CHAP, viii.] HUT CIRCLES. 267 



parts of a camp, and on the summits of hills, and on 

 the sides of the valleys where the soil is sufficiently porous 

 to allow of drainage. These pits or " hut circles " are 

 the remains of ancient habitations, dating as far back 

 in this country as the Neolithic age, and in use, as 

 proved by the discoveries at Standlake, and at Brent 

 Knoll, near Burnham, as late as the time of the Eoman 

 occupation. Those at Fisherton, near Salisbury, ex- 

 plored by Mr. Adlam, and described by the late Mr. 

 Stevens in 1866, may be taken as typical of the whole 

 series. They occur singly and in groups, and are carried 

 down to a depth of from seven to ten feet through the 

 superficial gravel into the chalk, each pit or cluster of 

 pits having a circular shaft for an entrance. At the 

 bottom they vary from five to seven feet in diameter, 

 and gradually narrow to two and a half or three feet in 

 diameter in the upper parts. The floors were of chalk, 

 sometimes raised in the centre, and the roofs 

 had been made of interlaced sticks coated 

 with clay imperfectly burned. The most 

 interesting group consisted of three circular 

 pits, and one semicircular, communicating 

 with each other, with a shaft-like entrance 

 on the north side. 



The contents of these pits afford a clear 

 insight into the condition of their ancient 

 inhabitants. A spindle- whorl of burnt clay 

 implies a knowledge of spinning, while two 

 dressed lumps of chalk with holes drilled in 

 them are considered by Mr. Stevens to be 

 the weights which may have been used to 



give tension to the warp threads in weaving, 



like those found in the Swiss pile-dwellings. Two curious 



