ijd Tieport on the cxcaration of the Earthwork 



sea-sliore, whereas at Ambresbury they were probably 

 obtamed from Tertiary deposits close by. This independent 

 observation, however, confirms the impression that slings 

 were in common use by the defenders of these camps. 



In conclusion I have only to add that, although at the 

 request of the Council I have written the paper from the 

 materials which have been furnished to me, it is to those 

 gentlemen who have so diligently conducted the explorations 

 the credit of this investigation is due : to Mr. Meldola, with 

 whom the investigation originated ; to Mr. W. Cole, the 

 Honorary Secretary, by whom all the arrangements have 

 been made ; and more particularly to Mr. D'Oyley, the 

 Honorary Surveyor to the Club — to whose excellent plans 

 and sections on this no less than on former occasions the 

 Society is indebted for the means of recording with accuracy 

 the result of its labours. To these gentlemen my acknow- 

 ledgments are due, not only as an honorary member of the 

 Society for their contributions towards the matter in hand, 

 but in a special manner for their courtesy to me in supplying 

 the data and correcting the omissions which this paper may 

 have contained. 



If I am asked whether I consider the results of the investi- 

 gation are conclusive, I can only reply that, within certain 

 limits, the age of the entrenchment appears to have been 

 fixed. I have on other occasions found it necessary to make 

 three or four cuttings into the ramparts before satisfactory 

 results could be obtained. If it be the wish of the Essex 

 Field Club to settle the question whether the camp, being a 

 British one, was erected before or after the Roman Conquest, 

 further excavations can alone decide the ^Doint ; but I think 

 the Committee of Exploration may fairly be congratulated 

 upon having, with the slender means at their disposal, 

 achieved so much, having solved by means of a single section 

 a large portion of the problem which has exercised the best 

 wits of the neighbourhood h-om the days of Camden to our 

 own time. 



[As the excavated soil was removed it was carried to a 

 spot a few yards from the scene of operations, and there 



