198 SOME FURTHER FINDS IN DEEPDALE CAVE, BUXTON. 



measurement shows that the more recently discovered one is -^ in. 

 less than the one that is engraved, so that they could not 

 have been cast in the same mould. 



I am indebted to Mr. Johnson, jeweller, of Derby, for the 

 description of the metal of the brooches and other objects on 

 Plate XII. Mr. Johnson says that this silver enamelling, very 

 unusual in Roman finds, is much like the Norwegian and the 

 Japanese enamels. He also suggests that the large heavy fibula 

 (Fig. 2) looks like the model of a Roman catapult, particularly 

 in the spring arrangement on the under side. The same idea 

 holds good to some extent with regard to Fig. 4. 



This large and varied collection of brooches and other ladies' 

 ornaments seems to point to the concealing of this jewellery by 

 thieves, or the collection of discarded or damaged specimens by 

 some cave dwellers after the Roman occupation had ceased. At 

 all events, it is absurd to imagine that the wearers of these brooches 

 ever lived in these limestone crevices. 



In addition to the numbered and mounted articles, Mr. Salt 

 also sent me a variety of other pieces and fragments from the 

 same cave of his own recent discovery. 



One of these is a rounded piece of stalagmite, 5 in. long, by 

 about 3^ in. in diameter. It is deeply grooved in the centre 

 as if to form a safe attachment for a cord. If it had not 

 been that it was hollowed at one end into a decreasing hole 

 1^ in. deep, I should have conjectured that it might have been 

 used as a weight for a fishing net, in the deep places of the 

 mountain streams. But can it have been used in connection 

 with any spinning or weaving operation ?* 



Another weighty find is the large fragment of a heavy hone 

 stone, bearing obvious traces of the whetting thereon of many an 

 instrument. 



* It is Mr. Salt's opinion tliat this rounded piece of stalagmite was used as 

 a liammer, and that in the groove was fastened the twisted end of a withy or 

 hazel Slick ; the hole in the end, he thinks, might have been used for a spike, 

 and would thus make a very deadly weapon. We cannot say that this 

 conjecture is wrong ; but against it is the fact of the generally brittle or 

 easily Ijroken character of stalactite or stalagmite formations. 



