As a botanical field investigator for many years past interested in bogs and fens I have often had occasion to notice that these areas appeal very differently to different persons: to some I fear they do not appeal at all, and I fancy that many an archaeologist at heart prefers the dry chalk trench to the soaking black peat face. There are, however, such great advantages to be gained from the study of peat and lake-deposits in relation to archaeology that archaeologists increasingly realise the need for much fuller knowledge of the inherent character and properties of these deposits. Since such deposits are formed by the accumulation of plant-remains under water-logged conditions, and thus incorporate the remains of past generations of aquatic plant communities, it is evident that we shall need to consider the peat beds from the standpoint of the plant-ecologist already familiar with corresponding communities as they grow and form peat at the present day. It is therefore chiefly as an ecologist that I have sought to understand the problems offered by peat stratigraphy, and it is as such that I hope to convey something of the problems they concern.
