Besides a few stone celts and chisels, most of which were still in their horn handles, there were a few flint knives (No. 1), three sharpening stones, two curious and novel objects of polished stone, one of which is illustrated (No. 10).
The pottery includes 140 fragments of dishes, showing various forms of handles and linear ornamentation.
Of bronze there are just two objects, a small awl or chisel and a much-worn dagger (Nos. 11 and 12).
Animal bones collected to the amount of 150 kilogrammes were not reported on by a skilled person; but, according to Le Mire, they belonged chiefly to the ox, stag, boar and pig; among them was a fine specimen of a bear's skull. Among other organic remains were a few grains of wheat and acorns.
MARSH DWELLING IN THE TOWN OF BORDEAUX.
In 1867 Mr. Delfortrie (B. 136) published a notice of prehistoric antiquities of the Neolithic Age found in the course of excavations for the improvement of the town of Bordeaux, which point to the existence of some kind of marsh dwelling in the very centre of the town. Attention was first directed to the matter by the quantity of bones thrown up from the lower part of the excavations, among which Delfortrie detected some worked ones, and associated with them were various stone and flint implements.
In regard to the osseous remains, he observes that the lower jaws of ruminants, which were relatively in great abundance, had their incisor teeth purposely removed, but the molars were retained. On the other hand, the upper jaws were entirely absent or broken, like all other marrow bones.
At three different points forming an almost equilateral triangle of 200 mètres the side, he procured sections of these street cuttings, in all of which the succession of strata and relics indicated similar conditions. At one point he gives the following details of a section:—
| Mètres. | ||
| A. | Earth and subsoil } | |
| B. | Terramare of Gallo-Roman period } | 4· |
| C. | Marine bed with shells | ·10 |
| D. | Sandy peat | ·50 |
| E. | Bed of ashes with oyster shells, worked bones, etc. | ·50 |
| F. | Lacustrine sand | ·45 |
| G. | Black peat with sand and gravel | 1·55 |
| 7·10 | ||
The bones represented the following animals:—Great ox, smaller ox, stag, pig, wild boar, horse (a small kind), goat, sheep, and dog. Mr. Delfortrie thinks the bones of the horse show that the animal was not domesticated. No piles were discovered except in the Gallo-Roman period. The following shells were found in the marine bed C.:—Ostrea edulis, Pecten maximus, Mytilus edulis, Venus decussata, Cardium edule, Mactrea solida, Turbo neritoides, and Trochus cinerarius.