By Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Cnnnington. 83 



of the place, and which would, therefore, naturally belong to its 

 earliest period, seem to be early in character and to belong indeed 

 to the beginning of the Christian era. Mr. Bushe-Foxe, to whom 

 I have had a chance opportunity of showing your specimens of 

 " bead-rims," tells me that his recent excavations at Hengistbury, 

 near Christchnrch, yielded a good many specimens of pottery of 

 similar fabric aud rim to yours, and he is inclined to date these to 

 the century of which the beginning of the Christian era marks the 

 middle; something, however, would depend on the shape of the 

 bowl as well as on its rim. There are certainly cases abroad where 

 this rim occurs on rough similar wares of a good deal later date 

 than A.D. 50, and I suspect there may be cases also in England. 

 It is, of course, not quite safe to adopt the chronology of a local 

 ware made on the Rhine as a precise guide for the dating of a 

 similar British ware. A common style of pot, made at one period 

 on both sides of the Channel, may have lasted on in one district 

 for some time after it had ceased to be made in the other. The 

 Haltern parallels give, therefore, rather a general clue than a 

 precise date for your Casterley pieces." 



Castbeley as an Inhabited Site, 

 The Three Periods of Occupation. 



Although it appears that the earthworks as a whole belong to 

 one definite period, there were three stages in the occupation of 

 Casterley as an inhabited site. 



The earliest of these is represented by the three pit-dwellings 

 that were found, which are certainly older than the earthworks, 

 and do not appear to have had any connection with them, it being 

 probably a mere coincidence that they were within the area. 



The second stage is that of the erection and occupation of the 

 earthworks by a people using "bead-rim" bowls of hard-baked, 

 wheel-turned pottery, entirely distinct from that of the soft hand- 

 made pottery of the pit people. 



The third is that of the decay of the inner works, when the 



ditches were already silted up, and the inhabitants were living 



under Roman influence. 



G 2 



