The abundance of sheltered creeks must have had considerable
influence on the manner of living of the inhabitants; but it is
noticeable that though many acres of the silts have been removed in
tinning, and a good many human remains have been found, there is no
mention of boats. This absence of any record of boats in any of the
marine silts associated with or below submerged forests cannot be
an accident; for old boats and dug-out canoes are constantly being
discovered in later alluvial and fen deposits. It looks as if in
those early days man had either no boats, or only used coracles of
skin and wicker, such as would entirely decay and leave no trace.
It may be remarked that the higher submerged forest, that lying just
about low-water level, is not recorded in the deep excavations at
Pentuan and Carnon, though these old land-surfaces are so conspicuous
on the foreshore opposite every smaller creek, when the sea happens
to scour away the sand and beach. A little consideration will show
the reason of this difference. The extensive stream-works of Pentuan
and Carnon happen to lie at the mouths of two of the larger and
deeper creeks, in which silting-up could not keep pace with the
subsidence. Thus the seaward ends were continuously occupied by
sea, from the time when the oak-forest sank right on into historic
times, and over this deeply buried oak-forest we only find alternate
layers of silt and sea-sand. Evidence of the later submerged forest,
however, is not entirely wanting, for the submerged wooden bridge or
causeway of Pentuan must belong to the period when the trees seen on
the foreshore elsewhere were flourishing well above high-water mark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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