54 



Kna/p Hill Camp. 



Fragments of a deep dish or bowl, with flanged rim, of grey 

 ware painted black, with wide lattice pattern tooled on the 

 outside. Upchurch (?) ware. 



Piece of mortarium of grey ware painted buff colour. 



Fragments of a vessel of the thin red quality ware. 



Part of a large vessel of thick pinkish red pottery, 



painted a buff colour on the outside with a faintly- 4.^^^v 

 tooled lattice decoration. 



Pieces of two similar pans were found in the fireplace 

 under the round mound {see page 52). 



Pieces of coarse grey pottery. 



One small piece of Samian ware. 



Two roundels of grey pottery : diameter, l:|in. 



The contents of this fireplace are interesting as they 

 certainly suggest a catastrophe of some kind. The 

 quernstone, the large iron building nails, and the several 

 kinds of pottery are not likely to have got into the 

 fireplace in the ordinary course of domestic events. The 

 fireplace could never have been cleared out again after 

 these things fell into it, when, as the condition of the 

 quernstone shows, there must have been a fierce heat. 

 This is suggestive of a conflagration and the desertion 

 of the site afterwards. 



If such a catastrophe did indeed take place, the 

 discovery of a sixth century Saxon sword may be con- 

 sidered as affording a possible clue to the date and cause 

 of the occurrence. The sword was found 18in. deep 

 in surface accumulation on the northern fringe of the 

 long mound within the plateau enclosure, at G-. Nothing 

 was found with it, and no trace could be detected either 

 of a scabbard or of a grip of wood or other material. 



The sword was identified by Mr, Eeginald Smith at 

 the British Museum, who pronounced it to be a fine, 

 well-made example of the period. It is of iron and 

 measures 35 inches in total length, including the tang 

 of the handle, which is 5 J inches long ; the widest part 

 of the blade is 2\ inches in breadth. 



