30 THE EXCAVATIONS 



the cutting of a modern drain had removed a portion of 

 this base. But for this accident it would now be possible 

 to finally answer the question whether the arches of the 

 Melandra gates were equal. In his interim report, Mr. 

 Grarstang hazards the suggestion that possibly the eastern 

 entrance was " surmounted by two unequal arches, the 

 larger for road traffic, the smaller for foot passengers." 

 He states that this is indicated both by excavation and 

 " by the trend of the street crossing the interior." He 

 repeats the statement in his paper on Melandra (p. 95), 

 and again, in his paper on Roman Military Works (p. 12), 

 he speaks of " some suggestion of unequal arches." 



The first question that arises is : What were Mr. 

 Garstang's grounds for the theory ? In cutting one of the 

 sections we discovered in 1905 that the foundations of the 

 eastern ga'te (which we supposed had been fully examined), 

 went one course deeper than Mr. Garstang had thought. 

 We do not know if his conjecture in regard to the east gate 

 was based upon the position of the irregular stones lying 

 between the guard chambers, and which he very likely 

 had no time to examine. I have myself had these stones 

 lifted ; they appear to be lying loosely about and to have 

 no connection with the foundations of a sfina, which (as 

 shown by our work at the north gate) must lie nearly 

 two feet deeper. It was only when the draft of this report 

 was written that I found on enquiry that the excavations 

 at this point had never been taken deeper. It is possible 

 the evidence required may yet exist, but there is no time 

 to obtain it before publication. Mr. Garstang first adduced 

 Lincoln as a parallel case (p. 95) ; but in a footnote, 

 apparently added later, he says : " The Lincoln gate is not 

 really analogous." ^^ The other parallel instance adduced 



16. The great inequality of the arches of the Lincoln gate would 

 surely prevent its being used as a parallel. 



