298 Inaugural Address by the President of the Society, 
it was evident that the coins and other relics were in the soil about 
these pits at the time the rampart was made, and that their presence 
in the rampart arose from their having been thrown up with the 
soil, by the constructors, without any notive having been taken of 
them. 
This discovery was amply sufficient to prove that the rampart at 
this spot was constructed after the time of Claudius Gothicus, A.D. 
268—270, and, in all probability, after the time of Constans, A.D. 
337—350. But, in order to make matters more sure, I dug another 
section of the same width, viz., 30ft., on the other side of the 
Salisbury Road and Roman Road, at a distance of 150yds. from 
the first section, the position of which is also marked on the ac- 
companying map as Section 2. This turned out even more prolific 
of coins than the first, five hundred and eighty-four having been 
found in the rampart and silting of the ditch, extending from 
Gallienus to Honorius, A.D. 253—423, and proving that it must 
have been made at the time or subsequently to the departure of the 
Romans from the British Isles in A.D. 407. This was no longer 
a matter for conjecture—it was a proved fact. This section, like 
Section 1, was filled with Roman and Romano-British pottery, and 
relics of various kinds. Only one ditch was discovered in this 
section, and this naturally created some surprise, because, if two 
ditches were thought necessary in one part of the line, they would 
be equally necessary in another part, on the principle that a chain 
is no stronger than its weakest link; but this, as we shall see, was 
explained afterwards. 
An interesting discovery was made in this section. At the north- 
west corner of it, just on the edge of the escarp, a skeleton was 
found extended. The old surface-line was seen lying over it, and 
showing that it must have been interred and covered over with 
goil before the rampart was thrown over it. The legs extended over 
the crest of the escarp, and one of the tibiz, which had been cut 
off by the constructors of the ditch was found in the rampart behind 
it, having evidently been chucked up by the Roman workmen. This — 
gave additional evidence of the previous existence of a settlement 
on the ground, as it showed that interments had been made in 
Ss 
