A vase of black earthenware. 
  Two pieces of horn, one showing attempts to cut with some
    instrument.  The lower piece has been neatly cut at both ends. 
  A whorl stone for weaving. 
  A human femur (thigh bone).  The ends show signs of having
    been gnawed by wolves. 
  Ornaments made from deer’s horn, found with the skeleton of a woman. 
  Fragment of a large earthenware jar or urn. 
  A sketch plan of the excavations (from the Proceedings of the
    Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society).
]

Another interesting discovery was the evidence of different attempts to cut some pieces of deer’s horn.  The shallow grooves were probably made by rubbing with a rib bone or some other sharp edge and sand and water.  A small black vase unornamented but in perfect condition was dug up near the remains of the young woman.  There were numerous skulls of the prehistoric ox or bos longifrons and also of the straight-horned sheep.  A piece of the antlers of a great palmated deer now extinct tends to place the discoveries at an early time, but until more evidence is forthcoming the period to which these lake-dwellers belong must remain uncertain.

A list of the bones discovered includes the following:—­

  Human (of at least four individuals). 
  Deer (of three species). 
  Horse (a small variety), numerous. 
  Ox (Bos longifrons), numerous. 
  Sheep (straight-horned), numerous. 
  Goat (one skull). 
  Pig (both wild and domesticated). 
  Wolf. 
  Fox. 
  Otter. 
  Beaver (one skull). 
  Voles (of different kinds). 
  Birds.

[Illustration:  Some examples of remains of Pre-historic Animals discovered in the Lake Dwellings by the river Costa.

  The skull of a Wolf. 
  Part of the horns of a Great Palmated Deer. 
  Part of the skull of a Straight-horned Sheep. 
  The skull of a Bos Longifrons or Pre-historic Ox.
]

The introduction of metal into Britain was due to the successive waves of Celtic Aryans who by means of their bronze weapons were able to overcome the Neolithic people.  The Brythons or Britons, one of these Celtic peoples, seem to have succeeded in occupying the whole of England.  They buried their dead in the round barrows which are to be found in most parts of the country but are particularly numerous on the hills immediately surrounding Pickering and on the wolds to the south of the Vale.

Some of the round barrows, as already mentioned, contain no traces of metal but in a number of those near Pickering have been found bronze Celts and spear-heads accompanied by beautifully finished weapons of stone.  There can be no doubt, therefore, that the use of metal crept in slowly, and that stone, horn and bone continued to be used for many centuries after its introduction.

The Celtic people were possessed of a civilisation infinitely more advanced than that of the Neolithic or Iberian races.  They were the ancestors of the “Ancient Britons” who offered such a stout resistance to the Roman legions under Julius Caesar.