alterations of the roadways, but, as far as possible, the old ways were used. So an existing stretch of road may be partly prehistoric, partly Roman, partly medieval, and partly modern, and it is the problem of archæology to analyse the different elements and determine their respective ages. We all climb unnecessary hills, make unnecessary detours, and generally go the long way round because we follow roads that grew under conditions that have long passed away

It was a failure to appreciate the significance of this principle that vitiated some of the conclusions of Mr. Belloc in "The Old Road." The Pilgrims' Way is, for the most part, a hill-side road, but it has incorporated into its structure pieces of roads of other periods, and it is a mistake to treat it as if every section were of the same age.

The converse of the principle is equally true and equally useful. It is seldom, indeed, that a long stretch of pre-historic trackway can be found in the state of preservation of the Berkshire ridgeway. Accordingly the field archæologist who sets out to piece together an ancient way may well find part of it as a much used motor highway, another part as a grass lane, another as a footpath, another as a line of hedges or merely the direction of an ancient boundary, and another so submerged by cultivation or industry that its direction is merely a matter of conjecture.

Secondly, the age of a road is determined by the earliest monuments or objects found in definite relation to it. This principle needs no elaboration. It is of no importance in determining the age of the Icknield Way that Roman remains have been found along its course, but it is of the utmost significance that its trace is marked by round barrows, and that the extension of the long barrow culture into Eastern England follows its

course.

Thirdly, the relation of roadways and footpaths to ancient boundaries, county, hundredal, parochial, and manorial, is a vital sign of antiquity. Many such boundaries may have survived from times before the Roman occupation, they are all at latest medieval, and the use of a trackway as a boundary proves that the way existed before the administrative unit was created. Perhaps it may be well to add the warning that ancient boundary lines alone are of use in this connection; for the nineteenth century has seen much shifting of bounds for purposes civil and ecclesiastical, and these modern limits are of no significance at all.

Fourthly, cross roads are deserving of attention. Students of folk-lore will not need to be reminded how widespread is the connection between cross roads and religious or superstitious observances. The medieval custom of burying suicides at cross roads with a stake driven through the body is well known, and the curious may find a significant allusion in the Oedipus Rex of Sophocles. For the present purpose it is sufficient to say that if roads cross at the site of a prehistoric monument, there is a strong presumption that the roads themselves are at least of the same age as the monument.

Fifthly, a road that possesses a distinctive name is usually old, but not necessarily pre-historic. This is especially the case if the name is one of unknown meaning, or has no connection with any place to which the road leads. Named roads exist everywhere, and they are always worthy of examination and research. Old maps and surveys and descriptions in deeds will often reveal names that have dropped out of use.

Of roads genuinely pre-historic there are four main classes or types, viz., the Ridgeway, the Harrow Way, the Hillside road, and the Hollow Way. Of these the ridgeway type is probably the earliest, but it exhibits some features that are common to all pre-historic roads. The "habits" of a ridgeway are usually unmistakable for those who have eyes to see and imagination to envisage, and it may be useful to set them out as a series of propositions.

(1) The ridge roads, as their name implies, follow the lines of the water-partings with the most scrupulous fidelity. The reasons for this are to be found in the condition of the country when they grew up. In this manner only was it possible to avoid the forest, with all the elements of danger that the forest contained; in this manner only was it possible to obtain a clear view and to frustrate the waylaying enemy; and above all, in this manner was it possible to avoid the greatest obstacle to early communications—the alluvium and the marsh. Perhaps it is difficult for a modern town-dweller to appreciate the importance of this, but a comparatively short walk taken across country even under present-day conditions would afford a convincing demonstration. Whether on foot or on horseback, whether alone or driving beasts, nothing takes longer to traverse than a piece of marsh, nothing is so terrifying as the possibility of encountering bog. A fairly long

detour is often an avoidance of danger and a saving of time. It is another instance of the sound principle that the longest way round is the quickest way home.

Nevertheless, there is one type of country where the ridgeway will seldom be found, because it is in fact an impossibility. That is in a true mountain country, especially where the geological formation is igneous rock. Even in a hill country, where the hills consist of worn-down plateaus of sedimentary rocks, the broad and flattish summits may be unsuitable on account of their formation. For example, the millstone grit, a hard impervious sandstone, is a great harbourer of bogs.

(2) It is, obviously, impossible to continue to travel along the water-partings for an indefinite distance if one wishes to arrive. The time comes when a river valley must be crossed. The method of crossing is common to all pre-historic roads, and is one of their most interesting features. The demonstration of that method is due to Mr. Belloc. It would be natural to suppose that early man would seek, first and foremost, for an easy ford; but an easy ford may be approached by a long stretch of marsh, and in that case the disadvantage of the obstacle far outweighs the advantage of the crossing place. One would imagine, as Mr. Belloc observes, that other considerations would weigh with the primitive traveller. "He would seek gravel rather than clay; he would try to pass as high up a river as possible; and, other things being equal, he would keep to the general alignment of his path as much as possible in crossing a river " (" Old Road," p. 111). As a matter of fact, there is one paramount factor that outweighs all others. It is hardly a thing that would be guessed, but is definitely established as the result of observation. All pre-historic roads cross river valleys at points where the hard dry ground approaches closest to the stream on both banks, so as to leave the narrowest gap of marshy ground between. Always, everywhere, it is the marsh that is to be avoided. If the connecting spurs of hard ground happen to coincide with the presence of a ford, the heart of the traveller rejoices, but the presence of the ford is not the governing consideration. The crossing of the Avon at Bath, and the crossing of the Thames at Streatley, prove that formidable rivers could be crossed, provided that the two hard spurs were present. The obstacle of the mighty stream was as nothing compared to the advantage of the firm foothold. Mr. Belloc

remarks that the principle applies in the case of the Pilgrims' Way to the crossings of all the rivers along its course: the Itchen, the Wey, the Mole, the Darent, and the Medway; but it is without exception, and is a sure guide to the presence of a pre-historic road.

(3) Pre-historic roads are always direct, but seldom if ever straight. This applies to all types of such roads, and is equally true of modern trails, because" when you have a vague open space to walk through at your choice, you have no reason for not going straight on." The habit is of great importance in theoretical reconstructions of old roads. The student of rivers always looks for some definite geological cause for a sharp corner or a rightangled turn. The same things are equally significant to the student of roads. They usually signify a change from a road of one age to another stretch belonging to a different age.

(4) Our knowledge of another habit we owe to a beautiful piece of inferential reasoning on the part of Mr. Peake. A sound archæology must always work on a knowledge of human nature, and all our great moralists tell us that there are few principles of human nature more difficult to eradicate or control than that of putting off the evil day. The habit in question shows itself in the method of ascending and descending hills. The men of the ridgeways were men of the uplands and the high places; their joy was the open heath and the springy turf; their terror the forested and swampy lowlands and valleys. Accordingly, when necessity compelled a descent, they kept to the uplands as long as possible by moving along a spur of the hills, and then descended to the valley by a short and steep road. The procedure was thoroughly unscientific and thoroughly natural: it involved an unnecessarily sharp fall, and on the return journey an unnecessarily steep climb, but it shortened the stay in the hated valley, it postponed the inevitable drop to the last moment.

Exactly the reverse was the feeling of the men of the lowlands, as numerous folk tales so clearly prove. To them the evil to be put off was the climb to the top, and so they carried their way up the valley of habitation to the furthest possible point, at the expense of a steep climb when the hill must be faced at last. A modern engineer would have neither of these feelings. His ideal would be an even gradient along the whole course as witness Telford's great Holyhead road through the Snowdon district.

The principle in question is a sure criterion of the character and age of a road, even when little other evidence exists. Where one finds a road or footpath going straight up the spur of a hill, one can predicate the existence of a ridgeway with practical certainty; and when one finds a coombe road hugging the valley as if fearful of venturing up the hill, it is a fair inference that it was made by a valley-living people. Sometimes one may be lucky enough to find sufficient traces of both roads leading, perhaps, from a ford to a ridge. They will reach the ridge by different routes and strike it at different points, because they belong to different civilisations.

(5) A digression may be permitted here to mention the theory of the valley-ward movement of population. It was set forth by Dr. Fleure and Mr. Whitehouse of Aberystwyth, in a striking paper, published with characteristic modesty in the transactions of a local Archæological Society (Arch. Camb., 1916, 6th series, vol. xvi, p. 101). According to this theory, the treeless uplands were first inhabited because they were open, and the old inhabitants gradually moved down from them into the valleys as improvements in implements enabled them to cope with the forest and the swamp. Hunting and pastoralism could be practised with success from or upon the uplands, but the invention of hay-making would lead to periodical descents into the valleys for the purpose of securing meadows. The introduction of agriculture would accelerate the movement, until in the end the population would descend into the lowlands, leaving the uplands devoid of habitation. The upward march of civilisation is represented to be a progress downhill. The authors give some excellent illustrations in support of their thesis. In one of these, the village of Llanfihangel geneu'r glyn, near Aberystwyth, the process can be traced so well that even the church, the village inn, and the nonconformist chapel stand below one another in the exact order of their historical occurrence; though a cynic might remark that to place the inn midway between church and chapel was merely a matter of practical convenience.

The matter can be illustrated also from Dr. Cyril Fox's admirable series of maps of the Cambridge region. There, the finds of neolithic age are thickly clustered on the open country with some extensions into the fens; the bronze age shows much the same conditions, but the finds in the fens are more widespread ;