THE GLASTONBURY LAKE VILLAGE.*
THE labour of recording the discoveries at the lake village near Glee- tonbury has now been finished by the publication of the second volume of the work dealing with this most interesting place. Dr. Bulleid, the discoverer of the site, and Mr. St. George Gray have brought to a close the exhaustive survey they have undertaken of this remarkable relic of prehistoric man. In the various chapters of the book we have minute descriptions accompanied by illustrations of the various finds. These are classified under such heads as pottery, currency, beads ; indeed, the subjects treated represent the objects of domestic economy which were imperishable in the swamp in which thoir owners lived. This community, which CLEW) to an end before the down of history, chose for their home the murales of the low-lying ground at the southern foot of the Mendip Hills. Here they made the wooden frameworks on whioh they piled brushwood for a foundation, circling it round with wattled walls, and in the centre of the floor placing their hearthstone. When the floor sank down into the swamp another one was placed upon it, till sontotimes five hearths may be seen in section one above the other, each with its layer of ashes. The people who lived in this Place had attained to a considerable amount of civilization if we judge by the implements they have left behind them. An iron saw in a wooden handle, so well made as to be comparable to fine modern workmanship ; billhooks of the same pattern as those now in use ; snaffle-bits, nails and rivets, are among the iron things found. Some of these which have been discovered just outside the village and buried in peat are in a good state of preserve. tion. Among the iron objects are bars of a regular shape and definite weight. These exist in multiples and divisions of a single unit, and are found in many places in England, though never north of Hunsbury Camp in Northamptonehire. From their wide dis- tribution and standard size these bars are considered to have been used as currency. Nor were the things used by the villagers merely utilitarian, for, besides bead ornaments, more than one eat of dice have been found. Pottery has been discovered in great quantities, mostly broken, several tons of potaherds yielding only some half. dozen perfect pieces. A small proportion of the pottery was decorated with rough geometrical patterns, and it seems nearly all to have been made by hand and not thrown upon a wheel.
The final chapters of the work are by Professor Boyd Dawkins, and deal with the human remains. Up till now no cemetery hos been found, and the bones and skulls which have survived wore discovered scattered about. All the evidence tends to show that the life of the village was ended suddenly by a massacre. Skulls severed from the bodies and showing injuries point to this conclusion. Exactly at what period this village existed it is impossible to say, but a time just before the Roman Conquest seems to fit in best with the ascertained facts. Perhaps the discoveries at Hoare, not far off, where Dr. Bulleid found a second village, will, when they are complete, throw light en the problem. Professor Boyd Dawkins considers that the villagers belonged to tire aboriginal inhabitants of Europe, the non-Arian race called Iberians, or Mediterranean% who survive in the Basque people
In taking leave of this book we must congratulate the authors on having finished a remarkable piece of work. The Glastonbury lake village in wonderfully complete in itself. It was peopled by an unmixed race ; it came to an end suddenly. Its discoverer, Dr. Bulleili, has worked with Mr. St. George Gray till the whole site has been laid open and the harvest of its remains gathered together in the Glastonbury Museum. This labour" extending over
• The Glastonbury Late name. By Arthur Manna and Garold Bt. George Gray. Vol. 11, The Glastonbury antltrulrlun BeoloSY. V3 5.1
many years, has now been recorded in two volumes admirable in their clearness and precision. It is only to be hoped that the neighbouring lake village of Ware will be treated in like fashion.
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