EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 267 



deepest found, being a'Sft. deep below the floor ; it was clean 

 cut as though the post had just been removed. Small traces of 

 the stake were found. 



At this end of the excavation few relics were found, besides a 

 " third brass " coin of Carausius, and at a depth of 5'8ft. two iron 

 nails, including a yin. spike-nail, bent almost at a right angle as 

 if by clenching. Nothing undoubtedly pre-Roman was found in 

 any part of this large excavation, and no object of post-Roman 

 date below the surface deposits. The coin of Claudius I. and 

 much of the Roman pottery must have become deposited upon 

 the arena-floor before it became covered, firstly from natural 

 causes, followed by the surface deposition of soil previously 

 referred to. 



Cutting X. over the Emhankment on the N.N. W. and Dis- 

 coveries at the Foot of the Interior Slope. — The chief object in 

 beginning this cutting was to ascertain if any tiers of seats for 

 spectators were traceable under the turf of the encircling 

 embankment. Here the bank was 20ft. above the turf-level at 

 the foot of the inner slope. From the crest down the slope to 

 the terrace we excavated to a depth of about 3ft. along the S.W. 

 face, the cutting being 6ft. wide. At the N. margin of the 

 terrace the digging, carried to a depth of 3"5ft., revealed the 

 highest point of the undisturbed chalk at about the same level 

 as its natural level on the sides of Cutting I. Under the 

 embankment a seam of dark mould was traced, almost horizontal 

 for a distance of 4ft., which may be found hereafter to represent 

 the old surface line on which the great embankment Avas thrown 

 up. No relics were found here, and there Avere no indications 

 whatever of tiers of seats or of ledges for seats of any description. 

 Of course, the banks may have been fitted up with some wooden 

 structure, but as yet we have not the slightest evidence that sucli 

 was the case ; and the banks are ver}- steep for such a purpose. 

 According to Valerius Maximus, it was forbidden by a decree of 

 the Senate, under the influence of Scipio Nasica, for any person 

 in or near a town to place benches, to witness games in a sitting 

 posture, since it was the recognized manly habit of tlie Romans 



