Some Littoral Sites of Early Post-Glacial Times Located in North Ireland

In 1931 I described two newly-discovered stone age industries of post-glacial age situated in north-east Ireland which had been made by myself and worked in conjunction with my friend C. Blake Whelan: the one from the Lower Estuarine Clay on Islandmagee, and the other from what is probably a fluviatile gravel intercalated between the Upper and Lower Estuarine Clays in the raised-beach formation at Cushendun.The former of these cultures has its counterpart in the blade industry beneath alluvium in the Orwell Estuary at Ipswich, Suffolk; whilst the latter finds its parallel in the raised-beach at Campbeltown in Argyllshire, Scotland. Adopting the familiar culture-sequence of Central Europe I had previously designated these two groups as phases of the Magdalenian period, but, in order to avoid confusion between the time-periods and the nomenclature of continental cultures, I have decided to base my chronology of the north Irish industries upon the natural changes of climate revealed by a study of the deposits in which they were found. The industries to be described below were contemporary with the Mesolithic Forest Cultures distinguished by Childe and Clark over the plain of northern Europe.

Implements from the Higher Raised Beaches of Sussex

The Raised Beaches on the marine plain between Portsmouth and Brighton are well-known. With the lowest beach at Brighton we are not here concerned. The chief exposures of the so-called 100 ft. beach lie between Chichester and Arundel. In this area the rock platform of the marine plain consists of Chalk and Eocene, and these together with the overlying beach deposits are generally covered by Coombe Rock. The true beach consists of a shingle of varying degrees of coarseness, and though generally associated with a deposit of fine soft sand known locally as “lug sand,” the term “beach” will be used in this paper of the former deposit only.The implements here described have been obtained from four different beach exposures. Those at Pear Tree Knapp, East Hampnett, and in Aldingbourne Park clearly form part of a single beach, the surface of which ranges from 80 to 90 ft. above O.D. The fourth exposure in Slindon Park, where the beach reaches 135 ft. will be described separately (see Fig. 1). From this pit in 1912, Dr. Eliot Curwen obtained an Acheulean hand-axe, whilst Mr. Fowler has more recently described ten artefacts from the same site, though non e was found in situ.

A Bronze Age Spear-head found in Methwold Fen, Norfolk

Few regions have yielded so many bronzes as the East Anglian fens, yet accurate records of the circumstances of their discovery exist for a small fraction only of the finds. This is very regretable since this evidence is usually of far more importance been than the objects found. In the case of the Methwold spear-head it has to some extent recovered by the diligence of Major Gordon Fowler, F.S.A., who interviewed the discoverer, Mr. John Harrod of Methwold, and obtained the object for the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge. The only completely satisfactory method is an immediate visit to the site of a discovery, and in this the Fenland Research Committee, which is vitally interested in such finds, is always keen to co-operate.The site of the discovery may be found immediately below the “un” of Queen's Ground, Methwold Fen (Norfolk 6 in. sheet LXXXI, S.E., 1906 edtn.; Long. 0° 28′ 57″, Lat. 52° 30′ 29″). The spear-head itself (fig. 1) has loops at the junction of the socket and wings. Mr. Estyn Evans, F.S.A., to whom a photograph has been submitted, is of the opinion that this type marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in Britain, in which case it would date from approximately 1000 B.C.It would, perhaps, be more conventional to ascribe the spear-head to the end of the Middle Bronze Age.

Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Seacliff Cave, Scotland

It is perhaps rather late in the day to be describing an experience of twenty-nine years ago, but unless it is done now, possibly a unique relic of the past, though still in existence, may remain unknown to a large majority of antiquaries.It was on the 15th of April, 1905, that accompanied by Miss Outram, I started from North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland, on a voyage of discovery along the picturesque coast. Our goal was a cave opened out rather more than a hundred years ago by Mr. George Sligo, on his property of Seacliff, in the county of Haddington. According to tradition there was incontestable evidence that on this spot human sacrifices had been offered in the remote past. Fired by these dramatic accounts, we decided to seek out the cave for ourselves, and if possible, to test the accuracy of these statements.A short drive took us to Seacliff House, marked by a cross on fig. 1. In the foreground stands Tantallon Castle, the ruined stronghold of the Douglases, and in the cliff beyond the promontory on which the Castle stands is Seacliff Cave below the arrow (fig. 1).As we turned the corner in the winding descent from the cliff, it was an arresting scene which held us for amoment spell-bound. At the mouth of a cave, hollowed out in the red sandstone cliff, stood a large pear-shaped stone, with every appearance of an altar, raised upon an artificial mound (fig. 3). Its surface, which was approximately flat, was covered with a small blood-red plant, which had crept over it, and hanging down, seemed to drip over the edge, conjuring up with startling effect, the scene of some gruesome Pagan sacrifice. It was with feelings almost akin to awe that we entered the cave, where other remains were equally suggestive both of occupation and worship.