184 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS Chap. IV. 



23 inches thick of blackish earth, including 

 many large stones. Beneath this was a thin 

 bed of very black mould (C), then a layer of 

 earth full of fragments of mortar (D), and 

 then another thin bed (about 3 inches thick) 

 (E) of very black mould, which rested on the 

 undisturbed subsoil (F) of firm, yellowish, 

 argillaceous sand. The 23-inch bed (B) was 

 probably made ground, as this would have 

 brought up the floor of the room to a level 

 with that of the atrium. The two thin beds 

 of black mould at the bottom of the trench 

 evidently marked two former land-surfaces. 

 Outside the walls of the northern room, many 

 bones, ashes, oyster-shells, broken pottery and 

 an entire pot were subsequently found at a 

 depth of 16 inches beneath the surface. 



The second trench was dug on the western 

 or lower side of the villa : the mould was 

 here only 6| inches in thickness, and it 

 rested on a mass of fine earth full of stones, 

 broken tiles and fragments of mortar, 34 

 inches in thickness, beneath which was the 

 undisturbed sand. Most of this earth had 

 probably been washed down from the upper 

 part of the field, and the fragments of 



