102 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



noticed, which may have been caused by the rubbing of 

 ropes used for the ascent and descent of men and material 

 when the shaft was sunk. 



Red-deer antler was plentiful, including twelve picks, more 

 or less broken, found in the filling, down to a depth of 27ft. 

 Two crowns of antlers were also met with ; one had perhaps 

 served the purpose of a rake ; the other had been much used, 

 judging from the extreme smoothness of the implement. 

 Three of the picks bore traces of fire. With few exceptions 

 the picks found here and in the adjoining shafts were formed 

 from shed antlers. 



A few large flint flakes, up to 4|in. in length, were found 

 between 23ft. and 26ft., and a flint with deep marks of 

 calcination, depth 26-5ft. One small fragment of prehistoric 

 pottery (No. 291), unornamented, was discovered at 26ft. 



Shaft X. (Plate IV.). — This shaft may, perhaps, have been 

 started by prehistoric man as two distinct pits. Its double 

 bottom was in the form of an elongated 8, the two halves, 

 small and of oval outline, being divided by a ridge of chalk 

 9ins. high. The top of the division between this shaft and 

 No. XI. was only 8ft. above the bottom of the former. 



The upper part of the filling of this shaft and No. XI. was 

 crossed by a concave seam of mould about an inch thick, the 

 depth of which varied from 8- 4ft. to ll-2ft. It was important 

 to note this, because fragmentary human remains (Nos. 305 

 and 306) were found in rammed chalk on the level of this 

 seam or just above it ; and there seems to be no evidence 

 for regarding the bones as prehistoric. 



The " finds " in this shaft were few, but of great interest. 

 Two antler picks were met with at 15ft. and 22ft. At a 

 depth of 14- 5ft. the base of a red-deer's skull with antlers 

 attached (No. 307) was found tight against the wall of the 

 shaft ; after being cleared it was photographed in situ (Plate 

 II.). The antler complete measures 38in. in length, and is 

 surmounted by a crown of four points ; the brow-tine is 

 14in, long, and the bez and trez each 13in. ; the circum- 

 ference of the antler above the burr is 220mm. (8|in.). 



