408 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



pottery of the Roman period was found at depths vai-ying from 5 to 6 feet 

 in the middle of the mixed silting deposit ; and thirdly, two fragments of 

 coarse British pottery of Bronze Age type were found in the lowest third 

 of the mixed silting at a depth of 7 "2 feet from the surface. In the 

 middle division of this area twenty-five fragments of pottery were collected, 

 all of Romano- British type and unornamented. Some of the pieces were 

 small, and it is possible that a few of them may be post-Roman, but all 

 undoubtedly are pre-Norman. The three pieces of Roman ware associated 

 with the Romano-British pottery consisted of a very thin fragment, brick- 

 red on the two surfaces (No. 80), a lai'ge piece of painted New Forest 

 ware (No. 98), and a piece of tile, tegula (No. 24). The coarse Bi'onze 

 Age type of ware, containing large grains of quartz, survived into Roman 

 times, and is occasionally found with Romano-British shards. But when 

 found in deep deposits, unassociated with Romano- British pottery, it is 

 generally safe to regard it as being of Bronze Age manufacture. In the 

 Avebury fosse, however, the highest pieces of the early type are found 

 1"2 feet below the Romano-British type. The position of the various 

 .qualities of pottery in the mixed silting was most satisfactory as regards 

 chronology. 



To complete the account of the pottery from Cutting No. I. we must 

 at once turn to the vast accumulation of chalk rubble, from 8'7 feet below 

 the surface of the silting to the bottom of the fosse. The only fragments 

 of pottery found in this deposit were three small pieces of Bronze Age 

 ware, at depths of 7 feet, 7"8 feet, and 12'5 feet respectively, two being 

 of the coarsest description.' There is no question about the depth of this 

 last-named fragment, which was found in my presence by the foreman 

 (who did all the important digging at low levels). 



With one exception, the other ' finds ' in the chalk rubble were value- 

 less as evidence of date. But that exception was an important one, viz. 

 the finding of five red-deer antler picks (Nos. 89, 90, 91, 94, and 95), for 

 the most part fractured and incomplete, but capable of considerable 

 repair,^ resting on the solid chalk floor of ihe fosse — thrown away when 

 they became useless as tools. One or two of these picks prove to be 

 excellent specimens ; with one exception they are shed antlers, two being 

 extremely massive. (For details, see Section f.) It is difficult to realise 

 how this stupendous fosse was excavated out of the solid chalk by means 

 of antler picks only. There can be no doubt, I think, that the hardest 

 chalk must have been loosened, at least to some extent, by the blows of 

 flint hammers and mauls.-"* The other appliances used in this work would 

 probably be wooden and bone shovels, and baskets and ropes to haul the 

 chalk to the surface. Close to the bottom of the ditch we found a frag- 

 mentary shoulder-blade bone in a very bad state of j^i'eservation, but I 

 was unable to determine if it had been used as a shovel (' Archseologia,' 

 xlv. 345). 



A flint knife was found at a depth of 1.3 feet and worked flint flakes 

 at 7'3 and 10 feet ; also a piece of human skull-bone at an approximate 

 depth of 12 feet. The relics are referred to later. 



' Two fragments of Romano-British pottery were found in the chalk rubble, but 

 quite high up, close to the inner wall of the fosse, and as evidence of date their 

 position was unimportant. 



"^ They have been restored by Mrs. St. G. Gray. 



' In some cases the blunt end of the picks appears to have been used iqx 

 ^^TOHieving. : 



