254 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



posts (Nos. xliii. to lix.) were extremely irregular in position 

 and size, varying from Gin. by 7in. to 12in. by 12in. Those 

 at the ends were about 3' 15ft. apart. Those in the middle 

 area were in close order, no less than eight being included in a 

 length of 10' 8ft., and they were opposite the position where 

 the inner trench was gradually changing from a trench having 

 a solid chalk profile to one formed in rammed chalk. The only 

 relics gathered from these holes were two pieces of Romano- 

 British pottery and three iron nails (two bearing traces of 

 wood adhering to the stems). 



In the material forming the seventeenth century terrace 

 and on the old surface below it, a number of glazed shards 

 of the period were collected. But of much more importance 

 was the finding of a coin (No. 192) in the old turf under the 

 slope of the terrace, a discovery which greatly strengthened 

 our former evidence of the late date of the internal terraces at 

 Maumbury. This coin was a well-preserved specimen of a 

 hammered threepence of Queen Elizabeth, struck at the 

 Tower Mint, London, and bearing the rather rare date 1564 

 (Fig. 5). A photograph was specially taken to show its 

 position ; it must have been in the turf when the terrace was 

 thrown up. 



V. CUTTING XX. 

 ROMAN AND LATER. 



This cutting was made on the western margin of the arena 

 through the highest part of the modern terrace (Plate I.). 

 The area was not rectangular, but its four sides all measured 

 30ft. in length. The N. margin was on the transverse (W.N.W. 

 E.S.E.) axis of the amphitheatre, the E.N.E. corner of the 

 cutting being 75'5ft. from the central picket of the arena. 

 The slope of the terrace was steep here (angle 30), and a large 

 amount of labour was expended in clearing away the many 

 tons of material from the old surface on which the terrace had 

 been raised. This old turf line (0-65ft. thick) was very 



