44 Mr. George Clinch on Recent 
of this kind of deposit is of the utmost value in scientific 
archeology, but it may not be so widely recognised that there 
are two distinct kinds of deposits of this sort. One kind, which 
may be called simple, is admirably typified by the rubbish-pits 
found on the site of the Romano-British city of Silchester. 
From these many important objects illustrative of Roman times 
have been obtained. The pits were purposely dug in the earth 
as receptacles for rubbish of various kinds, such as broken 
pottery, glass, &c.; and the accumulation of rubbish in them 
went on gradually and in regular order, so that one can safely 
assign objects found in the lowest deposits to an earlier period 
than those of the upper layers. 
But there is another class of deposits which may be termed 
complex. This is well represented by certain filled-in deneholes, 
where we find not only a deposit made in regular order, but also 
one or more beds made up of material brought down from the 
sides of the shaft and the upper surface when collapse or partial 
collapse of the pit has occurred. In such cases the upper 
deposits may, and sometimes do, contain antiquities of an earlier 
period than that of the excavation of the pit, and they must be 
regarded by the archeologist exactly as ‘‘derived’’ fossils are 
regarded by the geologist. 
The various bones of Bos longifrons found at Waddon have 
already been mentioned, and I think they afford sufficient evi- 
dence that the lateral approach to the chamber has in the main 
been filled up in the simple manner just described. If this be 
accepted we have additional ground for the opinion that the 
chambers are of very considerable antiquity, for it is generally 
admitted that this particular variety of ox was extinct in Britain 
in the fourth or fifth century a.p., and has been introduced again 
into this country only in comparatively recent times. 
Among the various subterranean excavations in Great Britain 
there seems to be nothing to which the Waddon chambers can 
be exactly, or even approximately, likened. The most super- 
ficial examination would be sufficient to prove that they belong 
to an entirely different class of excavations to those commonly 
known as deneholes. Their small dimensions, the absence of a 
perpendicular shaft, and their occurrence in sand, are among the 
most obvious points of dissimilarity. Their form and plan, too, 
are equally unlike those of deneholes. On the other hand, they 
do not present any feature in common with mines for flint (those 
at Grimes, Graves, and Cissbury for example), or the curious 
beehive-shaped buildings found under the surface of the ground 
in the Isle of Purbeck.* 
In looking for similar excavations on the Continent of Europe, 
* Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, vol. viii. No. 7 (July, 1884), 
pp. 404-410, 
