EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



On the ledge or true bottom of the shaft, a small but well- 

 preserved pick (No. 244), the brow-tine bearing indications 

 of prolonged use, was found. Just above the ledge two more 

 picks (Nos. 242 and 243) were discovered. Another pick 

 (No. 245), having indications of a grip at the handle-end, was 

 found resting on the bottom of the oval hole, together with 

 bones of ox, young pig, and sheep, and a large molar tooth of 



At a depth of 18ft., at the top of the little oval hole, and 

 on a level with the ledge and close to the picks (Nos. 242-244), 

 the most interesting ceramic remains yet found at Maumbury 

 were discovered, affording valuable evidence of the date of the 

 shafts, although their Neolithic origin had never previously 

 been doubted. The pottery (No. 247) consisted of fragments of 

 a rude vessel, the largest piece measuring about 4in. by 3 Jin., 

 the thickness 7- 16th in. ; colour, black, but the largest and 

 some of the much smaller fragments are a dull brick-red 

 colour on the exterior only. This slight discolouration of 

 the black paste proves that the vessel was fired, although 

 imperfectly, at a dull-red heat, i.e., " slack-baked," and not 

 sun-dried only. The largest piece is ornamented and strength- 

 ened by three parallel cordons, or raised bands, the inter- 

 spaces being quite plain. Mr. Clement Reid has written 

 a little report on the pottery, the result of a microscopical 

 examination of some of the smallest fragments, in which he 

 says : " The firing was barely sufficient to burn out the carbon 

 and oxidise the clay. . . . The black part of the pot is 

 full of minute pieces of charcoal. . . . Several small 

 splinters of flint are sufficiently calcined to have become white, 

 but not to become ' starred,' like a flint that has been red-hot. 

 A small piece of bone has been thoroughly calcined and 

 ' starred.' . . . There are also a few large unaltered 

 quartz-grains. Neither chalk, calcite, nor any form of lime- 

 stone is included in the pottery. . . . After drying, the 

 pot was fired by piling up brushwood ; but probably it was 

 sun-dried first otherwise the twigs would have left im- 

 pressions on the smooth surface of the pot." 



