EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBUEY RINGS. 241 



0'4ft. from the S. end of the grave, the feet touching the N. 

 margin. The skull, which was much shattered, faced E.N.E. ; 

 it was 5" 5ft. deep, and this was also the average depth of the 

 floor beneath the surface. The bones were in sequence. 

 According to the measurement of long-bones made in the 

 ground, the estimated stature works out as 4ft. 7'65in. 

 Associated with the skeleton, which no doubt belongs to the 

 Romano-British period, were two small well-struck flint 

 flakes and part of the jaw of a young pig found at the back 

 of the human skull. 



A burnt dupondius of Claudius I., A.D. 41-54 (No. 202), 

 was found within 2in. of the chalk floor and only 3' 5ft. from 

 the S. margin of the grave. It is of similar type to the coin 

 of Claudius found on the floor in Cutting II., 1908.* A 

 " third brass " coin, unidentifiable (No. 190), was uncovered 

 at a depth of T4ft. 



At the E. end of the cutting somewhat unexpected struc- 

 tural details revealed themselves, and there were clear trace 

 of former digging no doubt indications of the excavations 

 made by Mr. Alfred Pope and the Dorchester Town Council 

 in 1879, when search was made for the large stone supposed 

 to have been buried in the entrance. f The 1879 digging, 

 which happily does not appear to have penetrated rock- 

 chalk, extended beyond Cutting XVII. into Cutting XIX. 

 The " finds " we made here consisted only of modern shards. 

 The solid chalk was reached at a greater depth at the E. end 

 of the cutting, the width of the Roman floor, on the west, 

 ceasing at 18'3ft. from the foot of the W. boundary wall. 



Cutting XIX. .was on the E. side of the entrance and 

 connected with the S. margin of Cutting XVII. (See Plate I.). 

 No relics of importance were found here, beyond a few shards 

 of glazed pottery referable to the seventeenth century, a 

 leaden bullet, a small iron cannon-ball (No. 206), depth T3ft., 



* Report, 1908, p. 12. Proc. Dor. Field Club, XXIX.. 20(i. 

 t Proc. Dor. Field Club, VII., 67 ; XXI.. 107. 



