272 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



There are reasons for thinking that the lower half of the shaft 

 became filled up much more rapidly, in the process of which the 

 picks became deposited and covered up. 



It is just possible that the hole may originally have been a 

 natural " pipe " in the chalk, formed by solution beneath a tree 

 or some other conductor of acidulated water. Early man might 

 have been attracted by such a natural pit and dug out its original 

 contents in order to get at the chalk on its sides in search of 

 fresh flints, in which way it would become considerably enlarged, 

 with a probability of irregularity. The original intention of the 

 shaft, whatever it was, does not alter the fact that the lower parts 

 were rapidly filled up, and that the upper part was used as a flint 

 workshop. When the Romans came upon the scene they found 

 the soft filling, or silting, and rammed chalk on its surface to 

 continue their arena-floor. 



This is undoubtedly one of the deepest archaeological excava- 

 tions on record in Great Britain ; but one of the shafts at the 

 Grime's Graves, Norfolk, was 39ft. deep and 28ft. in diameter. 



A fuller report of the 1908 work will be published in conjunction with future 

 work, together with a number of illustrations. This report contains compar- 

 atively brief accounts of the various cuttings made, and the opinions expressed 

 may requii-e some modification as the work proceeds. Personally, the writer 

 would for some reasons have preferred to withhold a report at this stage of the 

 operations ; but such a coultsc would naturally not meet with the approval of the 

 majority of the subscribers, and would be detrimental in acquiring further 

 subscriptions— a necessity on which the success of the futui-e explorations mainly 

 depends. 



iB 



^^ 



