xviii PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



Britain at that time ; and it presents, as might be expected, variations in size which would 

 result from the herds being fed in different pastures and obtaining more or less food. 

 Out of a large number of instances which have passed through my hands I will quote 

 a few to illustrate, not merely the presence of the animal, but also the kind of food on 

 which the Roman provincials lived in Britain. 



In 1864 I examined the remains in the magnificent collection of Mammalia at 

 Taunton, found by the Rev. E. Warre in the hut-circles which exist within the massive 

 fort of Worle Hill, near Weston-super-Mare, 1 that was occupied by a Roman garrison. 

 They belonged to Celtic shorthorn, goat, horse, pig, badger, and stag, and from their 

 fractured state clearly were the relics of the food in use at the time. They were 

 associated with, the following articles of metal — spears and arrow-heads, reaping hooks, 

 and horse-trappings of iron, a ring, and some coins of bronze, the latter of Constans, 

 Constantinus, and Crispus Valerianus. There were also red, green, and blue glajss beads, 

 the calcined head of a femur, and a liassic nodule perforated for suspension, a ring made 

 of a segment of the shaft of the metatarsal of Bos longifrons, rude pottery, not turned in 

 the lathe, lathe-turned and well-moulded Roman pottery, whetstones, flint-flakes, and 

 one remarkable implement, pyramidal in form, with a flat base carefully chipped all 

 round. This form was also found in the Celtic village of Stanlake by Mr. Stone, and by 

 the Rev. H. H. Winwood in the excavations in ancient Roman Bath (Aquae Solis). 

 Erom the latter place the remains forwarded to me belong to the roe and red deer, horse, 

 Celtic shorthorn, goat, and pig. 



A collection of Roman remains, made by Mr. Thomas Honeyvvood, of Horsham, from 

 a Roman villa on the South Downs, contained the following species — red and roe deer, 

 wolf, fox, pig, Celtic shorthorn, and horse, shells of cockle, limpet, and periwinkle. The 

 villa itself had undoubtedly been destroyed by fire, for a quantity of molten lead, derived 

 probably from the roof, had fallen on a heap of corn, and still contains, within its mass, 

 the carbonized grains. The same group of animals is represented also in the refuse 

 heaps around and in the old Roman cities of Lonclinium (London) and Camulodunum 

 (Colchester), as well as in the castrum of Othona or Itanceaster at the mouth of the 

 Blackwater. 



In the Maidstone Museum there is a collection made from a swallow-hole near 

 Allington Church, consisting of remains of clog, wild boar (the turf hog ?), sheep or 

 goat, red and roe deer, along with shells of whelks, oysters, and periwinkles, Samian ware, 

 fine black ware turned in a lathe, and Roman tiles. In all these cases it is worthy 

 of note that the remains of the Celtic shorthorn are far more numerous than those 

 of the red or roe deer. There is, moreover, reason to believe, from the fractured 

 condition of the remains of horse, badger, and bear, that those animals also formed part 

 of the people's food. The remains of the dog and of the wolf, on the other hand, are 

 for the most part perfect, and without traces of fracture or of marks of the saw. 



I have also met with traces of the dog, horse, and Celtic shorthorn inside oaken 



