288 



condition or habits of their occupants. In some cases a few 

 specks of charcoal, in others, one or two burned stones, or a 

 small shard of pottery, a pebble, or a chip of flint, are the only 

 relics met with. These objects are not all found at the bottom 

 of the original excavations, but are scattered throughout the 

 present contents in such a manner as to suggest the probability 

 that much of the filling \xp took place during the time of their 

 occupation. On Minchinhampton Common many of the pits are 

 filled nearly level with the sm^rounding surface, vegetable soil 

 and turf having accumulated in them to the thickness of eight 

 inches. On Eodborough and Selsley where the strata are the 

 more barren Inferior Oolites, there is a very thin covering of 

 soil and turf, and the pits contain only a small accumulation of 

 rubbly stone. 



These pits and mounds afford a considerable shelter from 

 wind even without further protection, but in all probability they 

 were surmounted by a hut formed of poles or branches and 

 thatch. In size they comj)are favourably with the hut shelters 

 of many modern savages, as for instance, the natives of Australia 

 and Patagonia, and we need not go farther than our hills for 

 illustrations of man living in dwellings equally slight. I 

 measured this year on Eodborough Hill a gipsy's tent in which 

 the man, wife, and four children lived, and found it only 6 feet 

 long, 5 feet wide, and 3 feet 6 inches high. The gipsy who 

 uses his tent for a sleeping place, and for shelter from wind and 

 rain, makes his fii-e on the open ground outside ; these arrange- 

 ments were probably the same with the early pit-folk, as in 

 only one or two exceptional cases have traces of a fire-place 

 been met with in the pits. 



There are on Minchinhampton Common several bowl-like 

 depressions; they are circular, from 20 to 30 feet across, and 

 their depth varies in proportion to their diameter, the largest 

 having been originally 7 feet in depth. Several occur on the 

 line B, c, G, and in the ditch g, p, and fi-om their evident 

 connection with these defensive works I regard them as watch- 

 pits. 



In addition to the works already mentioned as existing on 



