3o8 



NATURE 



{Feb. 15, 1872 



RECENT DISCOVERY OF PIT-DWELLINGS 



DURING the late summer, while engaged in excavating 

 a Roman building at Finkley, near Andover, a 

 deep trench, 100 feet in length, was found, dilating at the 

 opposite ends into large subterranean pits, which, from the 

 primitive character of the articles met with in them, such 

 as flint and bone implements, spindle-whorls of chalk, 

 and a rude form of pottery, appeared to belong to an 

 earlier period than the Roman. One of the labourers en- 

 gaged in the explorations became quite an expert in the 

 recognition of these rude objects ; and he having lately 

 been employed in digging a yard at a new railway station, 

 situated on a hill, about half a mile distant from St. M.iry 

 Bourne, immediately overlooking the L^pper Test Valley, 

 found the subsoil so abundant in calcined stones, broken 

 pottery, and other evidences of early occupation, that he 

 called my attention to the circumstance, which led to the 

 discovery of a group of pit-dwellings or hut-circles ; and 

 it is likely, from their mode of arrangement, that they 

 form a portion of an extensive settlement or vicus. Some 

 knowledge of nine of these has been obtained, although, 

 from their situation, two only have been completely in- 

 vestigated, and five others partially. 



The pits occupy the space of about a quarter of an 

 acre, and have all entrance shafts, sloping gradually down- 

 wards from their inlets, and widening as they approach 

 the pits. They may, with their contents, be described 

 seriatim. No. i is oval or pear-shaped, having its 

 entrance southwards. Its length is 22 feet from the end 

 of the pit to the mouth of the alley : greatest diameter 

 12 feet ; depth at the centre of the pit 5 feet. This was 

 the only circle that contained flints, of which twelve cart- 

 loads were removed from it ; and as some of the stones 

 were arranged in courses, without mortar, around its cir- 

 cumference and on each side of the alley, I have thought 

 that the superstructure must have been of flint, and had 

 fallen in. The rehcs found were chiefly at the centre, 

 where the fire-place had evidently been ; the smoke 

 most likely escaping through the centre of the roof. 

 They consisled of about a bushel of calcined flints, bones 

 of a small species of Bns, probably longifrous, Ccrvus elc- 

 phiis, Capra,S!is, and G;;/«, besides broken vessels, chiefly 

 of a very rude, hand-made kind, although a few p'cces 

 found about the pits bore wheel-marks. The bones had 

 mostly been split open in order to obtain their marrow. 

 They had lurther been exposed to fire, and bear impres- 

 sions made by teeth and knives ; and some of the smaller 

 long bones had evidently been used as marrow-spoons, 

 while other small splinters of bone had the appearance of 

 having served the purpose of awls or needles. In this 

 circle al-o part of a rude sandstone hand grain-rubber was 

 found, besides some flint-flakes, a scraper, and some cores ; 

 and, in addition, the outer lip of a large cowry, which had 

 been carefully cut from the shell, and had been used as a 

 rasp, the crenulations in the lip being considerably worn 

 down. It had further been employed as a polisher ap- 

 parently, the enamel being worn away in places. 



Pits 2 and 3 were only partially explored, as they ex- 

 tended beneath the station yard. One of them, however, 

 was partly filled with calcined flints ; and in it were found 

 a piece of a grain-rubber and pottery and bones similar to 

 those just described. 



Pits 4 and 5 had only portions of their passages opened, 

 as the pits extended beneath the Station Road. In these 

 we found a few flmt-flakes, and some calcined stones. 



Pit 6 contained no remains, as it was evidently the pas- 

 sage only of a pit partly formed, and had not been occu- 

 pied. 



In digging a well in the station garden similar relics 

 were thrown out, and it is evident that the shaft of the well 

 passed through one of these pits ; and, as additional evi- 

 dence of British occupation, in clearing away the soil 

 around the circles, one of the labourers picked up a Gaulish 



gold coin, which bears on its obverse and reverse degraded 

 representations of more perfect figures. The coin, in short, 

 is a slightly more perfect copy of the lowermost of the 

 three coins depicted at p. 84 of " The Celt, the Roman, 

 and the Saxon," 1st. ed. ; which figure is there stated as 

 being a rude copy of a gold stater of Philip of Macedon. 



Pit 7 was fully explored. It was 42 ft. in length from 

 the extremity of the pit to the mouth of the passage, 

 which opened eastward ; its widest diameter 13 ft. 6 in., 

 and depth 5 ft. at the pit's centre. Here the fire-place 

 had stood, as in No. i, and around it we found bones 

 similar to those discovered in Pit I, with the addition of 

 some teeth of a small species of horse, and bones of the 

 hare or rabbit. The bones were, in most cases, broken, 

 and some of them had been wrought for use as imple- 

 ments. Two flint arrow-heads were found in the alley, 

 and the centre of the circle further contained flint-fiakes, 

 scrapers, cores, and arrow-heads, a fragment of a rude 

 grain-rubber, and a flint muller showing use on one side. 

 Here also occurred a whetstone, made from a piece of 

 sandstone such as I have observed occurring in the drift 

 of the Reading beds ; and evidently from the same drift 

 a lump of native ironstone, containing a large percentage 

 of iron, which had been picked up by some occupant of 

 the pit and used as a hammer. As throwing'some small 

 light on their domestic economy, a chalk spindle-whorl 

 was found, and with it a small disc of pottery, bored at 

 the centre, the direction of the hole showing that it had 

 been suspended by a string, perhaps round its owner's 

 neck. The whole of the fictile ware found here was of a 

 rude hand-made type, and some of the " crocks " were 

 scored with irregular zigzag lines, made apparently with a 

 pointed stick. 



At nine feet south of Pit 7 a circular hole in the chalk 

 was cleared out. It was found to be 5 ft. in diameter and 

 3 ft. in depth. It contained a quantity of bones of animals 

 similar to those already enumerated, with snail shells that 

 had been exposed to fire ; and beneath the bones a number 

 of charred flints, with charcoal and ashes. It was evi- 

 dent that strong fire had been employed here, as the chalk 

 was in places burnt through and discoloured to the depth 

 of several inches, which led to the inference, coupled with 

 its contiguity to Pit 7, that it was a cooking-hole. It is 

 not unusual for uncivihsed people, as the negroes, to have 

 thfcir cooking places outside their dwellings (see " Flint 

 Chips," by E. T. Stevens, p. 59). 



At another part of the same yard, about 10 ft. of well- 

 built wall was removed. It was doubtless Roman, as near 

 it a better kind of pottery was found, including a piece of 

 Sainian, besides two roof-nails and a bronze buckle. 



The quantity of calcined stones everywhere present was 

 the most striking feature in the remains. Some of them, 

 I observed, were faced on one side, and a few had facets at 

 right angles, and these, it occurred to me, might have 

 been used in constructing ovens or fire-places. A large 

 number, however, were perfectly circular, and had bright, 

 clean surfaces ; these might have been employed for the 

 purpose of stone-boiling. 



With traces of Roman occupation we have here these 

 rude remains which show residence by an earlier people, 

 who, doubtless, lived on after the advent cf the Roinans. 

 I have, as yet, observed no entrenchments in the field ; 

 but there is no doubt that similar circles occupy a large 

 space of the upper slope of the valley. The flint imple- 

 ments stamp the remains as Neolithic ; and those found 

 in the pits differ in no respect from the wrought flints 

 occupying the subsoil of the yard, as well as occasionally 

 occurring on the surface of the adjoining fields. The 

 settlement is favourably situated to have enabled the oc- 

 cupants to obtain water from the river Test ; and along 

 the same side of the valley, within the space of two rtiilcs, 

 I have discovered more than one working site, in which 1 

 have obtained a large and varied collection of tools and 

 weapons both chipped and polished. 



