ON THE AGE OP STONE CIRCLES. 143 



so that the labour entailed in re-excavating this part would be propor- 

 tionately less than in the fosse on the south and south-west of the 

 monument. As stated elsewhere, although Captain Jenner (the 

 owner) was willing that this work should be done, his tenant was 

 found to be bitterly opposed to excavations being carried out under 

 any conditions. Fortunately for archaeological field-work such obstacles 

 do not often present themselves. The disappointment, however, had 

 to be faced, and, pending further negotiations, it was decided that an 

 excavation should be made across the S.W. fosse, on Lord Avebury's 

 property, of greater extent than those made in former years. 



II. General Observations on Cutting VIII., through the S.W. Fosse, 



1911. 



This cutting was 30 feet long, and was afterwards extended in the 

 middle 6 feet further west in order that a ledge, or bench, might be 

 cut, upon which the lower strata of silting could be thrown in clearing 

 the bottom of the fosse. The eastern margin of the cutting (in the 

 middle of the silting) was 235 feet in a direct line from the gateway 

 on the western side of the road at the Kennet Avenue entrance, and 

 98 feet from the middle cf the western margin of Cutting I. (1908) 

 across the fosse. 



The surface of the silting at the point selected for this year's work 

 was practically level (the variation being less than 6 inches). It is 

 stated, on the authority of the oldest inhabitants of Avebury, that the 

 whole of the S.W. quarter of the fosse had been cultivated as arable 

 land some sixty years ago, and this would account for the flatness 

 here. As previously stated, 2 it is said by the local people that a 

 quantity of loamy tenacious material had been brought to this part of 

 the fosse, and especially near the high-road from the site of the new 

 bridge across the Kennet stream on the Devizes road. 



While the excavations were in progress a large sectional diagram 

 was plotted along the eastern margin of Cutting VIII. fosse, and 

 continued in a S.W. direction to include the crest of the vallum, the 

 foot of the exterior slope, and the boundary -hedge beyond, and in a 

 N.E. direction to cover the turf-clad counterscarp of the fosse and 

 part of the central plateau, including one of the standing sarsen stones 

 (height 8"5 feet) of the great outer circle. The horizontal distance 

 from the north side of the stone to the north upper margin of the 

 boundary-hedge proved to be 183 feet, and from the middle of the 

 fosse to the crest of the vallum about 78 feet. 



This section showed that the central plateau was 12 feet, and the 

 crest of the vallum 31 feet, above the turf level of the fosse. After 

 re-excavating the fosse the bottom was found to be 18'7 feet deep below 

 the surface of the silting on the eastern margin, and consequently 

 49'7 feet below the crest of the vallum. Supposing that the crest 

 of the vallum was originally about 5 feet higher, the total vertical 

 height from the floor of the fosse to the summit of the embankment 



■ Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1909, p. 279. 



