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diff --git a/43597-0.txt b/43597-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27ea5ee --- /dev/null +++ b/43597-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1523 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43597 *** + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. + + + + +Notes on the Fenland + +by +T. McKENNY HUGHES, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.S.A. +Woodwardian Professor of Geology + +with + +A Description of the Shippea Man + +by +ALEXANDER MACALISTER, M.A., F.R.S., M.D., Sc.D. +Professor of Anatomy + + +Cambridge: +at the University Press +1916 + +CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS +C. F. CLAY, MANAGER +London: FETTER LANE, E.C. +Edinburgh: 100 PRINCES STREET + +New York: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS +Bombay, Calcutta and Madras: MACMILLAN AND Co., Ltd. +Toronto: J. M. DENT AND SONS, Ltd. +Tokyo: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +GEOGRAPHY OF THE FENLAND 1 + +SUBSIDENCE OF THE VALLEY OF THE CAM 2 + +TURBIFEROUS AND ARENIFEROUS SERIES 3 + +ABSENCE OF ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS IN TURBIFEROUS SERIES 6 + +ABSENCE OF PEAT IN ARENIFEROUS SERIES 6 + +FEN BEDS NOT ALL PEAT 7 + +SECTIONS IN ALLUVIUM 7 + +PEAT; TREES ETC.: TARN AND HILL PEAT; SPONGY PEAT AND +FLOATING ISLANDS; BOG-OAK AND BOG-IRON 13 + +MARL: SHELL MARL AND PRECIPITATED MARL 17 + +THE WASH: COCKLE BEDS (Heacham): BUTTERY CLAY (Littleport) 18 + +LITTLEPORT DISTRICT 18 + +BUTTERY CLAY 19 + +THE AGE OF THE FEN BEDS 20 + +PALAEONTOLOGY OF FENS 20 + +BIRDS 25 + +MAN 27 + +DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIPPEA MAN BY PROF. A. MACALISTER 30 + + + + +GEOGRAPHY OF THE FENLAND. + + +The Fenland is a buried basin behind a breached barrier. It is the +"drowned" lower end of a valley system in which glacial, marine, +estuarine, fluviatile, and subaerial deposits have gradually +accumulated, while the area has been intermittently depressed until +much of the Fenland is now many feet below high water in the adjoining +seas. + +The history of the denudation which produced the large geographical +features upon which the character of the Fenland depends needs no long +discussion, as there are numerous other districts where different +stages of the same action can be observed. + +In the Weald for instance where the Darent and the Medway once ran off +higher ground over the chalk to the north, cutting down their channels +through what became the North Downs, as the more rapidly denuded beds +on the south of the barrier were being lowered. The character of the +basin is less clear in this case because it is cut off by the sea on +the east, but the cutting down of the gorges _pari passu_ with the +denudation of the hinterland can be well seen. + +The Thames near Oxford began to run in its present course when the land +was high enough to let the river flow eastward over the outcrops of +Oolitic limestones which, by the denudation of the clay lands on the +west, by and by stood out as ridges through which the river still holds +its course to the sea--the lowering of the clay lands on the west +having to wait for the deepening of the gorges through the limestone +ridges. A submergence which would allow the sea to ebb and flow through +these widening gaps would produce conditions there similar to those of +our fenlands. So also the Witham and the Till kept on lowering their +basin in the Lias and Trias, while their united waters cut down the +gorge near Lincoln through a barrier now 250 feet high. + +The basin of the Humber gives us an example of a more advanced stage in +the process. The river once found its way to the sea at a much higher +level over the outcrops of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks west of Hull, +cutting down and widening the opening, while the Yorkshire Ouse, with +the Aire, the Calder and other tributaries, were levelling the New Red +Sandstone plain and valleys west of the barrier and tapping more and +more of the water from the uplands beyond. The equivalent of the Wash +is not seen behind the barrier in the estuary of the Humber, but the +tidal water runs far up the river and produces the fertile estuarine +silt known as the Warp. + +The Fenland is only an example of a still further stage in this +process. The Great Ouse and its tributaries kept on levelling the Gault +and Kimmeridge and Oxford Clays at the back of the chalk barrier which +once crossed the Wash between Hunstanton and Skegness. + +The lowlands thus formed lie in the basin of the Great Ouse which +includes the Fenland, while the Fenland includes more than the Fens +properly defined, so that things recorded as found in the Fenland may +be much older than the Fen deposits. + + + + +SUBSIDENCE OF THE VALLEY OF THE CAM. + + +During the slow denudation which resulted in the formation of this +basin many things happened. There were intermittent and probably +irregular movements of elevation and depression. Glacial conditions +supervened and passed away. + +The proof of this may be seen in the Sections, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, pp. 8, +9 and 10. + +At Sutton Bridge the alluvium has been proved to a depth of 73 feet +resting on Boulder Clay. At Impington the Boulder Clay runs down to a +depth of 86 feet below the surface level of the alluvium. That means +that this part of the valley was scooped out before the glacial +deposits were dropped in it, and that the bottom of the ancient valley +is now far below sea level. + +In front of Jesus College, gravel with _Elephas primigenius_ was +excavated down to a depth of 30 feet below the street, while in the +Paddocks behind Trinity College the still more recent alluvium was +proved to a depth of 45 feet, i.e. 16 feet below O.D. These facts +indicate a comparatively recent subsidence along the valley, as no +river could scoop out its bed below sea level. + +We need not for our present purpose stop to enquire whether this +depression was confined to the line of the valley or was part of more +widespread East Anglian movements which are not so easy to detect on +the higher ground. From the above-mentioned sections it is clear that +the denudation, which resulted in the formation of the basin in the +lowest hollow of which the Fen Beds lie, was a slow process begun and +carried on long before glacial conditions prevailed and before the +gravel terraces were formed. + +As soon as the sea began to ebb and flow through the opening in the +barrier, the conditions were greatly altered and we see the results of +the conflict between the mud-carrying upland waters and the +beach-forming sea. + + + + +TURBIFEROUS AND ARENIFEROUS SERIES. + + +The Fen Beds belong to the last stage and, notwithstanding their great +local differences, seem all to belong to one continuous series. Seeing +then that their chief characteristic is that they commonly contain +beds of peat it may be convenient to form a word from the late Latin +_turba_, turf or peat, and call them Turbiferous to distinguish them +from the Areniferous series which consists almost entirely of sands +and gravels. + +When the land had sunk so far that the velocity of the streams was +checked over the widening estuary and on the other hand the tide and +wind waves had more free access, some outfalls got choked and others +opened; turbid water sometimes spread over the flats and left mud or +was elsewhere filtered through rank plant growth so that it stood clear +in meres and swamps, allowing the formation of peat unmixed with earthy +sediment. + +Banks are naturally formed along the margin of rivers by the settling +down of sand and mud when the waters overflow, as seen on a large scale +along the Mississippi, the Po, as well as along the Humber and its +tributaries. + +The effect of a break down of the banks is very different. A great hole +is scooped out by the outrush, and the mud, sand and gravel deposited +in a fanshape according to its degree of coarseness and specific +gravity. + +A good example of this was seen in the disastrous Mid-Level flood at +Lynn in 1862[1] and the more recent outburst near Denver in the winter +of 1914-15[2], of which accounts were published in contemporary +newspapers. The varied accompanying phenomena can be well studied in +the process of warping in Yorkshire or the colmata in Italy. + + [1] _Times_, _Cambridge Chronicle_, May 31, 1862. + + [2] _Times_, Jan. 16, 1915. + +This was a much commoner catastrophe in old times, before the banks +were artificially raised, and, as the streams could never get back into +their old raised channel, this accounts for the network of ancient +river beds which intersect the Fens. + +The bottom of the Turbiferous alluvium is always, as far as my +experience goes, sharply defined. This of course cannot be seen in a +borehole or very small section. + +The surface of the older deposits seems to have been often washed clean +either by the encroaching sea or by the upland flood waters. + +In saying that there is an absence of sand and gravel in the Fen Beds +we must be careful not to force this description too far. For when the +first encroaching water was washing away any pre-existing superficial +deposits the first material left as the base of the Fen Beds must have +depended upon the character of the underlying strata, the velocity of +the water and other circumstances. + +This is well seen in the Whittlesea brickpit where an ancient gravel +with marine shells rests on the Oxford Clay and over the gravel there +creeps the base of the Turbiferous series. It here consists chiefly of +white marl which thins out to the left of the section and above becomes +full of vegetable matter until it passes up into peat, over which there +is a flood-water loam. + +About a mile west-north-west of Little Downham near Ely, and within a +couple of hundred yards of Hythe, the Fen Beds were seen in a deep cut +carried close to the gravel hill which here stretches out north into +the Fens. + +They consist at the base of material washed down from the spur of +gravel and sand of the Areniferous series against which the Fen Beds +here abut. + +This basement bed is succeeded by beds of silt and peat of no great +thickness as they are near the margin of the swamp. + +When any considerable thickness of the older Areniferous gravels has +been preserved, the base of the Turbiferous series is smooth or only +gently undulating. But where only small patches or pot-holes of gravel +remain, there the top of the clay has been contorted and over-folded so +as often to contain irregularly curved pipes and even isolated nests of +sand and gravel[3]. The base of the Areniferous gravel must generally +have been thrown down upon clay which had been clean cut to an even +surface by denudation without any soaking of the surface or isolated +heaps of gravel sinking into the clay under alternation of dry and wet +conditions, such as would puddle the surface under the heaps and allow +the masses of heavy gravel to sink in pipes and troughs. These small +outlying patches of gravel are sometimes so little disturbed that we +leave them in the Areniferous, whereas they are sometimes so obviously +rearranged that we must include them in the Turbiferous series, taking +care not to include derivative bones from the older in our list of +fossils from the newer series. + + [3] Cf. _Archaeol. Journ._ Vol. LXIX, No. 274 2nd Ser.; Vol. + XIX, No. 2, pp. 205-214. + + + + +ABSENCE OF ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS IN TURBIFEROUS SERIES. + + +The basement beds of the Turbiferous or Newer Alluvial Fen Beds are +clearly separated by their stratification from the Areniferous or Older +Alluvial Terrace Beds down the sloping margin of which they creep, but +there is not anywhere, as far as I am aware, any passage or dovetailing +of the Fen Beds into the gravel of the river terraces, while the +difference in the fauna is very marked. + +It is however from such sections as those just described that the +erroneous view arose that the Elephant and Rhinoceros occurred in the +older Fen Beds. It is true that they have been found under peat in the +Fenland, but that is only where the gravel spurs of the Old Alluvial +Terraces or Areniferous Series have passed under the newer Fen Beds. + +I saw the remains of _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_ in the gravel beds +belonging to the older or Areniferous Series at Little Downham, and +from the base of the gravel in the Whittlesea brickpit I obtained a +fine lower molar of _Elephas antiquus_. This was, however, not in +the Gravel, but squeezed into the soft surface of the underlying +Jurassic Clay. + +There have never been any remains of Elephant or Rhinoceros found in +the Turbiferous series. + + + + +ABSENCE OF PEAT IN ARENIFEROUS SERIES. + + +It is not easy to realise what the conditions were during the formation +of the later Terrace Gravels (Barnwell type), and, if it is a fact, why +there was not then, as in later times, a marshy peat-bearing area here +and there between the torrential deposits of the upper streams near the +foot of the hills and the region where the tide met the upland waters. +A few plants have been found in the Barnwell gravel but they are very +rare in this series. The older Terrace Gravel (Barrington type) might +be expected to furnish evidence of the existence of abundant vegetation +if we are right in assigning it to about the age of the peaty deposits +overlying the Weybourn Crag. But at present we have no evidence of any +such deposit in the Cambridge gravels. + +Although there are great masses of vegetable matter formed in the +swamps of tropical regions, peat is essentially a product of northern +climes. Pliny[4] evidently refers to peat as used in Friesland but not +as a thing with which he was familiar. + + [4] Lib. XVI, cap. 1. + + + + +FEN BEDS NOT ALL PEAT. + + +It must not, however, be imagined that the Fen Beds consist wholly or +even chiefly of peat. As we travel north from Cambridge the surface of +the alluvium is brown earth for miles and only here and there shows the +black surface of peat. The numerous ditches for draining the land +confirm this observation, and when we have the opportunity of examining +excavations carried down to great depths into the alluvium we usually +find only a little peat on the surface or in thin beds alternating with +silt and clay and marl. Sometimes, but only sometimes, we have evidence +of the growth of peat for a long time, then of the incoming of turbid +water leaving beds of clay, then again of the tranquil growth of peat. +All this points to changes of local conditions and shifting channels +during a gradual sinking of the area, for some of the peat is below sea +level. + +I believe that the volume of clay is much greater than that of peat, +although from the common occurrence of peat on the surface and clay in +the depth the area over which peat is seen is greater. We have not, +however, the data for estimating the proportion of each. + +In embayed corners along the river even above Cambridge we find little +patches of peat, while on the other hand in deep excavations near the +middle of the valley we find only thin streaks of peat or peaty silt. +In the trial boreholes at the Backs of the Colleges there was only this +kind of record of former swamp vegetation. + + + + +SECTIONS IN ALLUVIUM. + + +In digging the foundations for the chimney of the Electric Lighting +Works opposite Magdalene College the following section was seen (Fig. +1, p. 8). + +Under the new Tennis Courts in Park Parade facing Mid-summer Common the +section was somewhat different (Fig. 2, p. 9). + +While in the pit dug some years ago by Mr Bullock at the other end of +the Parade at the lower end of Portugal Place in the south-east corner +of the Common there was a section very similar to the last (Fig. 3, p. +10). + + +------ + | Made ground + | + | 7'-8' + | + +------ + | Black silt + | + | 7'-8' + | + +------ + | 4' Peaty silt + | + +------ + | 4' Gravel + | + +------ + | Gault + | + +[Illustration: Fig. 1. Section seen in foundations of chimney for +Electric Lighting Works near river opposite Magdalene College, July, +1892.] + +These three sections, immediately north of Cambridge where the valley +of the Cam opens out on to the Fens, are important as showing the +variations right across the alluvium from side to side and the absence, +here at any rate, of any indication of a constant sequence distinctly +pointing to important geographical changes. A section seen under +Pembroke College Boat House gave 16 feet of clay and peaty silt on the +black gravel which here, as in the borings at the Backs of the +Colleges, forms the base of the alluvium. About half way down were +bones of horse and stag, but I do not believe that these are of any +great antiquity, probably not earlier than mediaeval. + + Thickness Depth + + +------ + | Irregular made ground + | + 5 | Clayey + | + | Alluvium + 5 +------ + | + 4 | Peat + | + 9 +------ + | + | + | + | + | + 10-12 | Sand and Gravel + | + | + | + | + | + 21 +------ + 2 | + +------ Gravel + 2 | + 25 +------ + | + 4'6" | Running Sand + | + 29' 6" +------ Gault + | + + _Scale_ 8' to 1" + +[Illustration: Fig. 2. Section seen in digging foundations of Tennis +Courts on Midsummer Common, Cambridge.] + +Lower down the river near Ely a most important and interesting section +has recently been exposed. A new bridge was built over the Ouse near +the railway station and to obtain material for easing the gradient up +to the bridge a pit was sunk close to it on the east side of the river, +and was carried down to the Kimmeridge Clay thus giving a clear section +through the whole of the alluvium (Fig. 4, p. 11). + + Depth + + | + _a_ | + | + +------ 4' + | + _b_ | + +------ 7' + | + _c_ | + +------ 10' + _d_ | + +------ 12' 6" + _e_ | + +------ 13' 2" + | + | + | + _f_ | + | + | + | + +------ 21' 2" + _g_ | + +------ 23' 2" + _h_ | + | + + _a._ Dark clay, with much carbonaceous matter, scattered + stones, and freshwater shells 4' 0" + _b._ Tough clay 3' 0" + _c._ Dark clay full of bits of wood 3' 0" + _d._ Light coloured clay full of rootlets 2' 6" + _e._ Rusty sand 8" + _f._ False bedded gravel and sand pierced by rootlets 8' 0" + _g._ Black silt and gravel 2' 0" + ------ + _h._ Gault 23' 2" + ====== + +[Illustration: Fig. 3. Section seen in Bullock's Pit in S.E. corner of +Midsummer Common.] + +It will be noticed that there is very little peat here and all of it +was below O.D. The upper four feet of the clayey peat (_f_) looked as +if the vegetable matter had been transported, perhaps from peat beds +being destroyed by the river higher up, and been carried down in flood +with the clay, while the lower four feet of peat (_h_) was only a +cleaner sample of the same, before the river had cut down into the +clay. The trees in both _f_ and _h_ were not trees that had grown on +the spot and had been blown down, but were broken, water-worn, and +evidently transported. + + _a_ +----------------- + _b_ +----------------- + _c_ +----------------- + _d_ +----------------- + _e_ +----------------- + | + _f_ |················· _g_ + | + +----------------- + | + _h_ | + | + +----------(1)---- + _i_ | + +----------------- + | + _j_ | + | + +----------(2)---- + + _a._ Surface soil 7" + _b._ Clayey alluvium 7" + _c._ Peaty alluvium 9" + _d._ Brown clayey alluvium 1' 6" + _e._ Peaty alluvium. 9" + _f._ Brown clayey peat with trees scattered throughout + _g._ and lenticular beds of freshwater shells in it 4' + _h._ Peat with trees to 2' diam. 4' + _i._ Mottled green and grey clay with lines of sand and + gravel giving out water 2' + _j._ Yellow clay with springs and much rusty water + at bottom. 4' + ------ + 18' 2" + ====== + (1) Skull and a few other bones of horse. + (2) Broken fragments of bone. + + _Scale_ 8' to 1" + +[Illustration: Fig. 4. Section seen in pit dug for material for making +up the roadway east of the new bridge over the Ouse by the railway +station. Ely, 1910.] + +If now we travel about 30 miles a little west of north we shall arrive +near the shore of the Wash about half way across its southern coast +line at Sutton Bridge. Here I had an opportunity of seeing the material +of which the alluvium is composed. With a view to securing a sound base +for the foundation of the piers of the Midland and Great Northern +Railway bridge an excavation was made through the whole of the Fen Beds +down to the Boulder Clay which as I have already stated was reached at +a depth of 73 feet. The clerk of the works kindly gave me the following +measurements (Fig. 5). + + Depth Thickness + + +---------- High water (12' 6" above O.D.) + | + 12' 6" | + 12' 6" +---------- Ordnance Datum + 4' 0" | Silt and clay + 16' 6" +---------- + {| + {+---------- Low water (6' 0" below O.D.) + {| + {| + 19' 6"{| + {| + {| + {+---------- Bed of river (17' 6" below O.D.) + {| + 36' 0" +---------- + | + | + | + 9' 0" | Sand with shells + | + | + | + 45' 0" +---------- + 3' 6" | Loam and sand + 48' 6" +---------- + | + 5' 6" | Ballast with shells + | + 54' 0" +---------- + 3' 6" | Loam with Peat + 57' 6" +---------- + 3' 6" | Fine red ballast + | mixed with clay + 61' 0" +---------- + 5' 0" | Blue and grey clay + | mixed with sand + 66' 0" +---------- + 1' 0" | Ballast + 67' 0" +---------- + | + 4' 6" | Silty Sand + 71' 6" +---------- + | Ballast with flint + 1' 6" | and stone + 73' 0" +---------- + | + | + | Stiff grey clay + | + | + +[Illustration: Fig. 5. Section seen at Sutton Bridge.] + +Here again we see that the only peat is a bed between three and four +feet in thickness of mixed loam and peat more than 40 feet below mean +sea level. + +From these sections it is clear that along the direct and more +permanent outfall from Cambridge to the north, peat forms but a small +part of the Fen Beds. + +Peat is a substance of so much value as fuel, of such importance to the +agriculturist, of such commercial value in what we may call its +by-products, and of such scientific interest in the history of its +formation and the remains which its antiseptic properties have +preserved, that it has, as might be expected, a large literature of its +own. + +I have before me a list of more than 150 references to peat or to the +Fens. + + + + +PEAT; TREES AND OTHER PLANTS; TARN PEAT AND HILL PEAT; BOG-OAK AND +BOG-IRON. + + +When we turn aside into the areas cut off by spurs of gravel and +islands of Jurassic rock, we find wide and deep masses of peat which +has grown and been preserved from denudation in these embayed and +isolated areas. Burwell Fen, for instance, protected on the north and +west by the Cretaceous ridge of Wicken and the Jurassic ridge of +Upware, furnishes most of the peat used in the surrounding district. If +we travel about two miles to the north-west from the pit dug near the +railway station (see Fig. 4, p. 11) over the hill on which Ely stands, +we shall come to West Fen, where there is a great mass of peat which +has grown in a basin now almost quite surrounded by Kimmeridge Clay. +In this there is a great quantity of timber at a small depth from the +surface. The tree trunks almost all lie with their root-end to the +south-west, but some are broken off, some are uprooted, telling +clearly a story of growth on the peat which had increased and swelled +till the surface was lifted above the level of floods. Then some +change--perhaps more rapid subsidence, perhaps changes in the +outfalls--let in flood water, the roots rotted and a storm from the +south-west, which was the most exposed side and the direction of the +prevalent winds, laid them low. The frequent occurrence of large +funguses, _Hypoxylon_, _Polyporus_, etc., points to conditions at +times unfavourable to the healthy growth of timber. + +It is worth noting when trying to read the story of the Fens as +recorded by their fallen trees that in all forests we find now and then +a few trees blown down together though the surrounding trees are left. +This may be the result of a fierce eddy in the cycloidal path of the +storm, but more commonly it seems to be due to the fact that every tree +has its "play," like a fishing rod, and recurring gusts, not coinciding +with its rhythm, sometimes catch it at a disadvantage and break or blow +it down. + +The story told by the West Fen trees is quite different from that told +by the water-borne and water-worn trunks in the section by Ely station. + +The same variable conditions prevailed also in the more westerly tracts +of the Fen Basin, but the above examples are sufficient for our present +purpose. + +From the large numbers of trees found in some localities and from +records referring to parts of the Fens as _forest_ it has sometimes +been supposed that the Fens were well wooded, but forest did not +generally and does not now always mean a wood, as for example in the +case of the deer forests of Scotland. + +When Ingulph[5] says that portions of the Fenland were disafforested by +Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, and Richard, who gave permission to build +upon the marshes, this probably meant that they no longer preserved +them so strictly, but allowed people to build on the gravel banks and +islands in them. + + [5] _History of Croyland_, Bohn's edition, p. 282. + +Dugdale, recording a stricter enforcement of game-laws, quotes +proceedings against certain persons in Whittlesea, Thorney and Ramsey +for having "wasted all the fen of Kynges-delfe of the alders, hassacks +and rushes so that the King's deer could not harbour there." He does +not mention forest trees. + +In the growth and accidents of vegetation in a swamp there are some +circumstances which are of importance to note with a view to the +interpretation of the results observed in the Fens. + +For instance in fine weather there is a constant lifting and floating +of the confervoid algae which grow on the muddy bed of the stream. This +is brought about by the development of gas under the sun's influence in +the thick fibrous growth of the alga. The little bubbles give it a +silvery gleam and by and by produce sufficient buoyancy in the mass to +tear it out and make it rise to the surface dropping fine mud as it +goes and thus making the water turbid. Other plants, such as +Utricularia, Duckweed, etc., have their period of flotation, and in the +"Breaking of the Mere" in Shropshire we have a similar phenomenon. In +the "Floating Island" on Derwentwater the same sort of thing is seen +with coarser plants. All these processes are going on in the meres and +in the streams which meander through the Fens and did so more freely +before their reclamation. But besides this, when the top of the spongy +peat is raised above the water level and dries by evaporation, then +heath, ferns and other plants and at last trees grow on it, until +accident submerges it all again. + +This at once shows why we often find an upper peat with a different +group of plant remains resting upon a lower peat with plants that grow +under water. + +The most conspicuous examples of these various kinds of peat we see in +the mountainous regions of the North and West, where the highest hills +are often capped with peat from eight to ten feet in thickness, +creeping over the brow and hanging on the steep mountain sides. +Sometimes, close by, we see the gradual growth of peat from the margin +of a tarn where only water-weeds can flourish. + +The "Hill Peat" is made up of Sphagnum and other mosses and of ferns +and heather. + +The "Tarn Peat" of conferva, potamogeton, reeds, etc. + +As Hill Peat now grows on the heights and steeps where no water can +stand and Tarn Peat in lakes and ponds lying in the hollows of the +mountains and moors, so the changes in the outfalls and the swelling +and sinking of the peat have given us in the Fens, here the results of +a dry surface with its heather and ferns and trees, and there products +of water-weeds only, and, from the nature of the case, the subaerial +growth is apt to be above the subaqueous. + +One explanation of the growth of peat under both of these two very +different geographical conditions is probably the absence of +earthworms. The work of the earthworm is to drag down and destroy +decaying vegetable matter and to cast the mineral soil on to the +surface, but earthworms cannot live in water or in waterlogged land, +and where there are no earthworms the decaying vegetation accumulates +in layer after layer upon the surface, modified only by newer growths. +Some years ago a great flood kept the land along the Bin Brook under +water for several days and the earthworms were all killed, covering the +paddock in front of St John's New Buildings in such numbers that when +they began to decompose it was quite disagreeable to walk that way. It +reminded me of the effects of storm on the cocklebeds at the mouth of +the Medway, where the shells were washed out of the mud, the animals +died on the shore and the empty shells were in time washed round the +coast of Sheppey to the sheltered corner at Shellness. Here they lie +some ten feet deep and are dug to furnish the material for London +pathways. + +In those cases when the storm had passed the earthworms and the cockles +came again, but the Hill Peat is always full of water retained by the +spongy Sphagnum and similar plants, and the Fens are or were +continually, and in some places continuously, submerged and no +earthworms could live under such conditions. + +The blackness of peat and of bog-oak may be largely but certainly not +wholly due to carbonaceous matter. Iron must play an important part. +There is in the Sedgwick Museum part of the trunk of a Sussex oak which +had grown over some iron railings and extended some eight inches or +more beyond the outside of the part which was originally driven in to +hold the rails. Mr Kett came upon the buried iron when sawing up the +tree in his works and kindly gave it to me. From the iron a deep black +stain has travelled with the sap along the grain, as if the iron of the +rail and the tannin of the oak had combined to produce an ink. The +well-known occurrence of bog-iron in peat strengthens this suggestion. +An opportunity of observing this enveloping growth of wood round iron +railings is offered in front of No. 1, Benet Place, Lensfield Road. + +The trees in the Fens often lie at a small depth and when exposed to +surface changes perish by splitting along the medullary rays. + +It is not clear how long it takes to impart a peaty stain to bone, but +we do find a difference between those which are undoubtedly very old +and others which we have reason to believe may be more recent. Compare +the almost black bones of the beaver, for instance, with the light +brown bones of the otter in the two mounted skeletons in the Sedgwick +Museum. + + + + +MARL. + + +"Marl," as commonly used, is Clay or Carbonate of Lime of a clayey +texture or any mixture of these. + +Beds of shell marl tell the same tale as the peat. Shells do not +accumulate to any extent in the bed of a river. They are pounded up and +decomposed or rolled along and buried where mud or gravel finds a +resting place. Only sometimes, where things of small specific gravity +are gathered in holes and embayed corners, a layer of freshwater shells +may be seen. + +But to produce a bed of pure shell marl the quantity of dead shells +must be very large and the amount of sediment carried over the area +very small, while the margin of the pond or mere in which the formation +of such a bed is possible must have an abundant growth of confervoid +algae and other water plants to furnish sustenance for the molluscs. +Shell marl therefore suggests ponds and meres. Of course it must be +borne in mind that in a region of hard water, such as is yielded in +springs all along the outcrop of the chalk, there is often a +considerable precipitation of carbonate of lime, especially where such +plants as Chara help to collect it, as the Callothrix and Leptothrix +help to throw down the Geyserite. + +These beds of white marls, whether due to shells or to precipitation, +are thus of great importance for our present enquiry as they throw +light on the history of the Fens. + +We should have few opportunities of examining the marl were it not for +its value to the agriculturist. As it consists of clay and lime, it is +not only a useful fertiliser but also helps to retain the dusty peat, +which when dry and pulverised is easily blown away. Moreover, as the +marl occurs at a small depth and often over large areas, it can +commonly be obtained by trenching on the ground where it is most +wanted. + + + + +THE WASH. + + +We have now carried our examination of the Fen Beds up to the sea, but +to understand this interesting area we must cross the sea bank and see +what is happening in the Wash. There is no peat being formed there, nor +is there any quantity of drifted vegetable matter such as might form +peat. There are marginal forest beds near Hunstanton and Holme, for +instance, and it is not clear whether they point to submergence or to +the former existence of sand dunes or shingle beaches sufficient to +keep out the sea and allow the growth of trees below high water level +behind the barrier, such as may be seen at Braunton Burrows, near +Westward Ho, or at the mouth of the Somme. What is the most conspicuous +character of the Wash is that the upland waters, now controlled as to +their outlet, keep open the troughs and deeps while tidal action throws +up a number of shifting banks of mud, sand and gravel, many of which +are left dry at low water. Along the quieter marginal portions fine +sediment is laid down, and relaid when storms have disturbed the +surface. On these cockles and other estuarine molluscs thrive. Before +the sea banks were constructed these tidal flats extended much further +inland. + + + + +LITTLEPORT DISTRICT. + + +In the light of this evidence let us examine the Fen Beds east of +Littleport, a district of great interest not only from its geographical +position in relation to the Fens but also from the remains recently +discovered there. + +Looking north and west there is no high ground between us and the Wash. +If we could sweep out the soft superficial deposits and abolish the sea +banks the tide would still ebb and flow over the whole area. + +If we look north and east we see the high ground stretching from +Downham Market to Stoke Ferry and sweeping round to the south by +Methwold and Feltwell and the islands of Hilgay and Southery, thus +enclosing a great bay into which the Wissey on the north and the +Brandon River on the south deliver the waters collected on the eastern +chalk uplands. + +The island known as Shippea Hill marks the trend of an ancient barrier +blocking the northward course of the river Lark. (Fig. 6, p. 29.) + +Here, then, it seems probable that we might find evidence of a local +change from the conditions we now see in the Wash and those which have +resulted in the formation of the Fens. + + + + +BUTTERY CLAY. + + +In deep trenching in the Fen between Littleport and Shippea Hill in +order to obtain clay for laying on the peaty surface a very fine +unctuous deposit was found at a depth of four or five feet. The +overlying Fen Beds were chiefly peat with lenticular beds of white marl +and grey clay, obviously laid down from time to time in small +depressions in the surface of the peat. This marl was often largely +made up of, or was at any rate full of, freshwater shells but sometimes +showed evidence of having been gathered on the stems of Chara which on +perishing have left small cylindrical hollows penetrating the partly +consolidated marl. Under these beds of peat and marl there was the +unctuous clay, which is sometimes referred to as the Buttery Clay. It +is an estuarine deposit like that mentioned above as occurring in the +Wash off Heacham, for instance. It contains shells of _Cardium edule_, +_Tellina_ (_Tacoma_) _balthica_, _Scrobicularia piperata_, and other +estuarine shells, some of which had the valves adherent or rather +adjoining, for the ligament had perished. Mrs Luddington has in her +collection the bones of the Urus, Wild Boar and Beaver, obtained from +the peat above this Buttery Clay. + +On the other or south-western side of Shippea Hill, which is an island +of Kimmeridge Clay, we get further into the embayed and isolated +portions of the Fen and we find more peat in proportion to the other +deposits although it is very thin. There are still small lenticular +beds of white marl similar to that nearer Littleport and the peat rests +upon Buttery Clay of unknown thickness. In this part, however, no +shells have yet been noticed. Near Shippea Hill the peat has recently +been trenched with a view to obtaining clay with which to dress the +surface of the peat and it was here, at a depth of four feet from the +surface and four inches above the Buttery Clay, that the human bones +described below (pp. 27-35) were found. + + + + +THE AGE OF THE FEN BEDS. + + +Now we may enquire what are the limits within which we may speculate as +to the age of the Fen Beds. + +These Turbiferous deposits all belong to one stage, though it may be +one of long duration. They are sharply separated from the Areniferous +deposits, i.e. the sands and gravels of the terraces and spurs which +always pass under and, in fairly large sections, can always be clearly +distinguished from the resorted layers at the base of the Fen Beds. + +There is no definite chronological succession which will hold +throughout the Fens. The variations observed are geographical--clay, +marl, peat, etc., alternating in different order in different +localities and subaerial, fluviatile, estuarine, and marine, having +only a changing topographical significance. + +The Fen Beds crept over an area where the underlying formation had been +undergoing vicissitudes due to slow geographical changes--changes +which, being at sea level and near the conflict of tides and upland +water, produced irregular but often important results. + +There is not in the Fens any _continuous_ record of what took place +between the age in which the Little Downham Rhinoceros was buried in +the gravel and that in which the Neolithic hunters poleaxed the Urus +in the peat near Burwell. + + + + +PALAEONTOLOGY OF FENS. + + +Nor do we find any constant succession in the fauna and flora in the +sections in the Fens any more than we find a uniform distribution of +plants and animals over the surface to-day. The most numerous and +largest specimens of the Urus I have obtained from near Isleham: the +best preserved Beaver bones from Burwell. Modern changes of conditions +have limited the district in which the fen fern (_Thelypteris_) or +the swallow-tailed butterfly may now be seen; but nature in old times +produced as great changes in local conditions as those now due to human +agency. + +When we compare the fauna of the Areniferous Series with that of the +Turbiferous, although there is not an entire sweeping away of the older +vertebrate and invertebrate forms of life and an introduction of newer, +there is a marked change in the whole facies. + +There is plenty of evidence about Cambridge of the gradual +extermination of species still going on. Indeed, I feel inclined to say +that there is no such thing as a Holocene age. I remember land shells +being common of which it is difficult now to find live specimens, and +my wife[6] has shown how the mollusca are being differentiated in +isolated ponds left here and there along the ancient river courses +above the town. + + [6] "On the Mollusca of the Pleistocene Gravels in the + neighbourhood of Cambridge," by Mrs McKenny Hughes. _Geol. + Mag._ Decade 3, Vol. V, No. 5, May 1888, p. 193. + +But we have not in older beds of the Turbiferous or newer beds of the +Areniferous Series any suggestion of continuity between the two. There +must have been between them an unrepresented period of considerable +duration in which very important changes were brought about. Perhaps it +was then that England became an island and unsuitable for most of the +life of the Areniferous age. + +Not only have we in the Turbiferous as compared with the Areniferous +Series a change of facies but we have many "representative forms," a +point to which that keen naturalist, Edward Forbes, always attached +great importance. + +We have for instance in the Fen Beds the Brown Bear (_Ursus arctos_) +with his flat pig-like skull, instead of the Grizzly (_Ursus ferox_) +of the Gravels with his broad skull and _front bombé_. + +If we turn to the horned cattle we shall find a confirmation of the +view that there was not an entire break between the Turbiferous and +Areniferous fauna for the Urus (_Bos primigenius_) occurs in both. +This species became extinct in Britain in the Turbiferous period and +before the coming of the Romans, for no trace of it seems to have been +found with Roman remains in this country; and indeed when we remember +the numerous tribes, the dense population and high civilisation of the +natives of Britain in Roman times it seems improbable that they can +have tolerated such a formidable beast as this wild bull around their +cultivated land. + +Some confusion has arisen as to the description and the names of +the Urus and the Bison. Caesar, who was not a big game hunter and +probably never saw either, has given under the name Urus a description +which evidently mixes up the characters of both. Both existed on the +continent down to quite recent times and the Bison is still found +in Poland, but later writers also have evidently confounded them. +For instance, the Augsburg picture of the Urus is correct, but +Herberstein's, which also is said to represent the Urus, is obviously +that of a Bison. I have gone into this question more fully +elsewhere[7]. + + [7] "The Evolution of the British Breeds of Cattle," _Journ. + R. Agric. Soc._ Vol. V, Ser. 3, pp. 561-563, 1894. "On the + more important Breeds of Cattle which have been recognised in + the British Isles in successive periods, and their relation + to other archaeological and historical discoveries," + _Archaeologia_, Vol. V, Ser. 3, pp. 125-158, 1896. Cf. also + Morse, E. W., "The Ancestry of domesticated Cattle," + _Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal + Industry_, 1910, Department of Agriculture, U.S.A. + +The Urus (_Bos primigenius_) is common in the Fen Beds and is of +special importance for our present enquiry, as there is in the Sedgwick +Museum a skull of this species found in Burwell Fen with a Neolithic +flint implement sticking in it. The implement is thin, nearly parallel +sided, rough dressed, except on the front edge which is ground, and it +is made of the black south-country flint. It is very different in every +respect from the thick bulging implements with curved outlines, which +being made of the mottled grey north-country flint or of felstone or +greenstone suggest importation from a different and probably more +northerly source. + +This gives us a useful synchronism of peat, a Neolithic implement of a +special well-marked type, and the Urus. + +The Bison is the characteristic ox of the Gravels and never occurs in +the Fen Beds; while the Urus, as I have pointed out above, occurs in +both the Turbiferous and Areniferous deposits. + +_Bos longifrons_ is the characteristic ox of the Fen Beds and never +occurs in the Gravels. It is the breed which the Romans found here, +and we dig up its bones almost wherever we find Roman remains. I +cannot adduce any satisfactory evidence that it was wild, that is to +say more wild than the Welsh cattle or ponies or sheep which roam +freely over wide tracts of almost uninhabited country. This species, +like the Urus, has horns pointing forward, but the cattle introduced +by the Romans had upturned lyre-shaped horns, as in the modern +Italian, the Chillingham or our typical uncrossed Ayrshire breed, and +soon we notice the effect of crossing the small native cattle (_Bos +longifrons_) with the larger Roman breed. + +The Horse appears to have lived continuously throughout Pleistocene +times down to the present day and to have been always used for food. +Unfortunately the skull of a horse is thin and fragile and therefore it +has been difficult to obtain a series sufficiently complete to found +any considerable generalisations upon it. The animal found in the peat +and alluvium appears to have been a small sized, long faced pony. + +The appearances and reappearances of the different kinds of deer is a +very interesting question, but it will be more easily treated when I +come to speak of the Gravels of East Anglia. I will only point out now +that neither of the deer with palmated antlers properly belongs to the +Turbiferous series. The great Irish Elk (_Cervus megacerus_) has not +been found in the Fen Beds. Indeed it is not clear that in Ireland it +occurs in the peat. The most careful and trustworthy descriptions seem +to show that its bones lie either in or on top of the clays on which +the peat grew. + +The other and smaller deer with palmated antlers, namely, the Fallow +deer (_Cervus dama_), were reintroduced, probably by the Romans, and +although some of them have got buried in the alluvium or newer peat in +the course of the 1500 years or so that they have been hunted in royal +warrens in East Anglia, they cannot be regarded as indigenous or +indicative of climate or other local conditions. + +Remains of the Red deer (_Cervus elaphus_) and of the Roe deer +(_Cervus capreolus_) are common in the Fen Beds; both occur in the +Gravels also; and both are still wild in the British Isles. Unlike the +Red deer, which lives on the open moorland, the Roe deer lives in +woods and forests. And this is an interesting fact in its bearing upon +our inferences as to the character of the country before the +reclamation of the Fens and the destruction of the plateau forest. The +open downs and the spurs and islands of the fenlands offered the Red +deer a congenial feeding ground, while the thickets on the edge of the +upland forest and the bosky patches along the margins of the lowland +swamps provided covert for the Roe deer. Sheep and goat are found in +the peat and the alluvium, but it is not easy to tell the age of the +bones. They do generally appear to be of that lighter brown colour +which is characteristic of remains from newer peat as compared with +the black bones which seem to belong to the older and more decomposed +peat. The sheep is probably a late introduction and is never found in +the Terrace Gravel (see _Geol. Mag._ Decade 2, Vol. X, No. 10, p. +454). + +The Wild Boar (_Sus scrofa_) is fairly common. + +It is remarkable that we get very few remains of Wolf, although it is +not much more than 200 years since the last was killed. There is in the +Sedgwick Museum one fairly complete skeleton, found a long time ago in +Burwell Fen and I have recently obtained another from the same +locality. There do not seem to be any obvious and constant characters +by which we can distinguish a wolf from a dog, and Britain was +celebrated for its large and fierce dogs. The bones of the Eskimo dogs +are very wolf-like, but they are frequently crossed with wolf. + +Perhaps the most interesting animal whose remains are found in the Fens +is the Beaver. Why do we not find here and there a beaver dam? Perhaps +it is because we have not been on the look-out for it, and the +peat-cutters would not have seen anything remarkable in the occurrence +of a quantity of timber anywhere in the Fens. We must suppose that the +peat which often contains whole forests of trees and even canoes would +have preserved the timber of the beaver dam. It is an animal too which +might have contributed largely towards the formation of the Fens by +holding up and diverting meandering streams. Perhaps it did not make +dams down in the Fens, and the skeletons we find are those of stray +individuals or of dead animals which have floated down from dams near +Trumpington or Chesterford; very suitable places for them. We want more +evidence about the fen beaver. + +I have heard that there are beavers in the Danube which do not make +dams, but among those introduced into this country in recent years the +dam building instinct seems to have survived the change. The beavers on +the Marquis of Bute's property in Scotland cut down trees and built +dams as did the beavers in Sir Edmund Loder's park in Sussex, and even +in the Zoological Gardens they recently constructed a "lodge." We have +not found the beaver in the Gravels. + +Part of the skull of a Walrus was brought to us a long time ago and +said to have been found in the peat. But it is a very suspicious case. +It does not look like a bone that had been long entombed in peat, and +we are not so far from the coast as to make it improbable that it was +carried there by some sailor returning home from northern seas. + +Bones of Cetaceans are thrown up on the shore near Hunstanton, and +Seals are still not uncommon in the Wash, so that we need not attach +much importance to the occurrence in marine silt of Whale, Grampus, +Porpoise, and such like. + + + + +BIRDS. + + +We have paid much attention to the birds of the Fens, partly because of +the occurrence of some unexpected species, and also because of the +absence, so far as our collection goes, of species of which we should +expect to find large numbers. + +Perhaps the most interesting are the remains of Pelican (_P. crispus_ +or _onocrotalus_)[8]. Of this we have two bones, not associated nor +in the same state of preservation. The determination we have on the +authority of Alphonse Milne Edwards and Professor Alfred Newton. One +of the bones is that of a bird so young that it cannot have flown over +but shows that it must have been hatched or carried here. + + [8] _Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zool._ (5), Vol. VIII, + Pl. 14, pp. 285-293. _Ibis_, 1868, pp. 363-370, _Proc. Zool. + Soc._ 1868, p. 2. _Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists + Soc._ Vol. VII, Pt. 2, 1901. _Geol. Mag._ No. 447, N.S. Dec. + 4, Vol. VIII, No. 9, p. 422. + +Of the Crane (_Grus cinerea_) we have a great number of bones but of +the common Heron not one. I have placed a recent skeleton of heron in +the case to help us to look out for and determine any that may turn +up. Bones of the Bittern (_Botaurus_ or _Ardea stellaris_) are quite +common, as are those of the Mute or tame Swan (_Cygnus olor_) as well +as of the Hooper or wild Swan (_Cygnus musicus_ or _ferus_). Goose +(_Anser_) and Duck (_Anas_) are not so numerous as one might have +expected. The Grey Goose (_Anser ferus_) and the Mallard (_Anas +boscas_) are the most common, but other species are found, as for +instance _Anas grecca_. We have also the Red Breasted Merganser +(_Mergus serrator_), and the Smew (_Mergus albellus_), the Razor Bill +(_Alea tarda_), the Woodcock (_Scolopax rusticola_), the Water Hen +(_Gallinula chloropus_) and a few bones of a Limicoline bird, most +likely a lapwing. We have found the skull, but no more, of the +White-tailed or Sea Eagle (_Haliaetus albicilla_). The whole is a +strangely small collection considering all the circumstances. + +We find in the Fens of course everything of later date, down to the +drowned animals of last winter's storm, or the stranded pike left when +the flood went down. It is a curious fact and very like instinct at +fault that in floods the pike wander into shallow water and linger in +the hollows till too late to get back to the river, so that large +numbers of them are found dead when the water has soaked in or +evaporated. An old man told me that he well remembered when pike were +more abundant they used to dig holes along the margin when the flood +was rising and when it went down commonly found several fine pike in +them. This explains why we so often find the bones of pike in the peat, +but where did the pike get into a habit so little conducive to the +survival of the species? + +Although we notice at the present day a constant change in the +mollusca, their general continuity throughout the long ages from +pre-glacial times is a very remarkable fact. + +The presence of _Corbicula fluminalis_ and _Unio littoralis_ in the +Gravels characterized by the cold-climate group of mammals such as +_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_ and _Elephas primigenius_, the absence of +those shells from the deposits in which _Rh. merckii_ and _E. +antiquus_ are the representative forms, and their existence now +only in more southern latitudes, as France, Sicily or the Nile, but +not in our Turbiferous Series, lay before us a series of apparent +inconsistencies not easy of explanation. + + + + +MAN. + + +Every step in the line of enquiry we have been following, from whatever +point of view we have regarded the evidence, has forced upon us the +conclusion that a long interval elapsed between the Areniferous and +Turbiferous series as seen in the Fens; and yet, having regard to the +geographical history of the area with which we commenced, we cannot but +feel that the various deposits represent only episodes in a continuous +slow development due to changes of level both here and further afield +and the accidents incidental to denudation. + +But the particular deposits which we are examining happen to have been +laid down near sea level where small changes produce great effects. We +may feel assured that over the adjoining higher ground the changes +would have been imperceptible when they were occurring and the results +hardly noticeable. + +If the Fen Beds include nearly the whole of the Neolithic stage the +idea that glacial conditions then prevailed over the adjoining higher +ground is quite untenable. + +So far everything has taught us that the Fens occupy a well-defined +position in the evolution of the geographical features of East Anglia +and also that the fauna is distinctive, and, having regard to the whole +facies, quite different from that of the sands and gravels which occur +at various levels all round and pass under the Turbiferous Series of +the Fens. + +We will now enquire what is the place of these deposits in the +"hierarchy" based upon the remains of man and his handiwork. + +No Palaeolithic remains have ever been found in the Fen deposits. We +must not infer from this that there is everywhere evidence of a similar +break or long interval of time between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic +ages. There are elsewhere remains of man and his handiwork which we +must refer to later Palaeolithic than anything found in the Areniferous +Series just near the Fen Beds, and there are, not far off, remains of +man's handiwork which appear to belong to the Neolithic age, but to an +earlier part of it than anything yet found in association with the Fen +Beds. + +The newer Palaeolithic remains referred to occur chiefly in caves and +the older Neolithic objects are for the most part transitional forms of +implement found on the surface in various places around but outside the +Fens and in the great manufactures of implements at Cissbury and Grimes +Graves, in which we can study the embryology of Neolithic implements +and observe the development of forms suggested by those of Palaeolithic +age or by nature. The sequence and classification adopted in these +groups, both those of later Palaeolithic and those of earlier Neolithic +age, are confirmed by an examination of the contemporary fauna; the +Areniferous facies prevailing in the caves and the Turbiferous facies +characterising the pits and refuse-heaps of Cissbury and Grimes Graves. + +It is interesting to note that these ancient flint workings, in which +we find the best examples of transitional forms, have both of them +some suggestion of remote age. The pits from which the flint was +procured at Cissbury are covered by the ramparts of an ancient British +camp and the ground near Grimes Graves has yielded Palaeolithic +implements _in situ_ in small rain-wash hollows close by--as seen near +"Botany Bay." Palaeolithic man came into this area sometime after the +uplift of East Anglia out of the Glacial Sea and was here through the +period of denudation and formation of river terraces which ensued and +the age of depression which followed. But Neolithic man belongs to the +later part of that period of depression when the ends of some of the +river gravels were again depressed below sea level and the valleys had +scarcely sufficient fall for the rivers to flow freely to the sea. In +the stagnant swamps and meres thus caused the Fen deposits grew, and +in this time the Shippea man met his death mired in the watery peat of +the then undrained fens. + +Human bones have not been very often found in the Fen, and when they do +occur it is not always easy to say whether they really belong to the +age of the peat in which they are found or may not be the remains of +someone mired in the bog or drowned in one of the later filled up +ditches. That they have long been buried in the peat is often obvious +from the colour and condition of the bone. By the kindness of our +friends Mr and Mrs Luddington my wife and I received early information +of the discovery of human bones in trenching on some of their property +in the Fen close to Shippea Hill near Littleport and we were able to +examine the section and get some of the bones out of the peat ourselves +(Fig. 6). A deposit of about 4' 6" of peat with small thin lenticular +beds of shell marl here rested on lead colored alluvial clay. In the +base of the peat about four inches above the Buttery Clay a human +skeleton was found bunched up and crowded into a small space, less than +two feet square, as if the body had settled down vertically. + + _b_ + +-----+ + / \ [Greek: ph] + --------------/ \-------------- + _c_ ···_d_ / \ _d´_··· _c_ + / \ + + -----------/ _a_ \----------- + _e_ / \ _e´_ + ---------+-------------------+--------- + + _a._ Kimmeridge Clay forming Shippea Hill, on which monastic + buildings in connection with Ely Cathedral formerly stood. + + _b._ Patches of rusty flint gravel. + + _c._ Peat with bones of beaver, boar, urus, etc. + + _d._ Shell Marl, occurring in lenticular beds of limited extent in + the upper part of the peat, sometimes in one bed as at _d_ and + sometimes in several distinct beds as at _d´_. + + _e._ "Buttery Clay"; full of cockleshells etc. at _e_, but at + _e´_ containing only freshwater shells and pieces of wood. + + + Position of skeleton. + + [Greek: ph] Dressed flint flake on surface. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6. Diagram Section across Shippea Hill.] + +Some of the bones were broken and much decayed, while others, when +carefully extracted, dried and helped out with a little thin glue, +became very sound and showed by the surface markings that they had +suffered only from the moisture and not from any wear in transport. + +The most interesting point about them is the protuberant brow, which, +when first seen on the detached frontal bone, before the skull had been +restored, suggested comparison with that of the Neanderthal man. + +Much greater importance was attached to that character when the +Neanderthal skull was found. + +When I announced the discovery of the Shippea man the point on which I +laid most stress was that, notwithstanding his protuberant brow, he +could not possibly be of the _age_ of the deposits to which the +Neanderthal man was referred. I stated "my own conviction that the peat +in which the Shippea man was found cannot be older than Neolithic times +and may be much newer" and, believing that similar prominent brow +ridges are not uncommon to-day, I suggested that he might be even as +late as the time of the monks of Ely who had a Retreat on Shippea Hill. + +The best authorities who have seen the skull since it has been restored +by Mr C. E. Gray, our skilful First Attendant in the Sedgwick Museum, +refer it to the Bronze Age which falls well within the limits which I +assigned. + +This skull is unique among the few that I have obtained from the Fens. +Dr Duckworth has described[9] most of these, and I subjoin a +description of the Shippea man by Professor Alexander Macalister. + + [9] Duckworth and Shore, _Man_, No. 85, 1911, pp. 134, 139. + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIPPEA MAN BY PROF. A. MACALISTER. + + +"The calvaria is large, dark coloured and much broken. The base, facial +bones and part of the left brow ridge and glabella are gone. The +sutures are coarsely toothed and visible superficially although +ankylosis has set in in the inner face. The bone is fairly thick (8·10 +mm.), and on the inner face the pacchionian pits are large and deep on +each side of the middle line especially in the bregmatic part of the +frontal and the post-bregmatic part of the parietals. The superior +longitudinal groove is deep but narrow, and, as far as the broken +condition allows definite tracing, the cerebral convolution impressions +are of the typical pattern. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.] + +"The striking feature is the prominent brow ridge due to the large +frontal sinus. The glabella was probably prominent and the margins on +each side are large and rough and extend outwards to the supraorbital +notches. The outer part of the supraorbital margin and the processus +jugalis are thick, coarse and prominent (Fig. 7). + +"In norma verticalis the skull is ovoid-pentagonoid euryme-topic with +conspicuous rounded parietal eminences, slight flattening at the +obelion and a convex planum interparietale below it (Fig. 8). + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.] + +"In norma lateralis the brow ridges are conspicuous; above them is the +sulcus transversus from which the frontal ascends with a fairly uniform +curve to the bregma. The frontal sagittal arc above the ophryon +measures 112 mm. and its chord 116. Behind the bregma the parietals +along the front half of the sagittal suture have a fairly flat outline +to the medio-parietal region, behind which the flattened obelion is +continued downwards with a uniform slope to the middle of the planum +interparietale whence it probably descended by a much steeper curve to +the inion, which is lost. The parietal sagittal arc, including the +region where there was probably a supra-lambdoid ossicle, was about 140 +mm. and its chord 121 but the curve is not uniform. + +"In norma occipitalis the sagittal suture appears at the summit of a +ridge whose parietal sides slope outwards forming with each other an +angle of 138°, as far as the parietal eminences. From these the sides +drop vertically down to the large mastoid processes. The intermastoid +width at the tips of the processes is 115, but at the supramastoid +crest is 148 (Fig. 9). + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.] + +"In norma frontalis the conspicuous feature is the brow ridge. This +gives a kind of superficial suggestion of a Neanderthaloid shape, but +the broad and well arched frontal dispels the illusory likeness. The +jugal processes jut out giving a biorbital breadth of 115 mm. while the +least frontal width is 97 and the bistephanic expands to 125. There is +a slight median ridge on the frontal ascending from the ophryon, at +first narrow but expanding at the bregma to 50 mm. The surface of this +elevated area is a little smoother than that of the bone on each side +of it. + +"The other long bones are mostly broken at their extremities. The +femora are strong and platymeric. The postero-lateral rounded edge, +which bears on its hinder face the insertion of the gluteus maximus, +taken in connexion with the projection of the thin medial margin of the +shaft below the tuberculum colli inferior causes the upper end of the +shaft to appear flattened. The index of platymeria is ·55. The femoral +length cannot have been less than 471 mm. The man was probably of +middle stature, not a giant as was the Gristhorpe man. The tibiæ are +also broken at their ends, they are eurycnemic (index ·80) with sharp +sinuous shin and flat back, the length may have been between 335 and +340 mm. The humeri are also bones with strong muscular crests, and the +ulnæ are smooth and long. The fibula was channelled. There is nothing +in the bone-features which is inconsistent with the reference of the +skull to the Brachycephalic Bronze Age race. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.] + +"In the following Table are recorded the measurements of the different +regions. The two crania which I have selected to compare with it are +(1) a Round-barrow skull from near Stonehenge (No. 179 in our +Collection) and (2) the Gristhorpe skull, to both of which it bears a +very strong family likeness. + + Shippea Stonehenge + Hill (No. 179) Gristhorpe + Maximal length 194 185 192 + Maximal breadth 153 153 156 + Auricular height 135 132 133 + Biorbital width 115 112 117 + Bistephanic width 128 132 133 + Least frontal width 97 103 106 + Biasterial 120 127 125 + Auriculo-glabellar radius 116 113 114 + Auriculo-ophryal radius 113 111 105 + Auriculo-metopic radius 134 127 124 + Auriculo-bregmatic radius 137 132 134 + Auriculo-lambdoid radius 104 102 115 + Length and breadth index 78·87 82·7 81·25 + +"The resemblance to the two Round-barrow skulls of the Bronze Age is +too great to be accidental, so we may regard this as a representative +of that race, possibly at an earlier stage than the typical form of +which the two selected specimens are examples (Fig. 10). + +"The mandible also resembles that of the Gristhorpe skull in general +shape of angle and prominence of chin. + +"The measurements are as appended: + + Shippea Stonehenge + Hill (No. 179) Gristhorpe + Condylo mental length 131 -- 130 + Gonio mental length 100 -- 99 + Bigoniac 115 -- 116 + Bicondylar 139 -- 141 + Chin height 32 -- 33" + + + + + Cambridge: + PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. + AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes on the Fenland, by +T. McKenny Huges and Alexander MacAlister + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43597 *** |