242 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



and a piece of human parietal bone (No. 208), depth 1'Dft., 

 the two latter close against the E. wall, which at the N. end 

 stood at an angle of 85. All the silting was cleared out 

 down to the solid chalk, and a most interesting succession of 

 strata, revealing the outline and deposits of a secondary 

 trench, presented itself along the S. face of the cutting, as 

 seen in Plate II. This ditch, which is no doubt of the 

 Civil War period, was first met with in Cutting I., 1008,* 

 and traced in diminishing proportions towards the arena in 

 Cutting IX. But at the S. margin of Cutting XIX. it 

 was found to be deeper and wider, viz., 4'8ft. deep, ll'4ft. 

 wide at top (below surface mould), and 6ft. at bottom ; at 

 the N. margin of Cutting XVII. the depth increased to 7ft. 

 It was noticed that the eastern chalk wall was hewn to a 

 smoother face than elsewhere in the amphitheatre, denoting, 

 as proved on other grounds, a different and later date. 



On reference to Plate II. it is seen that there is no great 

 difference in level (only T5ft.) between the bottom of the 

 seventeenth century trench and the floor of the Roman 

 entrance. The further we went northwards the more the 

 chalk bottom of the modern trench declined, and the more 

 the Roman floor rose ; but the trench ran down at a slightly 

 steeper pitch than the Roman floor rose. 



As the Roman boundary-wall in this cutting extended 

 northwards, so it diminished in height, till the level of the 

 receding floor of the late trench and that of the rising Roman 

 floor were precisely the same ; and it will be obvious that on 

 going still further northwards, the Roman wall ceased 

 (although it undoubtedly existed previously to the Civil 

 Wars), while the bottom of the late trench was not only bounded 

 by a high chalk wall on the E., but also by a slight wall in- 

 creasing in height, on its western limits. 



The rise in the Roman floor from the S. margin of this 

 cutting to the N. margin of Cutting XVII. was 0'8ft. 



* Report, 1908, pp. 7-8. Proc, Dor. Field Club, XXIX., 201-2. 



