On the Excavations at Rotlierley, Woodcuts, and Bokerly Dyke. 287 



and their fingers were of small size. They used bangles of bronze 

 and Kiromeridge Shale, and one brooch discovered was of the finest 

 mosaic, such as I found upon enquiry could not be easily surpassed 

 even in Italy at the present time. Also gilt and enamelled brooches, 

 some of which were in the forms of animals. They used bronze 

 and white metal spoons, and the number of highly ornate bronze 

 and white metal fibulae, showed that such tastefully -decorated 

 fastenings for their dresses must have been in common use. Nor 

 are we left in doubt as to the exact way in which these fibulae were 

 worn, for one skeleton was found with two of them, a bronze one 

 on the right shoulder, and an iron one on the right hip. As we 

 know that in the time of Agricola the Britons adopted the Roman 

 costume, we may feel sure that these were employed after the fashion 

 of the men to fasten the amictus, or a plaid, over the right shoulder, 

 and probably a skirt or tunic round the loins. They ate oysters, 

 which, considering the distance from the coast, implies a certain 

 degree of luxury, though it is possible that the shells may have been 

 used as utensils for some purposes. One of the most interesting 

 discoveries connected with these people was the small stature of both 

 males and females, but this is a subject that I shall refer to again 

 when speaking of my discoveries at Woodyates. The probability is 

 that both villages were inhabited by different classes, and not im- 

 probably they may have been the homes of Roman colonists, sur- 

 rounded by their families and a bevy of slaves. The possibly Roman 

 characteristics recognized by anthropologists in one round-headed 

 skeleton, may, perhaps, be regarded as favouring this view, but the 

 long heads of the majority seem to indicate with great probability 

 that the bulk of the inhabitants were of British origin ; more than 

 that it would be unsafe to say. The coins prove that the villages 

 were occupied up to the Constantine period, and Woodcuts certainly 

 up to the time of Magnentius — A.D. 350 — 353» 



These results, the details of which are given in tables, drawings, 

 and diagrams, in my book, furnish us with a fair idea of the condition 

 of the inhabitants of the villages ; and the number of different forms 

 of art and objects of industry discovered in them enables us to 

 identify clearly any other settlements of the same period that may 



