ANTIQUITIES OF ALDERNEY. 159 



meiit of cylindrical bronze cashig found on the neck of skeleton 

 137." 



The two rings in the second consignment are penannnlar, 

 the small one is evidently a bracelet, the ends come close 

 together ; the larger one appears intended for the neck, 

 the ends are ^ of an inch apart. All the four rings are of the 

 same thickness thronghont ; the corroded and broken one is the 

 thinnest, being -| of an inch in circumference ; the thickest, the 

 bracelet, has a girth of 1 inch. All are so heavy that modern 

 young ladies would scarcely wish to decorate themselves with 

 such cumbrous ornaments. 



It is quite a mistake to suppose that persons buried with 

 rings round their necks were slaves. In Rome, members of 

 the most distinguished families wore rings round their heads 

 or necks, and in graves belonging to about the third century, 

 B.C., skeletons, even of infants, have been found with neck- 

 rings of iron or bronze. These rings generally took the form 

 known as torques^ i.e.^ rings of metal as thin as wire, often 

 twisted and highly ornamented, terminating in decorated discs. 

 " Such metal collars were doubtless signs of distinction, not 

 of servitude " ; ^.//., in the year B.C. 361, Titus Manlius having 

 slain a gigantic Gaul, took the bronze collar from the neck 

 of the slain warrior and placed it round his own, and hence 

 assumed the name Torquatns. 



The interments represented in the Admiralty collection I 

 coniidently refer to the Early Iron Af/e, or late Keltic period ; 

 the bronze and bronzed rings, the imburnt bodies with the 

 purposely broken bones, justify me in so doing. The iron 

 spear-head in the collection belongs to a later era, but it was 

 found 20 feet from the bodies. 



In the article from which I have already given extracts, 

 Mr. F. C. Lukis writes: "The S.E. portion of the island 

 seems to have been the favoured spot occupied by the original 

 inhabitants. Here may be traced various structures now 

 partly buried beneath the sand." This part had then recently 

 been parcelled out in lots. " In lot 19, under the silt, portions 

 of stone walls were discovered, one about 70 feet long ; 

 foundations of small square buildings adjoined this on its 

 eastern face ; in these were found querns, pottery in abundance, 

 tiles and fragments of Samian ware, exhibiting ])atterns of 

 animals and men ; portions of ampullae, <&c." Neither Baron 

 Von Hiigel nor the Admiralty workmen discovered any 

 further walls. Now the Kelts and earlier peoples did not 

 erect stone buildings ; the inference is that these walls are the 

 remains of a Roman establishment ; the ampullar, the Samian 



