294 



miir'^ottevg at §room^grol)e,p:iltoit, fefo^cg. 



By B. H. CuNNiNQTON, F.S.A. Scot. 



\_Sewd at the Warminster Meeting of the Society, 1893.] 



HOWARDS the end of March, 1893, a man digging for road- 

 material on Broomsgrove Farm, near Milton, Pewsey, in 

 the' occupation of Mr. "William Kingston, found, at the depth of 

 about 16in. from the surface of the ground, a quantity of black 

 earth, that had apparently been burnt; digging a little further 

 down, this black earth was found to be mixed with many fragments 

 of broken pottery, and he shortly discovered a large urn in an in- 

 verted position but unfortunately much broken. He brought the 

 matter to the notice of his master, Mr. Kingston, who, knowing 

 the interest taken in such discoveries by our Society, communicated 

 with me on the subject at once. 



On reaching the spot we made a careful examination of the place 

 and its surroundings, and ultimately came to the conclusion that 

 this had not been used as a burial-place, as we did not find any 

 remains of animal matter with the exception of two small bones 

 that have been identified as those of a sheep and had been broken 

 longitudinally, presumably for extraction of the marrow. Besides 

 these two pieces there was nothing but fragments of pottery mixed 

 with sooty matter — charcoal, wood ashes, &c. ; the urn itself being 

 tightly filled with the black earth only.* 



Although the urn was very much broken we were able to find a 

 great many of the pieces, which later on I put together, making 

 the vessel fairly complete. 



The digger still continued his course of work, and three days 



' I may add that, whilst digging out the sandstone roek for the road repairs, 

 many specimens of fossil sponges were found. 



