Ancient Earthwork in Epping Forest. 
229 
comparative freshness of the flakes, however, although it may 
to some extent be attributed to the sandy nature of the soil, 
appears to me to favour the opinion that they were struck off 
and covered up soon after ; and the finding of several frag¬ 
ments fitting one another confirms this view, as noticed by 
Mr. Worthington Smith. The discovery of a half-formed 
flint celt also appears to me to corroborate this opinion. 
“ On the whole, therefore, judging from the specimens Mr. 
Cole has been good enough to show me, I think the evidence 
is sufficient to identify the camp as pre-Roman, and probably 
of very early period.” 
In conclusion, we may be permitted to point out that the 
evidence brought forward in this Report agrees well with the 
theory of a British origin of the camp. Its irregular outlines, 
and the way in which the ramparts were adapted to the form 
of the hill on which it is placed, are characteristics of British 
methods of castramentation. The Y-shaped section of the 
fosse is, as was pointed out by General Pitt-Rivers in his 
Report on the Ambresbury Banks, a very noteworthy feature, 
and a somewhat exceptional one, in British camps, so far as 
our knowledge extends; the ditches in the camps at Cissbury, 
Caburn, and Seaford were all fiat-bottomed. The worn ap¬ 
pearance of Loughton Camp, and the immense amount of 
denudation apparent in many places, favours the idea that it 
may be of earlier date than Ambresbury Banks, although both 
are of British workmanship. Whether then constructors 
used flint tools in . ordinary life can only be satisfactorily 
determined by means of further explorations, both in the 
ramparts and within the enclosures. The numerous pits in 
the Loughton Camp, and the ground around the supposed 
“well,” also deserve attention. The extended examination 
of these earthworks and the other prehistoric remains in the 
Forest is a matter not only of scientific importance, but also of 
very considerable popular interest to all inhabitants of London 
and its environs, who have now, thanks to the Corporation, a 
sort of personal lien upon its many attractions. No better or 
more permanently useful work can engage the energies of 
local scientific societies than an endeavour to gain and place 
