266 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBTJRY RINGS. 



have recently been found at Castleshaw, near Delph, where the 

 smaller Roman fort was built entirely of wood. The plan of the 

 Roman fort at Ardoch, in Scotland, was traced by locating lines 

 of post-holes. 



Near these post-holes were found several fragments of Roman 

 pottery, including two pieces of red Samian, one piece of New 

 Forest ware, and a large part of a Roman tegula or tile. The 

 pottery included twenty-nine fragments of a pot of Roman ware. 

 But the most important " find " was a dupondius or " second 

 brass" coin of Claudius I., A.D. 41-54, found close against 

 Post-hole III. at a depth of 6.1 ft. Pallas is seen on the reverse 

 brandishing a spear and holding a buckler. 



The shaped solid chalk uncovered in the E. section of this 

 excavation provided much food for reflection. A high barrier, or 

 wall, of chalk was discovered, on the top of which a ridge, or 

 " ramp," was found to extend, serving apparently as a boundary 

 to a slightly hollowed pathway running up the chalk towards the 

 S.S.E. (possibly a track by means of which spectators might take 

 their places on the E. bank). The little ridge was found to be 

 almost straight and about i4'sft. long. It was found that the 

 arena floor in proximity to the line of post-holes was bounded on 

 the E. by a solid chalk wall, almost vertical in its lower parts. 

 Its height averaged 4'6ft. above the chalk floor. Little signs, if 

 any, of weathering were observable in the lower two-thirds of the 

 wall, and little flint was seen in its face. It was evident that it 

 must have been protected from the ravages of climatic changes, 

 the means of protection being evident when we discovered 

 post-holes in the line of a trench at the foot of the wall. From 

 the N.W. to the S.E. the wall presented a rounded face, not an 

 angle, into which two semi-circular recesses had been cut. On 

 the floor in these parts was a confusion of recesses, hollows, and 

 trenches. The seven post-holes were found 3ft. apart, covering 

 a length of i8ft. The stakes no doubt carried a palisading of 

 fine hurdle-work or other substance to protect the wall, and it 

 must have been kept in constant repair to be effective. One 

 post-hole, No. X., at the rounded corner of the wall, was the 



