142 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



The balance of the fund collected, being allocated by the subscribers to 

 special excavation work for the examination of the vallum and the 

 ' cove, ' will not be available for the survey. 



The Avebury Excavations, 1911. By H. St. George Gray. 



I. Introductory Remarks. 



Having given a general description of Avebury and its surround- 

 ings in the former reports, 1 the present account will be almost 

 confined to the excavations conducted at Avebury from Monday, 

 April 24, till Wednesday, May 10 (the filling-in continuing till Satur- 

 day, May 20). It should be stated that all the cuttings so far made 

 are situated on Lord Avebury's property. Not only were the 1911 

 excavations filled in this season, but similar work was completed in 

 regard to the explorations of 1908 and 1909. Fencing now encloses 

 these areas, so that in the course of a couple of years nearly all traces 

 of the excavations should be obliterated. 



A maximum number of fifteen men was employed this season, sixteen being 

 engaged in 1909 and eleven in 1908. The weather was fairly favourable, not 

 more than eight hours being lost on account of rain during the period of the work. 

 This season we took the necessary precautions, and were not hindered by falls 

 from the sides of the. silting as the digging penetrated into the lower strata of 

 the great fosse. 



Sectional diagrams of the fosse, &c, were made as the work proceeded, in 

 which the deposits of silting were indicated, as well as the position of every 

 object of importance found. The scale map of the area excavated in 1908 and 1909 

 has been redrawn to include this season's work. An average section of the southern 

 fosse was given in the 1908 report (p. 406), and, being fairly representative of 

 the other sections, it will be unnecessary to publish another on the present 

 occasion. 



Twenty satisfactory photographs (half-plate) were taken during the season, 

 and these, added to twenty-two taken in 1909 and sixteen in 1908, not only show 

 the progress and chief features of the excavations, but also include general views, 

 together forming a somewhat complete photographic survey of ' the Temple ' of 

 Avebury. 



One of the most interesting features of the 1909 excavations was 

 the discovery of the entrance-causeway of solid chalk, a little to the 

 east of the modern road into Avebury from the south, connecting 

 the Kennet Avenue with the interior of the monument. The causeway 

 proved to be about 24 feet wide, and on its east margin we dug some 

 test trenches and found that the solid chalk gradually receded as 

 if sloping off to meet the upper margin of the walls of the fosse in 

 the form of rough steps, not always well defined. 



With these results before them the members of the Committee 

 were anxious to follow up these observations and to excavate the 

 rounded (or squared?) end of the fosse at its termination on the east 

 side of the causeway ; and it was felt that being close to the entrance 

 there would be an increased probability of finding a larger number 

 of relics in the silting of the fosse in this position. The silting 

 is not high here, and probably has at no time been under cultivation, 



1 Brit. A**oc. Reports, 1908, pp. 400-413; and 1909, pp. 271-284. 



