_ TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 611 
two of which he was accompanied by Mr. F. G. Newton as architect), has dis- 
covered a number of dolmens, some of which form the transition to the ‘tombs 
of the giants ’—long tombs used for a number of inhumation burials like the 
barrows and cairns of our own islands, and found almost without exception 
in close connection with the nuraghe, the fortified habitation of the megalithic 
people of Sardinia. Both in these structures and in the megalithic monuments 
of Malta we notice the characteristic combination of the orthostatic slabs with 
courses of ashlar masonry above them, which project to form the roof or 
covering, and the curved area in front of the fagade; while the single architraves 
of the nuraghi also find a parallel in Maltese architecture, which however in 
many ways stand alone. The structure and plan of many nuraghi were also 
studied, and their strategic disposition carefully observed. It is clear that 
they were so arranged that signalling from one to the other would have been 
easy; and that they were fortified habitations, and not tombs, is clear from 
many considerations—not least from the existence in several cases of a village 
of circular beehive huts under the protection of the nuraghe. Of these by far 
the largest is that discovered by Cay. I. Sanfilippo near Gonnesa, in the 
neighbourhood of Iglesias. 
6. Excavations in the Ancient Hill Fort in Parc-y-Meirch Wood, 
Kinmel Park, Abergele, North Wales. By WitLoucHBY GARDNER. 
This hill fort, Dinas or Din, is situated on the crown of a rocky spur, 550 feet 
above sea-level; it has an interior of about five acres. It is, roughly, pear- 
shaped, with the broad end to the south. The site is a stronghold by nature, and 
has a commanding position. All along the west side it is precipitous, and on the 
east very steep; only at the southern end is it connected by a level neck of land 
with the uplands behind. Its natural defences were at some unknown date 
supplemented by strong fortifications. These were specially necessary across the 
“neck,’ and here consist of a huge main rampart and ditch, a second small rampart 
and ditch, and a third rampart and ditch. There were less strong fortifications 
across a spur at the north end and a rampart along the east side. The main 
had was unearthed to the scuth-east, and another has been located near the 
north. 
The excavations occupied a month with ten labourers and amateur help. 
Work was directed to the ramparts and ditches, the south-east entrance, and a 
few points in the interior. The two first showed remarkable features, noted 
later. The entrance was found to be a passage through the ramparts, with 
side walls of rude dry masonry prolonged to a length of 38 feet. It had a roughly 
cobbled roadway, in which were three pairs of holes for wooden gateposts. Upon 
this roadway and in various places elsewhere many relics were unearthed. 
Among these were large quantities of broken bones of various domestic animals 
consumed for food by the former inhabitants; broken pottery (much visibly of 
Roman manufacture), showing urns, bowls, and saucers, made in common red. 
black, grey, and white wares, with some fragments of the finer ‘Samian’ ; broken 
objects of household use in stone, such as pot-boilers, mealers, whetstones, and 
spindle-whorls. In places little heaps of charred wood, marking ancient hearths, 
were found; near some of these was slag from the smelting of iron and of lead. 
Sling-stones and corroded iron spear-heads were the only weapons found. No 
dwellings have yet been identified, but the discovery of large iron nails suggests 
that they were made of wood. The ornaments found were some beads and a small 
bronze ox-head. These objects are difficult to date, but fortunately there 
occurred with them in various places a number of Roman coins of different 
Emperors, evidently current among the native population. The majority were 
minted a.p. 335 to a.p. 353, and the latest about a.p. 380. The inference from 
the relics is that the site was extensively occupied during the fourth century..- 
.. But the excavations revealed an earlier origin for the hill fort. For (a) the 
main rampart was found to cover a smaller and earlier one; (6) the third rampart 
was shown to have been added to the original defences, as it was thrown up 
across a road leading from the entrance; (c) further excavation in the entrance 
itself revealed another road (of better construction) below the fourth-century 
thoroughfare ; and (d) just before the explorations came to an end, yet a third road, 
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