THE KMMERIDOE COAL MONET. 89 



contradictory of their claim to a Roman origin. The sacrifice of 

 animals, chiefly young oxen, was a common custom amongst the 

 Romans. I Though I would remark that no ^ Coal Money* was 

 found tmthm the cist; and with respect to the otlier interments 

 which have been brought to light, in no instance has the * Coal 

 Money ' been found associated with the sepulchral deposit. Some 

 of these have been in kistvacns, precisely similar to those in 

 the Afflington barrow, (see page 43,) and may, I think, be 

 attributed to the same people, and the saftie age. They are 

 frequently several feet beneath the stratum of black mould con- 

 taining the Coal Money, which apparently had been dug through 

 for the purpose, and afterwards filled in around the interment. 

 Mr. Miles certainly mentions the circumstance of an urn filled 

 with * Coal Money,' having been found beneath the skull of a 

 skeleton, but he does so merely upon hearsay. And if this in- 

 teraient can be proved to belong to a period subsequent to the 

 Roman, it is not improbable that some degree of talismanic value 

 may have attached to it. Lieutenant Smith, of the Coast Guard 

 Station at IGmmeridge, has favoiu-ed me with a description of a 

 grave opened by himself, which bears testimony to the truth of 

 what I have advanced. It was oval, and concave at the bottom, 

 surrounded by a wall of water-worn boulders, and lined with a 

 kind of plaster. In it were the two upper arm, and thigh bones, 

 lower jaw, and upper section of a skull, which appeared to have 

 been sawn through. There were two rough rings or circles of 

 Kimmeridge Coal placed one on each side of the skull, but no 

 Coal Money was found within the grave. On the outside were 

 bones of vaiious animals, a stags horn, and immense quantities 

 of limpet shells. He likewise informed me that pottery of Roman 

 character was very abundant in the neighbourhood ; and upon 

 one occasion he had found a bow-shaped fibula. Mr. Miles also 

 describes a spot near the edge of the cliff, about a mile westward 

 from that mentioned in Kimmeridge bay, where were " great 

 quantities of pottery, ashes, bones, shells, &c. A skeleton was 



I It was necessary that animals to be sacriflced (hostia vel victima) 

 should be without spot and blemish, (decora et integra velintacta) never 

 yoked to the plough. 



Sometimes the victim was all burnt, and called Holocaustum, but 

 usually only a part. 



Adams* Roman Anti^iities. 



