By It.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers, D.C.L., -V.R.S., F.8.A. 337 
This was the section seen by the members last year. The knife is 
of a form that might well be Roman, although it would be difficult 
to identify it as such with any degree of certainty. The nail has a 
round flat head, and is 2°8in. in length. The question of the origin 
of iron nails has never received the attention it deserves, but I 
believe that such nails as the one found here were not in use for 
fastening timber before the Roman conquest. No Samian pottery 
was discovered here in the main rampart, but in the small outer 
rampart, or bank, which runs all along the Wansdyke in this part, 
several small fragments were discovered on the old surface line, 
proving that this part of the dyke, at any rate, was of Roman or 
post-Roman origin. Other kinds of pottery were found in this and 
the sections subsequently cut, which, though carefully recorded, need. 
not be described here. The evidence derived from this excavation 
could hardly be regarded as conclusive, and I therefore, in July of 
last year, cut another section to the eastward of Shepherd’s Shore, 
which had a more satisfactory result. 
The part selected for this second section was at a spot called by 
me, Brown’s Barn. At this spot there is an ancient entrenchment, 
perhaps of earlier Roman date, which to all appearance had been cut 
through in the formation of the Wansdyke. It therefore bears the 
same relation to the Wansdyke that the Settlement at Woodyates 
does to Bokerly Dyke, and, as a consequence, promised to give up 
similar evidence in regard to date. I first cut a section parallel to 
the ditch of the dyke in the outer bank. This proved the relative 
ages of the two works by disclosing a section of the rampart 
and ditch of the entrenchment beneath the bank, which had been 
thrown up over them in the formation of the dyke. I next cut a 
section through the dyke itself, similar to Section 1, which resulted 
in my finding fragments of red Samian pottery on the old surface 
line, and in the body of the main rampart, 6°2ft., 3°2ft., and 6-3ft. 
respectively beneath the upper surface of the rampart. But perhaps 
the most interesting discovery in this section was that of an iron 
cleat, found on the old surface line, 7°9ft. beneath the crest. Pre- 
cisely similar cleats were found in Sections 1 and 2 of Bokerly Dyke. 
Their use had been previously ascertained by finding them at 
