283 



Itmtpral ^fom frj % f) xmhnt of % 



Lt.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., F.S.A., 



}N two copiously illustrated and privately-printed quarto 

 volumes I have described the excavations that I have 

 made in the neighbourhood of Rushmore, Wilts, during the last 

 ten years, the chief part of which relates to the two Romano -British 

 villages of Woodcuts and Rotherley, just outside the Park. They 

 were proved by the coins found in them to be of the Roman age, 

 though probably occupied chiefly by Britons, one or two British 

 coins having been found with the Roman ones in both villages. 

 Both villages were alike in their general arrangement, and their 

 chief feature consisted of pits, 3ft. 6in. to 10ft. in diameter, and 

 3ft. 6in. to 9ft. deep, filled up to the top with earth and refuse, so 

 that no trace of them could be seen on the surface. Of these as 

 many as ninety-five were found in Woodcuts, and ninety-two in 

 Rotherley. The area occupied by the pits was drained by deep 

 trenches, 3ft. to 8ft. deep, also filled up to the top with earth and 

 refuse, and laid out in such a manner as to carry the water down 

 the hill; the different drains branchicg out of each other like the 

 tributaries of a stream or river, the main streams of which, in both 

 villages, ran along the two sides of a road leading from the village 

 towards lower ground, and showing that one of the chief concerns 

 of the inhabitants, in those days, was to carry off the heavy rain, 

 of the prevalence of which certain passages in the ancient writings 

 appear to hint, and geological and other researches confirm the 

 impression that there must have been a much larger supply of 

 water in early times than now. A well 188ft. deep was also re» 

 excavated, and the Roman bucket found at the bottom, but no 



VOL. XKV. — NO. LXXV. X 



