248 Recent Explorations at Silbury Hill. 
base, would disclose the depth from which the chalk had been 
removed, and might also throw some light on the origin of the hill ; 
so last summer (1886) I applied to the owner of the meadow, Mr. 
Pinniger, who readily gave me leave to sink a shaft there, and 
afterwards he very kindly extended this permission, so that in the 
autumn I was enabled to have ten shafts sunk in the meadow, to 
the west and north of the hill. 
In sinking all the shafts, the men first dug through about a foot 
of dark surface-soil, and then through white clay until the undis- 
turbed chalk rock was reached, this solid chalk being, of course, the 
limit of the depth of the excavated material originally used in con- 
structing the mound. At the bottom of two of the shafts (Nos. 
1 and 8) marks of the original workers were distinetly visible, in 
the form of notches or steps in the chalk rock. The measurements 
of these holes, show that the chalk had been removed in most places 
to a depth of about 15ft, but near the foot of the hill this depth 
suddenly increases to about 21ft., below the present surface, and this 
has all been replaced by alluvium. 
Near the mound, the alluvial clay in the moat contained a large 
admixture of chalk rubble, which has rolled from the hill; but 
further from the mound, at shaft No. 6, not one fragment of chalk 
rubble could be seen; the entire depth of 15tt. consisted of fine 
white tenacious clay, with a few fractured flints, and some bones. 
The only large stones found were met with in shaft No. 2, near 
the causeway : here, mingled with the clay and chalk rollings, were 
many sarsen stones, 10in. to ]4in. in diameter. 
A very large part of the chalk used in making Silbury Hill was 
obtained from the west side ; where, in addition to the trench 100ft. 
wide, a large area has been excavated to a depth of 15ft. or 16ft. 
All the chalk and earth required for making this great mound 
was probably carried in baskets, on the heads of men, women, and 
children, from the trench, although it could have been obtained with 
far less labour from the high ground to the south, had there not 
been some motive which led the builders to obtain the materials 
from this great depth, near the base of the mound. 
It may appear strange that the hill was formed by this method, 
