Page:The history of Little England beyond Wales and the non-Kymric colony settled in Pembrokeshire.pdf/43

Rh intersected by the ramifications of a sheltered fiord, whose waters were a safe fishing-ground for fragile boats, and whose extensive winding shores no doubt abounded with the shell-fish so grateful to priscan man. Besides, that expanse of sand which to us is somewhat dreary, had for them considerable attractions; no clearing was required, and clearing even furze and blackthorn with a stone axe involved no slight labour. But on Stackpole Warren this was unnecessary, the ground was cleared by nature, and its inhabitants felt secure, for no wild beast, or more brutal human foe, could creep up unobserved under the cover of brushwood, and carry off women, children, or cattle, without a fight. For these, or other reasons, Stackpole was a favourite locality, and as flint was to be found on the shores it was worked in this comparatively large settlement. A pocketful of flakes may he easily picked up on the dunes during a walk, and probably arrow-heads of divers shapes, scrapers and fabricators, may be found among them. Colonel Lambton and myself have collected several types of arrow-head; the early leaf-shaped, plain spiked, and the later barbed.

A few miles further on are the Brownslade Burrows, and on these similar phenomena may be observed, though the raw material seems here to have been imported to a greater extent than was the case at Stackpole. Colonel Lambton has picked up two small unfinished celts, and a well-formed spindle whorl of felsite, and I have found some fragments of chert. Neither of these stones are native. If we cross over the Haven, near West Dale, we come on the flint bearing drift, and from there to Wooltuck Point the cliffs are strewed with worked flint flakes. Then there seems to be a break. At St. Bride's again there was an important factory, which unlike the others, seems to have been carried on in one spot, and so probably either by one individual, or one family, for on a spot on the cliff there is an actual stratification of worked flint chips and flakes, and so careful was this workman, that hitherto I believe no spoiled implement has been discovered, though many people have examined and worked at the deposit. It is covered by about three feet of soil and on the very edge of the cliff close to two camps. At Tremaenhir Moor, near Solva, there is another factory, but felsite rather than flint was the raw material. On the coast of Pencaer, near Fishguard, flint, felsite, and hornstone flakes are common. In the Tenby Museum will be found a good typical collection of polished stone celts from various parts of Pembrokeshire. From Tremaenhir we have four celts: a rough one of the fine grained ash of the district; another very like it of gabbro; a third of chert, so rough that had it been discovered under different circumstances would have perhaps been assigned to the Palæolithic age; and a fourth of ash, lke the first, but finely worked and polished. This place would seem to have been a celt factory. From a bog on Plumstone Mountain is a very beautiful axe, of chert, which has acquired a rich golden hue either from peat water, or iron, since it was made. Of the later forms we have a fine polished gneiss hammer axe from Llanvalteg, and another great "ash" weapon of the same form from near Narberth. Neither of these are perforated, though the boring is commenced on both sides in the first, on only one in the second. But there is an exceedingly pretty little diabase perforated axe, so small and so beautiful that it almost looks as if it had been an ornamental appendage. It was found in a stone coffin (or cist), which, is not very clear. It was accompanied by a coin of some sort, now lost, and of course was only placed as a charm or what not, in a comparatively recent grave. This tomb was near the great cromlech of Long House. We have a very fine axe and adze, taken from beneath a cromlech destroyed on Fynondruidion Farm, near Fishguard, early in the century; and this brings us face to face with a very difficult question. How did the neolithic inhabitants of West Wales dispose of their dead? The most authentic early neolithic remains in Britain are the elongated heart-