Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
(* R. Chambers "Sea Margins" 1848 and papers by Mr. Smith of
Jordan Hill "Memoirs of the Wernerian Society" volume 8 and
by Mr. C. Maclaren. )
The two most marked of these littoral deposits occur at heights of about
50 and 25 feet above high-water mark, that of 50 feet being considered
as the more ancient, and owing its superior elevation to a continuance
of the upheaving movement. They are seen in some places to rest on the
boulder clay of the glacial period, which will be described in future
chapters.
In those districts where large rivers, such as the Clyde, Forth, and
Tay, enter the sea, the lower of the two deposits, or that of 25 feet,
expands into a terrace fringing the estuaries, and varying in breadth
from a few yards to several miles. Of this nature are the flat lands
which occur along the margin of the Clyde at Glasgow, which consist
of finely laminated sand, silt, and clay. Mr. John Buchanan, a zealous
antiquary, writing in 1855, informs us that in the course of the eighty
years preceding that date, no less than seventeen canoes had been dug
out of this estuarine silt, and that he had personally inspected a large
number of them before they were exhumed. Five of them lay buried in silt
under the streets of Glasgow, one in a vertical position with the prow
uppermost as if it had sunk in a storm. In the inside of it were a
number of marine shells. Twelve other canoes were found about 100 yards
back from the river, at the average depth of about 19 feet from the
surface of the soil, or 7 feet above high-water mark; but a few of them
were only 4 or 5 feet deep, and consequently more than 20 feet above
the sea-level. One was sticking in the sand at an angle of 45 degrees,
another had been capsized and lay bottom uppermost; all the rest were in
a horizontal position, as if they had sunk in smooth water.*
(* J. Buchanan "Report of the British Association" 1855 page
80; also "Glasgow, Past and Present" 1856.)
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