I9 2 ROMAN BROUGH: = ANAVIO. 



all mingled with mud and refuse ; and, beneath all, some broken 

 slabs of concrete. 



These observations seem to indicate three stages in the use 

 of this pit : — 



Stage I. — Possibly contemporary with the tablet of the mid- 

 second century. A regular four-walled pit, descending vertically, 

 with flat concrete floor; of uncertain use. An underground 

 cellar or chamber in the pratorium of a Roman fort would 

 not have been altogether unusual. A well-known example is 

 that at Chesters on the Roman Wall near Chollerford, covered 

 with a vaulted roof, and approached by a narrow flight of stone 

 steps. A closer analogy, Mr. Haverfield points out, would be 

 that at Lyne* if both this and that had wooden steps. The 

 feature a (Fig. 6) may belong to this stage. Possibly it was 

 found that water could not be kept out : there does not seem 

 to be any cement between the joints, and the pit, having been 

 cleared of its filling, is now full of water. This leads to 



Stage II. — Considerably after the mid-second century and 

 probally before the fourth. A constructional alteration of the 

 north-west side. Part of the well removed for the purposes of 

 adding a flight of stone steps, which descended to the bottom, 

 a piece of a dedicatory tablet of the second century was used 

 as a building stone. The floor was broken and the centre 

 deepened. At this stage the motive seems to have been 

 definitely a water-well : the fragments of a wooden tub or bucket 

 found at the bottom seem to conform with this suggestion. 

 Then followed 



Stage III. — Not before the fourth century. The pit became 

 used as a refuse pit; all rubbish and broken objects were con- 

 veniently thrown into it. To this stage belongs the appearance 

 of the major piece of the inscribed tablet, on which are the 

 letters, COH.I.AQVIT., &o, which, since it had been broken 

 from the rest, had in the meanwhile been used as a flooring 

 stone, and the letters upon it had become almost effaced by 

 the continual wear and trampling of feet. 



The pit later became neglected and the upper portion 

 gradually fell. 



* Proc. Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, xxxv. 180. 



