NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA— BR0NDSTED 



385 



Pillar 



Base Stone 

 Earth Surface 



Pillar drum 



Layer of plasier 



^Foundation Stones 



Figure 7. — Theoretical sketch of Newport Tower pillar foot. 



foundations were arranged in an annular trench, which thus must 

 have been the first element in the building of the tower. 



There are no capitals, in the proper sense, on the pillars — ^nothing 

 but a rather thin impost block or capstone for the arches to rest upon. 

 These are placed eccentrically inward so that part of the capstone 

 juts out like an "offset" for as much as about 0.30 m. (see pi. 4, upper, 

 extreme left) . Some of the pillar heads may be studied on plate 4, 

 upper, and lower, extreme right, and on plate 3, center and right, 

 from the inside. The arches are low and somewhat flat. 



Inside the tower we see that above each pillar is a trapezif orm beam 

 hole (pi. 3, center and right). These holes must be regarded as 

 having been part of the original design and construction. They 

 once enclosed the ends of long beams, for they correspond i^airwise : 

 1-6, 2-5, 3-8, 4-7. This is shown by the theoretical sketch (fig. 8). 



6 5 



Figure 8. — Theoretical sketch of lower beams of Newport Tower. 



