August 30, 1906] 



NA TURE 



457 



must either have been made expressly for the purpose of 

 burial or were for ceremonial use. Both are double-ended 

 and are ornamented, while one has, in addition to an 

 incised ornament, two figures of beasts, one standing over 

 the top of the socket, the other on the curve of the sharp 

 end. 



The paper led to an interesting discussion. Sir John 

 Evans considered the axes ceremonial, and in some respects 

 similar to Egyptian and Mesopotamian examples. He 

 thought the pottery was of no great antiquity, but beyond 

 that would make no attempt at dating. Prof. Ridgeway 

 considered the objects were of a date within the Christian 

 era, possibly the first or second century, but perhaps even 

 later. Prof. Petrie felt certain that the axes were cere- 

 monial. He hazarded the suggestion that the curved rods 

 might have been models of polo sticks, on the analogy of 

 games found in Egyptian burials. He considered the date 

 of the find to be either late B.C. or early a.d. 



Mr. E. M. Andrews communicated a note on the 

 Webster ruin, Rhodesia. So far as is known the ruin 

 is unique, as it is situated within a sacred enclosure con- 

 taining a large number of graves. The building was prob- 

 ably intended to be circular. Immediately in front of the 

 entrance, which is rounded, are pairs of monoliths, appar- 

 ently to guard it. Other monoliths are distributed among 

 the graves. The building appears to have been a royal 

 tomb. 



Prof. Ridgeway read a paper on the origin of the guitar 

 and fiddle. He argued that these instruments were de- 

 veloped from the shell of the tortoise, as there was a 

 tradition that Hermes made such an instrument, and 

 Pausanias speaks of tortoises existing in Arcadia. There 

 can therefore be little doubt that instruments with a 

 tortoiseshell sounding-board existed in Greece. The waist 

 of the instrument developed from the slightly narrowing 

 waist of the shell. Guitars of tortoiseshell are still in use 

 in some parts of the Mediterranean basin. 



Prof. R. C. Bosanquet gave an account of the excavations 

 undertaken at Sparta by the British School at Athens. The 

 wall of the Acropolis was traced, and general conclusions 

 were drawn as to the extent and disposition of the town 

 at different periods. The famous sanctuary of Artemis 

 Orthia was examined, and although its complete examin- 

 ation will take at least another season, many interesting 

 finds have already been made, including geometric pottery 

 and ivories, some of which show interesting affinities to 

 those discovered by Mr. Hogarth in the .'\rtemisia at 

 Ephesus. These Spartan ivories were associated with spiral 

 fibulse and other bronze objects, lead figurines and masks, 

 some undoubtedly intended to be worn. These masks point 

 to the existence of some dramatic performances connected 

 with the temple, and, in fact, in the third century a.d., a 

 theatre-like building was constructed in the tcmenos, the 

 proscenium of which was the front of the temple. 



Mr. T. E. Feet communicated a paper on the prehistoric 

 civilisation of southern Italy, with especial reference to 

 Campania. The object of the paper was to discuss Prof. 

 Pigorini's interpretation of the discovery of a well-marked 

 terrninnre settlement in Scoglio del Tonno. The general 

 conclusion arrived at was that the culture of Campania 

 derived its Villanovan elements from the north, and that 

 Scoglio del Tonno was the result of an isolated raid of 

 tcrramare people, not a representative of a widespread 

 culture of Italic type. 



In the afternoon Miss L. F. Pesel read a paper on the 

 evolution of design in Greek and Turkish embroideries. 

 The materials on w'hich the paper was based were collected 

 in Greek lands round the shores of the /Egean. The 

 embroideries are of various ages and styles ; the earliest 

 can be dated 1760. but the designs show the influence of 

 Byzantine art modified by contact with Oriental styles from 

 Asia Minor and Persia and with Italian art of the Middle 

 Ages and Renaissance. 



On Monday, August 6. the papers were again archseo- 

 logical. and, with the exception of two, dealt with the 

 earlv antiquities of England. 



Messrs. F. W. Rudlnr and W. H. Dalton communicated 

 a paper on the " red hills " of the east coast salt marshes. 

 The hills are low mounds of burnt earth, and are scattered 

 along the estuarine marshes of the east coast. They have 



NO. 1922, VOL. 74] 



been the subject of much speculation and controversy, but 

 no satisfactory conclusions have been arrived at, except 

 that they appear to be of Roman date. 



A paper was communicated by Dr. E. Cartailhac 

 entitled " D&ouverte archtologique," which recorded the 

 discovery, in the grotto at Gargas, of hands painted in 

 red on the walls of the cavern. These hands have distinct 

 alllnities with similar paintings found in Australia. It is 

 noticeable that at Gargas left hands predominate. 



Miss Nina !•". Layard read a paper on the Palaeolithic 

 site at Ipswich, supplementary to two papers laid before 

 the association at former meetings. The finds of imple- 

 ments have, on the whole, been up to the average of former 

 years, but the most important result was the discovery 

 that the two layers of the pit, which seemed to point to 

 two distinct and widely separated dates, are in reality one, 

 and have been separated by a layer of mud silting in. 

 This would account for the occurrence of tools of a similar 

 type in the upper and lower gravels, and tends to show that 

 the pit must be dated from the highest position in which 

 the implements were found. 



.Miss Layard also read a paper on an Anglo-Saxon 

 I'metery at Ipswich. Thirty-three graves were found 

 from which numerous relics were taken, the most important 

 being fibulae of a type rarely met with in England, one 

 being cruciform with a stud in the bow. Remnants of 

 garments, consisting of a loosely-woven plaited fabric with 

 a dress of coarse material above, were found adhering to 

 one of the brooches. 



An account of excavations in another Anglo-Saxon 

 cemetery, at South Cave, Yorkshire, was given by Mr. T. 

 Sheppard. Several skeletons were found, and with one, a 

 female, was associated an exceptionally fine series of orna- 

 ments which appear not to have been previously worn, but 

 to have been new when interred. The relics consisted of 

 amber and glass beads, annular and other fibulje, a pair 

 of girdle hangers, and brooches. With a male skeleton 

 several iron objects were discovered. 



Mr. Sheppard also gave an account of some Roman and 

 other remains from South Ferriby, on the Humber, now 

 in the Hull Museum. The collection consisted of coins, 

 fibula;, rings, &c., mostly of bronze, as well as of speci- 

 mens of Samian ware and other pottery. The objects were 

 probably from the site of a small Roman camp and 

 cemetery. 



A collection of pygmy flint implements from Lincolnshire 

 and Yorkshire, made by the Rev. R. Scott-Gatty, was 

 exhibited by Dr. G. A. Auden. 



Two important reports of committees were taken as 

 read. The first, on the age of stone circles, chronicled 

 the results of diggings at the Stripple Stones in Cornwall, 

 with the result that the date of the circle is shown to be 

 not earlier than late Neolithic or later than early Bronze 

 age times. The other report, of the committee to conduct 

 explorations on Roman sites in Britain, gave some account 

 of recent excavations at Caerwent, Melandra Castle, New- 

 stead near Melrose and Silchester. 



Mr. D. G. Hogarth gave an account of the recent explor- 

 ation on the site of Ephesus, and of the discovery of the 

 primitive Artemisia. 



In the afternoon Dr. T. .'\shby, jun., described the 

 excavations now being conducted at Caerwent. During 

 the first part of the season the inner side of the south 

 gate was cleared, and the inner arch was found to be 

 to a great extent still preserved. The rest of the season 

 was spent on work in the northern half of the town. Five 

 buildings were excavated, one of which appears to have 

 been the public bath. Of the other buildings, one possessed 

 a colonnade, while in another remains of painted plaster 

 were found on one of the walls, which was preserved for 

 a height of more than 10 feet. Two wells were also 

 excavated, and yielded a number of plant remains. 



Dr. Ashby also gave an illustrated lecture on recent 

 discoveries in the Roman Forum, in which he detailed the 

 results obtained during the past year in the excavations. 

 These included the discovery of the Lacus Curtius, of the 

 tribunal prjetorium. and of the position of the rostra. 

 The place where C-psar's body was burnt and the base of 

 the equestrian statue of Diocletian were also found. 



The work on Tuesday morning dealt exclusively with 



