194 The Fortieth General Meeting, 



fully cleared out. A number of photos of the exeavationSj and the 

 principal objects found in thenij were also exhibited. 



After a vote of thanks had been moved by Mr. C. N. P. Phipps, 

 and seconded by Mr. H. E. Medlicott, the President briefly replied, 

 and referring to his museum at Farnham, said that he had given 

 special attention to the construction of models of excavations- 

 showing the exact position in which the various articles had been 

 discovered. This was really the most important thing to note, 

 because it was the only evidence by which the age of earthworks 

 could be established. If the objects found in excavating a camp 

 or a barrow were all mixed together without any record of the exact 

 relative positions in which they were found, they might be interesting 

 in themselves, but they probably proved little or nothing as to the 

 age of the work excavated. For instance, the finding of Romaa 

 coins or pottery in an earthwork might prove either nothing at all, 

 or everything, as to its date, according as they were found on the 

 surface of the work or deep down under the bank on the level of 

 the original soil. All excavators, therefore, should bear in mind 

 that the really important thing in excavations is to make a careful 

 and accurate record of the exact position and depth at which each 

 object is found, by which alone the age of any work can be de- 

 termined. 



Mr. Medlicott then read the 



ANNUAL REPORT. 



" The Kepoet of the Committee of the Wiltshire AECHiEoioaicAL 

 AND Natueal Histoet Societt fob 1892-3. 



" The Committee has the pleasure of reporting that the Society continues to 

 prosper. As time goes on the interest in its proceedings and in its publications 

 does not appear to wane. On the 1st instant we had on the books twenty -five 

 life Members, three hundred and fifty annual Members, and twenty exchange 

 Members, or a total of three hundred and ninety-three, as against three hundred 

 and ninety-eight on the same date last year. During the year ending 30th June 

 last twenty-eight new Members were elected, and since that date nine names 

 have been added to the list. There have been eight losses by death during the 

 same period, amongst which the Society has specially to deplore the deaths of 

 the Rev. Canon Goddard, an original Member; of the Rev. W. C. Lukis, also an 

 original Member, and one of the Society's first Secretaries, of whom an obituary 

 notice appears in the last number of the Magazine ; and of Mr. West Awdry. 



