ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



coins, fibulas, Samian and other potsherds, spindle-whorls, rings, armlets, 

 bracelets, iron spearheads and nails, glass beads, bone pins, etc., with 

 bones of animals, pot boilers, and the like. All these were imbedded in 

 the earth and clay forming the cave floor, or in the stalagmite crust 

 below that, and constituted a definite Romano-British stratum, distinct 

 from the underlying traces of neolithic life. The coins are variously 

 given by various writers, but seem to have included one Nero or 

 Vespasian (corroded Second Brass), two silver Trajan, five Third Brass 

 Tetricus, and a score or more others of the period A.D. 250-353, ending 

 with copper of Constans (died A.D. 353). There were also three 

 barbarous imitations of Tetricus, which have been often attributed to 

 the fifth or sixth century. But such coins were certainly minted in the 

 third century, and our specimens may most reasonably be referred to that 

 date, since actual issues of Tetricus were found with them. The fibulae 



Fie. 41. FIBUL.S FROM VICTORIA CAVE, NEAR SETTLE. 

 (J. From drawings in the Free Library and Museum, Exeter.) 



appear to belong to the second and early third centuries (fig. 41). In 

 general, the remains much resemble those found at Thirst House, but 

 they indicate a more considerable inhabitation, perhaps greater wealth on 

 the part of the occupants, and either a longer period of occupation or 

 possibly two occupations. 1 



(c) The Dowkerbottom cave, on the moors between ArnclifFe and 

 Kilnsey, was explored about 1859 and a gain in 1881. It has yielded 

 much pottery, including some pieces of Samian ware, several bronze 



and iron fibulas, some coins, a pehis (mortarium) inscribed 



1 C. R. Smith and Jackson, Arch. xxix. 384 (excavations of 1837-8); Boyd Dawkins, Cave 

 Hunting, pp. 81-101 (and references there given) ; C. Roach Smith, Coll. Ant. i. 69 ; Ecroyd Smith, 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. of Lane, and Ches. v. (1864), 208. I have found especial difficulty in determining 

 what coins were actually found. The various accounts differ widely, and I am not sure that I have 

 even now reconciled them. 



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