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[[underline]] Chapter XIII. [[/underline]] 245. negative. The heaps were quite obviously of human origin; for they consisted mainly of gray wood-ash and other organic materials; but we found nothing whatever to suggest for them any remote antiquity. They [[contained?]] no stone implements or pottery to show that they were actually Neolithic; although neither did we come upon anything, it is only fair to say, that would establish a later date for them. The deposits were certainly not recent---they were too thoroughly consolidated and compacted for that; but it seemed to us most likely that they were refuse-heaps left by Chinese peasant communities of the historical period---perhaps the early Christian Era. Be that as it may, their thorough excavation [[underline]] à fond [[/underline]] appeared unlikely to yield results at all commensurate with the expenditure of time and money that such a proceeding would require. Mr. Tegengren also pointed out to us, on the surfaces---some fairly level, others tilted at various angles---of outcroppings of granite^[[,]] [[strikethrough]] see page 196), [[/strikethrough]] numerous clusters of shallow pittings or rounded depressions. These averaged about 2 [[underline]] cm. [[/underline]] in diameter, and had apparently been executed by "pecking". They were weathered to nearly the same degree as the rock about them---in itself a circumstance indicative of some little antiquity. Each group consisted of a central pit with other arranged about it in a circle from 10 to 15 [[underline]] cm. [[/underline]] across. In this outer ring there were generally 6 pits---never fewer so far as I saw and sometimes 2 or 3 more---roughly equidistant from their neighbors on either side. To have worked these pittings in such hard material must have required both time and effort, such as would imply a certain cogency of motive. Yet the local peasants insisted that while undoubtedly ancient (for nothing of the sort, they assured us, was being made nowadays), these