By William Gowland, F.S.A., PLC. a1 
































Chippings of diabase were more abundant than those of any of 
the other rocks; there were, however, but few large pieces of it. 
Sarsen, on the other hand, occurred most abundantly in lumps. 
In the excavations on the south-west side of the stone and in 
VI. and Q, sarsen and diabase were always found together even in 
the layer overlying the bed rock. On the north-east side diabase 
chips were somewhat fewer, and pieces of sarsen occurred at lower 
depths than they. 
The soft “fissile rock” is only represented now by the weathered 
stump mentioned above, But this rock is so easily disintegrated 
by the action of rain and frost that any stones consisting of it 
would soon have been destroyed, and hence it may be that this 
stump is all that is left of them. The amount of chippings would 
seem to indicate that originally there were several, and it is just 
possible that other stumps may exist below the ground. Their 
absence may also be accounted for by their removal for utilitarian 
purposes, when Stonehenge had lost its sacred character, in 
preference to the other stones, owing to the ease with which they 
could be worked. 
In all the excavations sarsen and diabase occurred in the largest 
_ quantities. The other rocks were also distributed more or less 
uniformly through most of the layers, but in very varying pro- 
portions. 
_ Chippings of a hard compact rock, which cannot, as yet, be 
referred to any of the existing stones, were also found, but only 
_in small quantities. 
_ It has been suggested that these chippings and lumps may be 
those left by despoilers from the trimming of stones which they 
_ removed. 
But if this were true, then they should only have occurred in 
the surface layers, or at but little below them, and not at the 
depths at which they were found. It may be remarked further 
- that the Excavation F at the side of the upright, No. 54, of the 
south trilithon also shows this suggestion to be untenable, for here, 
down to the depth examined, 4 feet below the turf, they were 
found, together with large blocks, to form the chief material which 
