And therefore, it is very probable that these objects of Roman culture may have been used in that district which was the Northumbrian border, long after they had ceased to be used in the regions conquered by the English. To say the least, there are two extremes between which the date must lie--the fourth and fifth centuries, as shown by the barbaric coins, and the year 756, when Eadberht finally conquered Strathclyde. It cannot be later, because of the presence of Roman, and the absence of all English cultus. The cave, situated in a lonely spot, and surrounded by the gnarled and tangled growth of stunted yews, oaks, and hazel, which still survive in one or two places in the neighbourhood, as samples of the primeval forest, would afford that shelter from an invader of which a native would certainly take advantage. We can hardly doubt that it was used by unfortunate provincials who fled from their homes, with some of their cattle and other property, and were compelled to exchange the luxuries of civilised life for a hard struggle for common necessaries. In no other way can the association of works of art of a very high order with rude and rough instruments of daily use be accounted for. In that respect, therefore, the Victoria Cave affords as true and vivid a picture of the troublous times of the fourth and fifth centuries as the innumerable burned Roman villas and cities; in the one case, you get a place of refuge to which the provincials fled; and in the other, their homes which have been ruthlessly destroyed."--(_Journal of Anthrop. Inst._ vol. i. p. 64.) The presence of a Saxon coin in one of the Ayrshire examples is in no way inconsistent with the general views here advocated, as we have undoubted evidence that the country had been occupied, at least temporarily, by the Saxons as early as the date to which Mr. Evans assigns this coin. Turning now to the Celtic area beyond the limits of the Scottish portion of the kingdom of Strathclyde, I may at once state that there are no data derived from an examination of its artificial islands, nor any relics of their occupiers, which can give even an approximate notion of their chronological range.