90 Casterley Camp Excavations. 



found at Casterley associated with " bead-rim " bowls, were also 

 found at Oare. The finer wares from both sites are also 

 practically identical, although Arretine ware has been identified 

 at Oare and not at Casterley. The types of Eomano-British pottery, 

 including Samian ware, that were absent from the strata containing 

 exclusively the " bead-rim " type of pottery at Casterley, were also 

 wanting at Oare. 



From the evidence of date afforded by the pottery, fibulae, and 

 other objects found there, the accumulation of the rubbish heap at 

 Oare has been dated about the early years of our era. Thus on 

 independent grounds the same date has been arrived at on both 

 sites for the period of the ascendancy of the " bead-rim " bowl. 



A third site has also afforded evidence of the prevalence of the 

 " bead-rim " type of pottery previous to that of the ordinary 

 Eomano-British wares. On Knap Hill 1 a small settlement en- 

 closed by a slight bank and ditch was discovered, adjoining the 

 earlier hilltop camp. In the lower part of the filling-in of this 

 ditch, only pottery of the " bead-rim " type was found, while on the 

 surface and elsewhere relics of the Eomano-British period were 

 plentiful. 2 



In the upper strata of the ditches at Casterley " bead-rims " were 

 comparatively scarce, and only occurred as small and worn 

 fragments, whereas from below the pieces were both larger and 

 less worn. 



1 Wilts Arch. Mag., xxxvii., 42. 



2 The evidence that " bead-rim " bowls are, on the whole, of early date, 

 is in no way contradicted by the observations made by General 

 Pitt-Rivers in the three villages of Romano -British date examined by 

 him. The percentage of "bead-rims" was small in all the villages, being 

 2.16 at Woodcuts, 1.50 at Rotherley, and only 0.03 at Woodyates. At 

 Woodcuts and Rotherley the proportion of " bead-rims " was far less on the 

 surface than in the pits ; in Woodcuts it was 9.52 on the surface as against 

 5.81 in the pits, and at Rotherley 0.71 as against 4.10. (Excavations, II., 

 pp. 144-5 ; III., pp. 17, 53). General Pitt-Rivers remarks " this led to the 

 inference that "bead-rims" being a simpler form of pottery, and as a rule 

 of rude quality, may have been in earlier use than other kinds of vessels." 

 On the sites of some of the so-called "British Villages" on the downs, 

 fragments of " bead-rim " bowls are abundant, while on others they seem 

 to be almost, if not quite, absent. This may point to the earlier origin of 

 some villages than of others. 



