36 REPORT— 1892. 



Section H. 



Aid in Anthropological Exploration. — Dr. Garson stated that at last 

 year's Conference lie had called attention to the existence of a Committee 

 for giving advice on this subject. As an illustration of the evil arising 

 from neglecting the assistance thns offered he mentioned a case vphich 

 had come under his notice during the year, in which a large barrow had 

 been opened at a cost of 100/. A large number of valuable skeletons had 

 been found, but only the skulls and a few long bones of at most three of 

 the skeletons had been sent to him to work up ; the rest of the bones had 

 not been preserved. Thus a barrow with a number of skeletons had been 

 simply destro^'ed and the money wasted. The exploration had been done 

 as a piece of local work, and if application had been made to the Com- 

 mittee of Aid they could have given directions or sent some one down to 

 assist the local Committee. Dr. Garson pointed out that the Committee 

 of Aid did not pi-opose to take the work out of the hands of, or to lay 

 claim to the credit due to, local effort ; they wished only to give assistance 

 and advice. He thei'efore urged the Delegates to bring the existence of 

 this Committee under the notice of their Societies. 



Dr. Yachell said that he could bear out the remarks made by Dr. 

 Garson. Some Roman remains had been found at Llantwit Major, 

 amongst them being some very fine skeletons. Permission had been 

 obtained to carry on excavations, but they were uncertain whether they 

 would be stopped, and ultimately they were prevented from carrying on 

 the work. Several skulls were obtained, but not the remaining portions 

 of the skeletons, as they had no means at hand of preserving the bones, 

 which in a few days crumbled to pieces. The skulls were sent to 

 General Pitt-Rivers, who reported that these were of no use without 

 the other parts of the skeletons. 



Registration of PreMstoric Ttemains. — Dr. Garson said that the Secre- 

 tarj^ of this Committee, ]\Ir. J. W. Davis, was not present at the Cardiff 

 Meeting, but a report had been presented to Section H. 



The Rev. J. 0. Bevan stated that the Woolhope Naturalists' Field 

 Club had decided to prepare a map showing the antiquities in their county. 

 It was to be based on the prospectus issued by the Society of Antiquaries, 

 and they wished to produce a map similar to that which had been pre- 

 pared for Kent. They were going to appoint representatives in every 

 parish, and to request them to send particulars of any objects of interest 

 and to enter the positions of such objects on the Ordnance maps. He had 

 been empowered by his Society to ask any of the Delegates who might 

 have seen other schemes to furnish any hints that might be of use before 

 they issued their own prospectus. 



Dr. Garson suggested that those who were undertaking this kind of 

 work should communicate with the Secretary of the Prehistoric Remains 

 Committee of the British Associaticm,' as that Committee was making a 

 record of all ancient remains thi'oughout the country, and they had a 

 .system which it would be desirable to adopt in order to bring all the 

 records into harmony. 



Mr. Ken ward approved of this suggestion. 



Mr. Whitaker requested the Delegates to communicate any discoveries 

 of or concerning ancient remains to the Ordnance Survey. They would 

 often find errors of omission in the maps, or the periods of antiquities 



• Mr. J. W. Davis, Chevinedge, near Halifax. 



