£46 The Thirty- Seventh Annual Moetlng. 



here — and explained how they were in all probability, formed by 

 the rains rushing down from off the tertiary clays and sands which 

 once covered the chalk downs, the rainfall in those days being much 

 greater probably than it is now. 



Entering the carriages again the party was driven to Blackland 

 Hollow, where most of the Members alighted and walked along the 

 course of the Wansdyke to the cutting made by General Pitt- Rivers 

 the year before, above Shepherd's Shore. The sides of this cutting 

 were found to be still sharp and clear, and The General explained 

 the results he had obtained from it. An iron nail, an iron knife- 

 blade, and a few pieces of pottery were the chief things found. 

 The purpose of the excavation was to find some object on, or under, 

 the original turf-line of the down, upon which the mound had been 

 thrown up. Whatever was found at this depth below the mound — 

 and the original line of the turf was clearly shown by a band of 

 brown mould — must, of course, have been there before the mound 

 was thrown up, and if any bits of pottery could be discovered to 

 which a date could be assigned, that would go far towards settling 

 the date of the dyke itself. Geneeal Pitt- Rivers said that the 

 presence of fragments of Samian ware under the outer and smaller 

 rampart proved pretty conclusively that that, at least, was of Roman 

 or post-Roman date ; but as to the main rampart the evidence as 

 yet was insufficient to warrant a conclusion. He gave it as his 

 opinion that these dykes, being lines of defence, only protected the 

 open and exposed parts of the country, the low-lying grounds having 

 been then covered with dense forest, which would probably sufficiently 

 protect the inhabitants from any enemy. In support of this theory 

 he mentioned that both Bokerley and Wansdyke lose themselves at 

 each end in what must have been thick forest country, where, if it 

 was necessary to continue the line of defence at all, the place of the 

 dyke might easily have been taken by abattis of felled trees. 

 Probably the object of these defensive lines — as that of the Roman 

 wall certainly was — was to defend the country of some tribe or 

 nation in a more advanced state of civilisation from the attacks of 

 its more barbarous neighbours ; more especially to prevent the cattle 

 —which probably constituted the wealth of those days — being 



