252 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



traced at an average distance of 5' 3ft. apart. All of them 

 could not be traced to their termination, but two at least 

 had oval enlargements on the N., running out in diminished 

 proportions towards the edge of the arena-wall. Tentatively, 

 we regard these slots as strut-holes, and the oval enlargements 

 as mortise-holes. It is probable that, as the inner trench in 

 this part of the amphitheatre was so weak structurally, 

 it was found necessary to support the inner barrier by means of 

 struts or strong cross-beams of timber, fixed in the dove-tailed 

 mortise -holes. The outer barrier following the face of the 

 arena-wall may also have been supported by struts, and the 

 same supports may have connected the inner and the outer 

 barriers.* 



It was in examining Strut-hole iv., the most carefully formed 

 of the series, that two human skeletons were discovered lying 

 across the enlarged oval end of the notch, the shoulders and 

 legs resting on the solid chalk wall on its E. and W. margins 

 respectively, the pelves coming over the central part of the 

 hole. The skeletons, which were photographed from a staging 

 specially erected for the purpose, were fully extended on their 

 backs and were laid out as nearly as possible E. and W. The 

 smaller skeleton, No. 1, was on the inner, or S. side ; No. 2, the 

 larger, being on the N. Some of the cervical vertebrae of 

 No. 1 were found in sequence, but there was no trace of the 

 skull. The skull of No. 2 was much crushed, but it appeared 

 to be facing S. or S.S.E. Before the filling-in began search was 

 made for the missing skull at the feet of the skeleton, but 

 without success. Only half-an-inch divided the pelves of 

 the two bodies, and the upper arms almost touched. The 

 right tibia of No. 2 crossed the left tibia of No. 1. The 

 perfect long-bones were carefully measured, and by one of 

 Rollet's formulae the estimated stature of both has been 



* Some double walls built of large blocks of stone, found in the Palace of 

 Knossos, were joined by strong cross-beams of timber fixed in mortise-holes, 

 the intramural space being filled with rubble. " The Palaces of Crete and their 

 Builders," by Angelo Mosso, 1907, p. 127. 



