lake-dwellings, as well as other antiquarian finds of Celtic character, must also not be overlooked. Combs, similar in structure and ornamentation to those from Buston, have been found in several of the Irish crannogs, in the brochs and other antiquities of the north of Scotland, and in many of the ruins of the Romano-British towns in England. (See Figs. 105, 108, and 176.) Iron knives and shears, variegated beads of impure glass with grooves and spiral marks, ornaments of jet and bronze, implements of stone, bone, and horn, besides querns, whetstones, etc., are all common to Celtic antiquities, wherever found.

That many of these relics were the products of a refined civilisation is not more remarkable than the unexpected and strangely discordant circumstances in which they have been found. For this reason it might be supposed that the crannogs were the headquarters of thieves and robbers, where the proceeds of their marauding excursions among the surrounding Roman provincials were stored up. The inferences derived from a careful consideration of all the facts do not appear to me to support this view, nor do they uphold another view, sometimes propounded, viz. that they were fortified islands occupied by the guardian soldiers of the people. Indeed, amongst the relics military remains are only feebly represented by a few iron daggers and spear-heads, one or two doubtful arrow-points, and a quantity of round pebbles and so-called sling-stones. On the other hand, a very large percentage of the articles consists of querns, implements and tools, crucibles, various domestic utensils, etc., from which, not to mention the great variety of ornaments, there can be no ambiguity as to the testimony they afford of the peaceful prosecution of various arts and industries by the lake-dwellers.

There is, in my opinion, only one hypothesis that can satisfactorily account for all the facts and phenomena here adduced, viz. that the lake-dwellings in the south-west of Scotland were resorted to by the Celtic inhabitants as a means of protecting their lives and movable property when, upon the frequent withdrawal of the Roman soldiers from the district, they were left, single-handed, to contend against the Angles on the east and the Picts and Scots on the north. It is not likely that these provincials, so long accustomed to the luxury and comforts of Roman civilisation, or their descendants in the subsequent kingdom of Strathclyde, would become the assailants of such fierce and lawless enemies, from whom, even if conquered, they could derive no benefit. Hence their military tactics and operations would assume more the character of defence than aggression, and in order to defeat the object of the frequent and sudden inroads of the northern tribes, which was to plunder the inhabitants rather than to conquer the country, experience taught them the necessity of being prepared for emergencies by having certain places of more than ordinary security where they could deposit their wealth, or to which they could retire as a last resource when hard pressed. These retreats might be caves, fortified camps, or inaccessible islands, but in localities where no such natural strongholds existed the military genius of the Celtic inhabitants, prompted perhaps by inherited notions, led them to construct these wooden islands. From the final departure of the Romans to the conquest of the kingdom of Strathclyde by the Northumbrian Angles, a period of several centuries, this unfortunate people had few intervals of peace, and with their complete subjugation ended the special functions of the lake-dwellings as a national system of protection. No doubt some of them, as well as caves and such hiding-places, would continue to afford refuge to straggling remnants of natives, rendered desperate by the relentless persecution of their enemies; but ultimately all of them would fall into the hands of their Saxon conquerors, when henceforth they would be allowed to subside into mud or crumble into decay.

III.—ENGLISH LAKE-DWELLINGS.

The discovery of lacustrine abodes south of the Scottish border, though the examples are by no means so numerous or so prolific in industrial remains as those of Scotland and Ireland, is, nevertheless, of special interest on account of the intermediary position in which England stands geographically to the areas of their earliest and latest development in Europe. It will be noticed that some of the recorded observations here reproduced were actually made before antiquaries realised the importance of the subject; otherwise it is impossible to conceive how such highly suggestive facts did not at once lead to more definite information.

THE MERES OF NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK.

Wretham Mere.—Sir Charles F. Bunbury, as early as 1856, noticed some appearances in a drained mere near Wretham Hall which clearly point to being the remains of a lake-dwelling. In a communication on the subject to the Geological Society he says:—

"Wretham Hall, the seat of W. Birch, Esq., is situated about six miles north of Thetford, in that extensive tract of open sandy plains which may be called upland in comparison with the fens, but of very moderate elevation above the sea-level as is shown by the slow course of the streams flowing from it. About Wretham there are several meres or small natural sheets of water without any outlet. The one to which my attention was particularly directed by Mr. Birch occupied about forty-eight acres, and was situated in a slight natural depression, the ground sloping gently to it from all sides. The water has been drawn off by machinery, for the purpose of making use, as manure, of the black peaty mud which formed the bottom. This black mud, which is in parts above twenty feet deep, is nothing else than a soft, rotten, unconsolidated peat; or perhaps it should be described as vegetable matter in a more complete state of decomposition than ordinary peat, showing no distinct trace of vegetable structure. Numerous horns of red deer have been found in this peaty mud, generally (as I was informed) at 5 or 6 feet below the surface, seldom deeper; many attached to the skull, others separate, and with the appearance of having been shed naturally. What is most remarkable, several of those which were found with the skulls attached had been sawn off just above the brow antlers—not broken, but cut off clean and smoothly, evidently by human agency. Some of the horns are of large size, measuring 9 inches round immediately below the brow antler....

"Numerous posts of oak-wood, shaped and pointed by human art, were found standing erect, entirely buried in the peat."

It appears that in 1851 a more remarkable "find" became visible on draining another mere on this same estate, though the events remained unrecorded till the years 1858 and 1862. The following notice is compiled mainly and almost verbatim from Mr. Newton's observations, which he states were directly obtained from Mr. Birch, the proprietor:—

In this mere (West Mere) there was ordinarily about four feet of water, and beneath it, about eight feet of soft black mud, partly held in suspension and requiring to be removed in scoops. Near the centre of the mere, lying below the black mud, was found a ring or circular bank of fine white earth, sufficiently solid to allow Mr. Birch to ride upon it without yielding to the weight of his pony. Outside this ring the bottom of the mere was so soft and deep as to be almost impassable until the mud was cleared away. The ring was some twenty or thirty feet across, a foot wide at the top, and about four feet in height. Not far from its inner circumference was a circular hole, about four feet and a half in diameter and some six feet deeper than the bottom of the mere. It was marked out by a circle of stout stakes or small piles, apparently of alder, and it bore traces of having been wattled. Between these two circles were the remains of a wall, about two feet high and consequently lower than the top of the ring, composed of flints packed together with marl or soft chalk. In the same place was some earth of a bright blue colour, which, when dried, crumbled to powder, and was not preserved, though traces were still to be seen on the bones. In this interspace a still greater number of bones was found, and also the remains of a much decayed ladder, the sides and rounds of which were 15 inches apart. The stakes were about four inches in diameter, very hard, as heavy as stone, and of a dark grey colour. The fragments of the ladder, on the contrary, were very rotten and light, but the remains of both, after being kept some time, exfoliated and crumbled entirely to dust. In and around this ring there lay a vast number of bones, of which no small portion were the upper parts of the skulls of Bos longifrons, with the horn cores attached, and many antlers of the red deer, either entire or in fragments. All the former, excepting one unusually large example, had a fracture the size of half-a-crown in the forehead (Babington). Of the deer's antlers, some have certainly been shed in the due course of nature; but others, on the contrary, have been separated from the head by sawing. Of the other bones found in West Mere, and I am told there were hundreds of them, most of the larger ones have been fractured at one or other extremity, doubtless in order to extract the marrow they contained. Another bone, and, as far as I can make out, the only one found which presents this peculiarity, has been polished on one side; but the reason why is not very obvious, unless it has served, as I before suggested in the case of a similar specimen, for a skate. I must add that no weapons or implements of metal which can be referred to a period at all remote were brought to light in this or any of the adjoining meres, but a great number of flint discs were found, which, according to the description I have received (for unfortunately none of them seem to have been preserved), must have closely resembled those known to the Danish antiquaries as "Sling-Stones," from the probable use made of them. (B. 46, p. 17.)

Barton Mere.—In 1869 the Rev. Harry Jones communicated a paper to the Suffolk Institute of Archæology and Natural History "on the discovery of some supposed vestiges of a pile-dwelling in Barton Mere, near Bury St. Edmund's," of which the following is an abstract:—

Barton Mere is situated in a natural depression, about four miles east of Bury St. Edmund's, and is mainly supplied by springs, but at some seasons water flows into it from the high land on the south, west, and north. When full it consists of about ten acres, and averages 7 feet in depth. On the north side of the mere there is a marly chalk, which, indeed, forms the main bottom of the mere, being overlaid with a dark clay deposit from 1 to 5 feet deep. The bottom layer of this deposit consists of a peaty coloured clay, so tenacious as to keep its shape upon the potter's wheel. Most of the bones and some fragments of pottery were found in this lower layer, which varies in thickness from a few inches to about a foot and a half. The mere is subject to occasional droughts. It has been dry at least four times in the last forty years. About thirty-eight years ago (1830), the mere being then dry, his grandfather, Mr. Quayle, who lived at Barton Mere, dug out a quantity of stuff for the purpose of laying it on the land. His digging resulted in a hole, which on two succeeding occasions when the water was low, saved enough to keep some of the fish alive, and provide a pond for the cattle. Bones and horns of deer, and several spear-heads and rings of bronze, were reported to have been found amidst six or seven stakes of wood sticking up out of the bottom and about as thick as the thin part of a man's leg.

The excavations conducted by Mr. Jones in 1867 were made by digging several holes about three feet square. In the first two holes nothing was found, but in the third an ox skull, broken bones, portions of pointed implements of bone, and a bronze socketed spear-head were disinterred. The latter, which was only 18 inches below the surface and above the peaty clay, measured 13 inches long and two inches at its widest part. The bones were of Bos longifrons, stag, pig, sheep or goat, large dog or wolf, urus (Bos primigenius), and hare. These were all in the peaty stratum. Beside, and along with the bones, were found two or three flint flakes, cores, and rude flint implements. There were several pieces of sandstone, burnt, with the mark of fire plainly upon them, and divers calcined flints. Also a fragment of a thin hand-made vessel. Besides the bones were several stags' antlers, one or two of which were gnawed, probably by dogs, and another had marks of some small-toothed animal, such as a rat. Others were cut by human hands. One antler had a hole rudely worked in it at its broadest part. There were also divers horns of the Bos longifrons, and, curiously enough, one of the vertebræ of a Saurian. The latter was a short distance off from the chief "find," and it was suggested that it might have been used as a hammer by some of the natives who brought it to the spot.

The portion of the "find" which caused most conjecture was, however, a fabric of stake and wattle. "I found one stake 2½ inches thick, and 2 feet long, lying close over the spot where we found most of the bones, but the fabric to which I now allude occurred some twenty-eight inches below the surface of the deepest part of the mere. The soil in the neighbourhood of it had been disturbed, so I took a spud and trowel and worked the thing out with my own hand. It resulted in an oval or egg-shaped structure of wattle, 5 feet 7 inches long, and 3 feet 10 inches wide. There were 14 uprights, varying from 2 to 2¾ inches in thickness, at nearly equal distances apart. Twigs and sticks were worked in these like the side of a very rough basket. At first I thought it might have been a sunken coracle, but on scooping out the clay with which it was filled, I found that the wattle ceased about 14 inches down, and that the uprights were merely stakes, from 21 to 27 inches long, driven originally into the chalk marl. The bottom of this fabric was filled with broken flints which were also found outside the lower part of the uprights and between them. The flints must have been put in, the points and edges of the points of the stakes being so sharp and clean that they could not have been driven through the bed of flints."

"The top of the wattle was on the level of the chalk marl, on which most of the bones, fragments of pottery, etc., were strewn, and which had been covered over to a depth of from 2 to 4½ feet of dark clay. No more stakes were found, but there occurred divers holes in the chalk marl, some of them nearly in line, in which we could not help thinking they might have once stood. Yet we found no remains of wood in these holes." (B. 161, p. 31.)

Professor Boyd Dawkins, under the heading "Habitations in Britain in the Bronze Age," writes as follows:—

"Sometimes, for the sake of protection, houses were built upon piles driven into a morass or bottom of a lake, as for example in Barton Mere, near Bury St. Edmund's, where bronze spear-heads have been discovered, one 13 inches long, among piles and large blocks of stone, as in some of the lakes in Switzerland. Along with them were vast quantities of the broken bones of the stag, roe, wild boar, and hare, to which must also be added the urus, an animal proved to be wild by its large bones, with strongly-marked ridges for the attachment of muscles. The inhabitants also fed upon domestic animals—the horse, short-horned ox, and domestic hog, and in all probability the dog, the bones of the last-named animal being in the same fractured state as those of the rest. Fragments of pottery were also found. The accumulation may be inferred to belong to the late, rather than the early, Bronze Age, from the discovery of a socketed spear-head. This discovery is of considerable zoological value, since it proves that the urus was living in Britain in a wild state as late as the Bronze Age. It must, however, have been very rare, since this is the only case of its occurrence at this period in Britain with which I am acquainted." ("Early Man in Britain," p. 352.)

LAKE-DWELLINGS IN THE FENLAND.

The discovery of so many submarine dwellings in Holland and the adjacent coasts of Germany which I have already described suggests that similar remains might be found in the Fens and other low-lying districts in Britain. The only reference, however, to such dwellings with which I am acquainted is the following short notice by Mr. Skertchly:—

"I detected the remains of one (lake-dwelling) at Crowland in the year 1870, during some excavations. The piles were of sallow planted very closely together, upon these was laid brushwood, and over this a layer of gravel. Immense quantities of bones, chiefly of the Keltic shorthorn, were found, together with a few bone implements, and a curious ornament of jet. Near Ely, stakes have been found in the peat, but they do not seem to belong to a lake-dwelling." ("The Fenland Past and Present," by Miller and Skertchly. 1878.)

PILE-STRUCTURES IN LONDON.

On December 18th, 1866, Col. Lane Fox (now General Fox-Pitt-Rivers) read a paper at the Anthropological Society entitled, "A Description of certain Piles found near London Wall and Southwark, possibly the Remains of Pile-Buildings."

The author commenced by observing that his attention was directed to this locality by a short paragraph in the Times of the 20th October, stating that upwards of twenty cart-loads of bones had been dug out of the excavations which were being made for the foundations of a wool warehouse near London Wall. The excavation commenced at 40 yards south of the street pavement: therefore, in all probability, at about 70 or 80 yards from the site of the old wall. The area then excavated was of an irregular oblong form, 61 yards in length, running north and south, and 23 yards wide.

A section of the soil consisted of—

"1. Gravel similar to Thames ballast at a depth of 17 feet towards the north, inclining to 22 feet towards the south end.

"2. Above this, peat of unequal thickness, varying from 7 to 9 feet.

"3. Modern remains of London earth composed of the accumulated rubbish of the city."

Between the bottom of the peat and the highest spring tide water-mark, as at present existing, there is a margin of 5 feet; but, of course, this might have been different in Roman times.

Regarding the remains of piles in this locality the author makes the following observations:—

"Upon looking over the ground, my attention was at once attracted by a number of piles, the decayed tops of which appeared above the unexcavated portions of the peat, dotted here and there over the whole of the space cleared. I noted down the positions of all that were above ground at the time; and as the excavations continued during the last two months, I have marked from time to time the positions of all the others as they became exposed to view.

"Commencing on the south, a row of them ran north and south on the west side, to the right of these a curved row, as if forming part of a ring. Higher up and running obliquely across the ground was a row of piles, having a plank about an inch and a half thick and a foot broad placed along the south face, as if binding the piles together. To the left of these another row of piles ran east and west; to the north-east again were several circular clusters of piles; these were not in rings but grouped in clusters, and the piles were from eight to sixteen inches apart. To the left of this another row of piles and a plank two inches thick ran north and south. There were two other rows north of this and several detached piles, but no doubt several towards the north end had been removed before I arrived.

"The piles averaged 6 to 8 inches square; others of smaller size measured 4 inches by 3; and one or two were as much as a foot square. They appeared to be roughly cut, as if with an axe, and pointed square; there was no trace of iron-shoeing on any of them, nor was there any appearance of metal fastenings in its planks; they may have been tied to the piles, but if so, the binding material had decayed.[120] The grain of the wood was still visible in some of them, and they appear to be of oak. The planks averaged from one to two inches thick. The points of the piles were inserted from one to two feet in the gravel, and were, for the most part, well preserved, but all the tops had rotted off at about two feet above the gravel, which I conclude must have been the surface of the ground, or of the water, at the time these structures were in existence."

These relics were exclusively found in the peat or middle stratum (which varied from 7 to 9 feet in thickness), and "interspersed at different levels from top to bottom throughout it."

"Amongst the articles of human workmanship found in the peat the vast majority are undoubtedly of the Roman era. Amongst them are quantities of broken red Samian pottery, mostly plain, but some of it depicting men and animals in relief; one specimen is stamped with the name of Macrinus. All this pottery, in the opinion of Mr. Franks, to whom I showed it, is of foreign manufacture. Other samples are of the kind supposed to have been manufactured in the Upchurch Marshes in Kent, and upon the site of St. Paul's Churchyard. Bronze and copper pins, iron knives, iron and bronze stylus, tweezers, iron shears, a piece of polished metal mirror so bright that you may see your face in it (this Dr. Percy has pronounced to be of iron pyrites, white sulphuret of iron without alloy), an iron double-edged hatchet, an iron implement, apparently for dressing leather, a piece of bronze vessel, and other bronze and iron implements, which, thanks to the preserving properties of the peat, are all in excellent preservation. Amongst these were also a quantity of leather soles of shoes or sandals, some apparently much worn, and others, being thickly studded with hob-nails, may be recognised as the caliga of the Roman legions; also a piece of tile with the letters P. PR. BR. stamped upon it. Specimens of these are on the table. The coins found are those of Nerva, Vespasian, Trajan, Adrian, and Antoninus Pius....

"In addition to the Roman relics above mentioned, others of ruder construction remain to be described. They consist of what, in the absence of any evidence respecting their uses, may be called handles and points of bone. The former are composed of the metacarpal bones of the red-deer and Bos longifrons cut through in the middle, and roughly squared at the small end; the others, which are called by the workmen spear-heads, are pointed at one end and hollowed out at the other, as if to receive a shaft. Both Professor Owen and Mr. Blake concur in thinking these implements may possibly have been formed with flint, but I cannot ascertain that they were found at a lower level than the Roman remains, nor have any flint implements, to my knowledge, been found in the place. With them were also found the two bone skates on the table; they are of the metacarpal bone of a small horse or ass, one of which has been much used on the ice. Exactly similar skates also of the metacarpal of the horse or ass have been found in a tumulus of the Stone Period at Oosterend in Friesland; a drawing of them is given in Lindenschmit's Catalogue of the Museum at Mayence, etc. Others have also been found in Zeeland, at Utrecht, and in Guelderland, and there is a specimen in the Museum at Hanover. Professor Lindenschmit attributes all these to the Stone Period, but the specimens on the table are evidently of the Iron Age, the holes in the back having been formed for the insertion of an iron staple. Similar skates have been found in the Thames, but they have not hitherto been considered to date so early in England as in Roman times."

Throughout the peat were several kitchen-middens. One, deposited a foot and a half above the gravel, is thus described:—"A layer of oyster and mussel shells about a foot thick, with a filtration of carbonate of lime permeating through the moss. In this kitchen-midden, Roman pottery and a Roman caliga were found. Close by, the point of a pile, part of which is exhibited, was found upright in the peat; it had been driven in in such a manner that the point descends to the level of the kitchen-midden and no farther. Now, as a pile, in order to obtain a holding, must have been driven at least two feet in the ground, it is evident the peat must have grown at least one foot above the summit of the kitchen-midden before this pile was driven in."

A second kitchen-midden is noted at a height of 3½ feet above the gravel, "composed of oyster, cockle, and mussel shells, and periwinkles, with Roman pottery and bones of the goat and Bos longifrons, etc., split lengthwise as if to extract the marrow, with the skulls broken and the horns cut off. It is about a foot and a half thick in the centre, thinning out towards the ends as a heap of refuse would naturally do, and from 12 to 14 feet long; above this is peat for about a foot or a foot and a half, and above the peat another kitchen-midden of the same kind as the preceding. Lastly, the soles of shoes and Roman pottery of the same kind as that found lower down have been taken out at the very top of the peat."

The distinguished investigator, being anxious to obtain further evidence as to the thickness of the stratum in which the Roman remains were found, states that he determined to watch the workmen for four or five hours together during several successive days, while they dug from top to bottom, commencing with the superficial earth, and passing through the peat to the gravel below. The result was as follows:—"Roman red Samian ware is found as high as 13 feet from the surface, but very rarely, and in small quantities. At 15 feet it is frequently found, and from that depth it increases in quantity till the gravel is reached at 18 to 21 feet. The chief region of Roman remains is within two or three feet of the gravel."

Amongst the animal remains were, according to Professor Owen, those "of the horse or ass, the red deer, the wild boar, the wild goat (bouquetin), the dog, the Bos longifrons, and the roebuck. The horns of the roebuck, I afterwards ascertained, were all found at a higher level. These, and also the horse and goat, entered the superficial earth, in which glazed pottery was also found; but the remainder, including the red deer, wild boar, and Bos longifrons, appeared, so far as my observations enabled me to judge, to be confined to the peat."

Subsequently Mr. Carter Blake identified amongst these osseous remains no less than four different kinds of the genus Bos—viz. primigenius, trochoceros, longifrons, and frontosus; as also a specimen of the ibex of the Pyrenees.

Some human skulls were found in the lowest formation of the peat, or immediately over the gravel. Along with these skulls only three other human bones were found; but this, according to the author, might not be the result of an oversight, as both the Celts and the Romans were known to have practised decapitation.

The piles at the south end were identified as elm, the remainder were oak (Quercus robur).

From the above carefully observed and recorded facts it will be observed that in addition to the primary piles which were inserted into the gravel there were others which did not penetrate so deeply, one having been carefully noted which terminated in the peat a foot and a half above the gravel. Facts precisely similar have been observed in almost all pile-dwellings whether on land or in water, showing that the elevations on which the platforms and huts were reared were successively renewed. Another conclusion which we are entitled to draw from the character of the relics and the conditions in which they were found is that in the low-lying districts of London the system of pile-dwellings was known in Britain in post-Roman times. Nor can it be said that this was a solitary instance, for similar remains were found in New Southwark Street, in regard to which the author writes as follows:—

"The piles are of the same scantling, also of oak, but somewhat longer than those of London Wall; the points are driven into the gravel; the peat is three to four feet thick; large beams of the same size as the piles have been laid across them horizontally, and Roman pottery is found at all depths in the peat. Judging from the extent over which these piles have been discovered, there can be little doubt that in digging for the foundations of the many large warehouses and other buildings that are now being built within this district the remains of early habitations are constantly turning up and are destroyed without receiving attention."

As to the relics from these London pile-dwellings let me finally observe, that, to a certain extent, both in character and surrounding conditions they correspond with those from the Terp mounds in Holland and North Germany, from which it is probable the earliest Anglo-Saxon invaders hailed.

CRANNOG IN LLANGORSE LAKE, NEAR BRECON, SOUTH WALES.

Only one lake-dwelling has hitherto been recorded in Wales, viz. that of Llangorse. The partial exploration to which it has been subjected was undertaken by the Rev. Mr. Dumbleton, and the results are recorded by him in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1870 and 1872. (B. 173.) The following extracts from these reports clearly show that the island was entirely artificial and constructed after the manner of the Scottish and Irish crannogs. Its structural features were well seen in the surrounding stockades and log-floorings, while the heaps of charcoal, remains of food-refuse, and other indications point to a prolonged period of human occupancy. Mr. Dumbleton states that until about seven years ago, when the lake was artificially lowered a foot and a half, this island was not half its present size. He then advances various evidences to show that formerly the level of the water was still lower, when, therefore, the island would have been larger than now. This opinion may be, and probably is, correct; but we must remember that another factor has to be taken into account when discussing the invariable submergence of these islands, viz. their own pressure on a yielding lake sediment, together with the decay of the brushwood and other organic materials which generally formed their under strata. It is to be regretted that no relics were found on this island, and I cannot help thinking that, in the circumstances, a more careful search would have furnished some scraps of the handiwork of its occupiers. From the description it is clear that metal tools were used in manipulating the woodwork, but otherwise, and in the absence of any historical notice, we have no means of determining either the age of this singular lacustrine abode or the social condition of its inhabitants.

"Immediately beneath the southern spurs of the Black Mountains, and in the hollow of the great geological fracture which parts that chain from the Brecknockshire Beacons, is situated a sheet of water now called the Lake of Llangorse. Its name was formerly Llyn Savathan, or the lake of the sunken land. The area of water was once far more extensive than it is now; and it has subsequently been, as I think, considerably less than at present. A circuit of five miles will now enclose it. The margin is flat and swampy, except on the north-east, where the mountain descends upon the shore-line somewhat abruptly. The depth, though by vulgar report vast and fearful, Leland has rather overstated in assigning to it thirteen fathoms."

"Within a bow-shot of the flat meadows on the north side there is an island that would appear but little above the water, were it not for some small trees and brushwood that have fastened upon it.

"Sailing by the island one day in 1867, I observed that the stones which stand out on the south and east sides were strangely new looking, and most unlike the water-worn, rounded fragments that on the main shore have been exposed to the action of the waves; neither did there seem to be any original rock-basis at all. It was, in fact, nothing less than a huge heap of stones thrown into water two or three feet in depth. Was this the key, I thought, to the old tradition of a city in the lake? In the summer of last year, my brother, then living in the neighbourhood, first discovered a row of piles or slabs; some standing a few inches above water, for the lake was very low. We have together made some investigations during the past month, the results of which I will detail.

"The island, as now above water, measures 90 yards in circumference, its form being that of a square with the corners rounded off. The highest part is nearly in the centre, and is 5 feet above the water-level. The sides most exposed to weather, where also the water is deepest, are composed of stones sloping into the water, and extending to the distance of fifteen yards from the edge. Under the water, however, they are not nearly so thickly strewn as above. It is remarkable that on the leeward or northern side, about one quarter of the island is almost destitute of stone protection with which the greater part is covered. There is simply a surface of vegetable mould, inclined towards the water. Neither in the water, which is there very shallow, are there more than a score of stones to be found on that side. I must now speak of the piles. These are of two sorts, the most obvious being either at the margin or within a few feet of it. Like the stones, they are most numerous where the action of the storm would be most felt, and upon the shallow side they disappear entirely. They have been disposed in segments of circles, the stones being heaped inside them, and thus saved from being torn away by the waves. These piles (or rather slabs) are of cleft oak, and have been pointed, as it seems, by cuts from a metal adze. We have counted about sixty. They have been driven tightly into the shell-marl, to the depth of four feet. There are also other piles, which are round, generally of soft wood, and are found outside the present edge of the island. Several are in water two feet deep, and are driven into the marl only twelve or eighteen inches. These would have been quite powerless to confine the stones, and were evidently for another purpose.... Is it not likely that the island itself was central common ground? and that the habitations were projected from its edge towards the water and were supported by these thick round piles? Something like a ring of these is found near the oak slabs before mentioned; and traces of a second set are at the distance of twelve or fifteen yards, in water about two feet deep. Between the two, small wood is found abundantly, a few inches in the marl. At about ten yards from the shore, and in two feet of water, there appear to be the actual remains of a sunken platform. Three trunks of soft wood lie nearly parallel to one another. A 6 feet stem of oak, which I cannot account for, was with them. The top of this we sawed off, as it exhibits the marks of some heavy cutting instrument where, in modern days, a saw would have been used.

"I have to add to this subject the discovery of two much more perfect platforms in a perplexing situation, namely, within the oak slabs. They were composed of eight straight trunks, about six inches in diameter, lying side by side. Their direction is from the centre to the water; their ends, towards the shore, are thrust against the slab piles; others are closed in one case by a transverse oak beam....

The examination of the interior would, of course, unfold the process of the construction. We therefore made several perpendicular openings; and these invariably led us down to the shell-marl, showing first a stratum of large, loose stones, with vegetable mould and sand; next (about eighteen inches above the marl), peat, black and compact; and beneath this, the remains of reeds and small wood. This faggot-like wood presented itself abundantly all round the edges of the island, and in the same relative position, namely, immediately upon the soft marl; the object of it being, of course, to save the stones from sinking.

"On digging through the before-mentioned low portion of the crannog a different order of materials exhibited itself. As I said, the stones are very few; the depth is 3 feet instead of 5; 18 inches of vegetable mould; 6 inches of earth mixed thickly with charcoal; and 1 foot of peat, small wood or reeds. I may here say that this charcoal is found under water, in very frequent small fragments, on this north-eastern side; and is covered, not with marl or stones, but with sand. Bones are found in numbers amongst the stones where the water is quite shallow; every spadeful of marl, in some parts, would, as the water dripped off, show one or more small bone fragments or teeth."

The osseous remains were more or less identified by Professors Owen, Rolleston and Boyd Dawkins as belonging to Bos longifrons, horse (small and large variety), red deer, and wild boar.

LAKE-DWELLINGS IN BERKS, ETC.

In 1878, Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., communicated to Nature a short notice of "English Lake-Dwellings and Pile-Structures," in which, after drawing attention to the previously published articles of General Lane Fox and Sir Charles Bunbury, he writes as follows:—

"Since writing the above I have been informed that Mr. W. M. Wylie, F.S.A., referred to this fact in Archæologia, vol. xxxviii., in a note to his excellent memoir on lake-dwellings. I can add, however, that remains of Cervus elaphus (red deer), C. dama? (fallow deer), Ovis (sheep), Bos longifrons (small ox), Sus scrofa (hog), and Canis (dog), were found here, according to information given me by the late C. B. Rose, F.G.S., of Swaffham, who also stated in a letter dated August 11th, 1856, that in adjoining meres, or sites of ancient meres, as at Saham, Towey, Carbrook, Old Buckenham, and Hargham, cervine remains have been met with; thus at Saham and Towey, Cervus elaphus (red deer); at Buckenham, Bos (ox) and Cervus capreolus (roebuck); at Hargham, Cervus tarandus (reindeer).

"The occurrence of flint implements and flakes in great numbers on the site of a drained lake between Sandhurst and Frimley, described by Captain C. Cooper King in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, January, 1873, p. 365, etc., points also in all probability to some kind of lake-dwelling, though timbers were not discovered.

"Lastly, the late Dr. S. Palmer, F.S.A., of Newbury, reported to the Wiltshire Archæological Society in 1869 that oaken piles and planks had been dug out of boggy ground on Cold Ash Common, near Faircross Pond, not far from Hermitage, Berks." (B. 312, p. 424.)

The following is Dr. Palmer's notice of the pile-structures at Cold Ash Common above referred to:—

"Recurring to the antiquities of the peat proper, I would refer to the subject of lake-dwellings. I do not despair of finding them in our neighbourhood, for I believe traces of them have been found near Cold Ash, some such structure having been uncovered in digging bog-earth for horticultural purposes. It was circular, measuring 30 feet across, and the planks were 16 to 18 feet in length, roughly hewn, and with beams crossing from side to side, and resting on the piles. There was also a kind of causeway to it. It was on the borders of a morass, the resort of wild fowl within the memory of man. The general appearance of the valley at this place leads me to surmise that it was not long since covered with water; there is still a pond in the centre. The bog-earth had been carted away before I heard of the discovery, so that I had no chance of examining it for animal or other remains."

The editor of the Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club adds the following note to the above extract:—

"Mr. Walter Money, F.S.A., has gathered some information about this interesting relic of the past. It is situated on a part of what was Cold Ash Common ... and has long been known as 'Wild Duck Pond;' it is now an oval piece of water, not much more than 20 feet across, surrounded by arable land.

"About thirty years ago, before the Common was enclosed, the season being dry, the 'Wild Duck Pond' was cleared by Mr. Whiting, of Longlane Gate, who thought the accumulated soil or mud might be useful on the land. After the removal of the top soil, some rough timber framing was met with, lying across the centre of the pit, forming, it would seem, a rude platform. A space was cleared about ten feet deep, where a heavy log of oak was found lying across from side to side. This was not removed. The work was then abandoned; the soil taken out being found to be of no use to the land. About thirteen years ago, the excavation was repeated by Mr. Lancaster, the then tenant of this part of Col. Loyd-Lindsay's property; but the investigation was not pursued far, and the water having flowed into the digging, 'Wild Duck Pond' was again restored nearly to its former condition." (Trans. of Newbury District Field Club, vol. ii. p. 148.)

Remains suggestive of a pile-structure were also observed by Mr. Dolby in 1870 in one of the ponds at Fence Wood, near Hermitage. Here in digging they found "a sort of pyramidal dwelling beneath the ground, the roof being covered with clay about a foot thick. This roof was supported by a large piece of timber, some twenty-six feet long, which they had got out. There were causeways there also at a depth of fifteen or sixteen feet. The water had long since rushed in and filled up the excavation, so that nothing further is known of this place." (Ibid., vol. i. p. 123.)

LAKE-DWELLINGS IN HOLDERNESS, COUNTY OF YORK.

The discovery of lake-dwellings in Holderness is due to Mr. Thomas Boynton, Bridlington (lately of Ulrome Grange), whose attention was first directed to the subject in the spring of 1880. Previous to the excavation of a great drainage scheme about the beginning of the present century this district appears to have been intersected by a series of sinuous and irregularly shaped lakes, whose surplus waters partly found an outlet, not in the present artificially constructed channels which convey them directly into the German Ocean, but in quite a different direction, along a sluggish watercourse, still extant, which falls into the Humber near Hull. That this latter was in former times the natural drainage course of the entire waters of Holderness is the opinion of Mr. Boynton and other geologists with whom I had the pleasure of discussing the matter. Mr. G. W. Lamplugh believes that the Gypsey Race—a stream which now enters the sea at Bridlington—at some former period continued its course through this chain of lakes and finally debouched by the same route into the Humber. The natural causes which have effected this great change in the hydrographical conditions of Holderness are to be found in the steadily progressing encroachment of the sea on the land, which here goes on at a very rapid rate. When the sea lay many miles farther off, which undoubtedly was the case in former times, it is supposed that the intervening land stood somewhat higher, and that consequently Holderness was a complete water-basin, with its outlet towards the Humber. But as the sea advanced, gradually undermining and washing away the soft glacial deposits which here form its shores, this natural basin became, as it were, tapped in the middle and so allowed the waters of its upper reaches to escape directly into the sea—a process precisely analogous to that by which its final drainage was effected by human agencies.

Nor is this opinion based exclusively on geological considerations, as we have positive historical proofs in the early annals of the country that formerly towns existed whose sites are now far out in the sea. Thus Mr. Poulson ("History of Holderness," p. 467) states that "the writer of the chronicle of the Abbey of Meaux, in lamenting the losses which the abbey had sustained, observes that they received nearly £30 from the town of Hythe, in the parish of Skipsea, chiefly from the tithe of fish; but now, says he, 1396, the place is totally destroyed—a proof that it was gone into the sea before the commencement of the fifteenth century." The lake of Withou, which is recorded as having paid tithe for its fish in 1288 (Ibid., 468), is not only at present completely drained, but more than half of its bed is washed away, and the sea beach, which runs right across it, presents a most instructive section of its sedimentary deposits and subsequent growth of peat.

From these remarks it will be seen that, in estimating the precise physical conditions that prevailed when the lacustrine abodes I am now about to describe were constructed, we have to deal with problems of a somewhat discursive character, and which, consequently, lie beyond the scope of this work. It is clear, however, that, previous to its artificial drainage, the district was overspread with a succession of shallow lakes and marshes, pre-eminently well adapted for the construction of lake-dwellings. The lakes are now gone and instead of them we have artificial drains winding along the lowest portions of their former beds. It is along the steep banks of these sluggish water-channels that Mr. Boynton has detected, in various places, piles and transverse beams, which he justly considers to be the remains of ancient lake-dwellings. Up to the present time indications of five stations have been observed, which for facility of reference the discoverer names as follows—(1) West Furze, (2) Round Hill, (3) Barmston, (4) Gransmoor, and (5) Little Kelk.

These are situated at considerable intervals from each other, varying from half a mile to two or three miles, and as they are deeply buried their investigation entails a considerable amount of labour and expense. It is only the stations at West Furze and Round Hill that have as yet been subjected to anything like a systematic exploration. A few years ago Mr. Boynton at his own expense carried out a series of excavations at the former station by which its character has been satisfactorily determined, and subsequently he has undertaken to examine the second with a grant from the Society of Antiquaries; but these works are not yet completed, and at present they are entirely suspended owing to the volume of water in the drain.

I may state that I have on several occasions visited the locality and so became practically conversant with the general features of these discoveries. Moreover, for the special object of this work, Mr. Boynton has freely placed all the materials in his possession at my disposal and given me permission to add to my notes the accompanying illustrations of a few of the more interesting objects.

West Furze.—This was the first discovered, and the circumstances that led to the discovery are thus described by Mr. Boynton (B. 373, p. 300):—

"In the spring of the year 1880 the Commissioners of Beverley and Barmston Drainage found it necessary to deepen one of these drains (the branch called the Skipsea drain).

"A short time after this was done I was walking in one of my fields adjoining, and picked up some perforated bone implements. I shortly afterwards had the earth, which had been excavated at this place, turned over, and found more implements of the same class. Also two made from the antlers of the red-deer, and a small piece of red ochre, with several stones which bear traces of having been utilised.

"In the month of May, 1881, the water in the drain at that time being very low, and having obtained the services of half a dozen men accustomed to similar work, I had the water dammed, and dug through peat to a bed of gravel, 9 feet 6 inches from the surface.

"We found three more perforated bone implements, all in the side of the drain, and at the depth of 7 feet, also several stakes and piles with remains of brushwood. I then determined, when opportunity offered, to excavate in the field, and proceeded to do so in December last (1881). We commenced by digging a trench parallel with the drain and 60 feet in length. This trench and the drain formed two sides of a square, running north and south."

Subsequently Mr. Boynton cleared out the entire enclosure thus marked out by these primary trenches and found the whole of it to be occupied with an artificial structure of wood like the so-called fascines of Switzerland or the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland. The depth of decayed brushwood was very considerable, and it was pierced here and there with upright piles. At the margin these piles were thicker, and in one place, the south-east corner, he states that they met with great "numbers of stakes, with some brushwood, the earth being a peaty marl." Further progress from this point is thus described:—

"When clear of the slope there is a decided layer of brushwood about two feet thick, also studded with stakes, and along the inner side of the south trench we found a number of piles from 5 to 7 inches in diameter, in a line, and mostly upright. One of these we got out quite perfect. It is of oak wood, 4 feet in length, 6 inches in diameter, and has a forked top which has apparently been intended for carrying a horizontal beam or support. The piles are about 4 feet apart. One had given way and had been replaced.

"As the trench is not exactly in a line with the piles, several are now left standing and partially exposed. In this portion of the digging we found several bones of animals, a peculiar grinding-stone of whinstone or granite, almost semicircular in shape, 12 inches long by 7 broad, a flint core, a stone with the centre hollowed, a hammer-stone, and two fragments of rude pottery.

"Hazel nuts are numerous; several I have picked out appear to have been opened by squirrels."

The drain appears to have intersected the woodwork, and as the excavations were confined to one side, the exact dimensions of the lake-dwelling cannot be stated. Its length was approximately about 70 feet, and its breadth probably one-third less. On my first inspection of the locality after these excavations had been completed I was struck with the narrowness of the lacustrine area in which the structure was reared. From the nature of the adjacent ground it was readily seen that the lake widened very considerably both above and below; but here it was so contracted that the woodwork appeared to occupy the entire breadth of the waterway—a fact which suggested to me the idea of its being a bridge or military stronghold. However, on closer inspection I saw that the accumulation of rain-wash had considerably encroached on the original bed of the lake, and I am satisfied that there would be, in former times, sufficient space for giving to the dwelling a complete insular character.

The following relics, now in the possession of Mr. Boynton, were collected in the course of the investigations:—

Horn and Bone.—The perforated bone implements (Fig. 176a, Nos. 1 and 2), of which not less than eighteen were collected, are the most remarkable objects. They all consist of the articulate extremities of the long bones of some large bovine animals, with the exception of two, one of which was the thick end of a scapula and the other a cervical vertebra. The latter was not manipulated, and the reason it is here classified as an implement is that a portion of a wooden handle, which had been inserted into the spinal aperture, still remained. In this manner the vertebra became a formidable weapon, which, when used as a club or skull-cracker, could scarcely be matched by any work of art. I am of opinion that all these perforated bone implements were simply warlike weapons. Three handpicks, made from the horns of the red deer—the brow antler forming the pick and the body of the horn, stripped of its antlers, the handle. Also a club, or broken pick, and several portions of worked tines.