itC. MAUMBURY RINGS, DORCHESTER. 



the largest structure of the kind in Great Britain. It was, moreover, 

 one of the rarest types of ancient monuments remaining in our 

 country. The excavations had already presented many puzzles, 

 wherein the interest of such work largely lay, and, bearing in 

 mind the importance of the site, the extent of the area, the 

 solution of the problems presented, the interest that had been 

 aroused in the archaeological world, and the many items of 

 structural importance yet to be revealed, he would point out to 

 the Excavation Committee and the Dorset Field Club that it 

 would be most desirable that a second series of excavations 

 should be conducted with the utmost precision at some con- 

 venient future period. In the meantime he would not recommend 

 that a full illustrated report of the present work be published during 

 the coming winter, but merely a comparatively short interim report 

 giving a concise account of the 1908 excavations. It would not 

 be wise to hurry a report of such difficult work. As Maumbury 

 Rings had generally been regarded as an amphitheatre INIr. Gray 

 proceeded to give an interesting account of amphitheatres 

 generally, with special reference to the places in Great Britain 

 bearing close resemblance to amphitheatres abroad. He then 

 minutely described the excavations that had been made. It was 

 surprising, he added, that the rings had remained so long 

 untouched by the spade of the field-archaeologist. The cuttings 

 in the arena had proved that the solid chalk floor, found at depths 

 varying from about two to seven feet below the surface, was 

 absolutely level, and it was sprinkled with fine grit or shingle, for 

 filling up uneven patches and to prevent slipping. Near the 

 entrance to the arena a row of six post-holes was revealed, placed 

 in a solid chalk trench and packed in with rammed chalk. In 

 some of the holes iron was found, and carbonized remains of 

 stakes which once filled the holes. Near by was found a rough 

 pile of slabs of Purbeck limestone ; but the significance of this 

 mutilated group was not yet fully understood. On this floor more 

 Roman pottery than elsewhere was found, including more than 

 the usual proportion of red Samian ware, and close to one of 

 the post-holes a second brass coin of Claudius I. (A.D. 41-54.). 



