Jloimm Amphora or fiSine Jar 



By ROBERT DAMON, P.Q.S., &c. 



example of this ancient vessel has lately been 

 uncovered in the Weymouth Backwater, the 

 outlet of the river Wey ; the exact spot being 

 mid-Channel and half way between the submarine 

 tunnel of the gasworks and the dam, eight feet 

 below the surface, in a deposit of dark sandy clay, 

 which latter rests on hard blue clay (Oxfordian). Various utensils 

 made from similar ware have been met with in or about the same 

 spot, also other Roman remains in and adjacent to the village of 

 Radipole, a mile or so distant, so that this discovery is additional 

 evidence of the district being formerly one of Roman occupation. 

 Stag horns are also of frequent occurrence throughout the Back- 

 water up to the outlet of the " Wey," showing that the examples 

 referred to have come from that direction rather than from the 

 Harbour or Weymouth end. I may here incidentally mention that 

 Roman remains are of rare occurrence in Melcombe, less rare in 

 Weymouth proper, and numerous in the villages of Radipole and 

 Preston. Amphorae, such as the specimen before us, have been 

 found at London, Gloucester, and other Romano-British sites, but 

 so far as I can learn the example before us is the first recorded as 

 having been found in Dorsetshire. 



