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Near the British coin, on the floor, a much distorted bronze armlet (No. 270) of the "slip-knot" variety was found (Fig. 2). The method of manufacture rendered it possible

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FIG. 2.-RELICS FOUND AT MAUMBURY RINGS, 1912.

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249. Iron Key-shaped Object, Cutting XXII. 269. Uninscribed British Coin. 270. Bronze Armlet, distorted, of the " slip-knot variety. 273. Lemon-coloured Glass Bead (scale ). 288. Flint Implement. 300. Ornamented Pot-cover. 335. Iron Arrowhead.

All, with the exception of No. 249, were found in Cutting XXI. (From Drawings by Mr. E. Sprankling.)

to pass the armlet over a hand, however large, the spring of the ornament exerting a pressure on the arm which would keep it in place. These armlets have not infrequently been found in England, including, in the S.W., Woodcuts (N. Dorset) and Puckington (Somerset). A bronze leglet of the same type was found in 1896 in Albert Road, Dorchester, encircling the thigh-bone of a human skeleton.*

On the same part of the arena floor, or near it, the following remains of the Roman period were found:-263, piece of a Kimmeridge shale armlet and an iron nail; 267, small disc of stone, probably a counter; 271, rim piece of pottery with burnished lattice pattern; and 272, piece of green glass handle.

Owing to the earlier mutilation of the solid chalk, the whole of the trench in this cutting, in which wooden posts had been placed to support the outer barrier, and the greater part of the inner trench which followed the true margin of the arena, had been formed in rammed and puddled chalk, and in some places they were filled with a dark, rich mould. Post-holes were clearly defined in these trenches, those in the outer trench averaging 3ft., and those in the inner trench 4ft., apart (Plate III.). Most of these post-holes were circular.

Dealing with so much rammed chalk it was by no means easy to trace the true surface of the Roman work, but when the clue was once obtained the features were carefully exposed. Repairs had evidently been frequent. In places the surface of the rammed chalk was covered with shells (described elsewhere).

It now remains to give a brief description of the rest of the numbered relics found in Cutting XXI. having reference to the Roman work.

*It is exhibited in the Dorset County Museum, as also are two twisted armlets of gold of similar design from the Fayyûm, Egypt. The Dorchester and Puckington specimens are figured in the writer's paper on the subject in Proc. Som. Arch. Soc., LVII., ii., 94.

255. Iron nail, embedded in highest part of wall.

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260. Third brass" coin of Constantine I., circa A.D. 335; a poor specimen of the Gloria Exercitus type; depth 2ft. below the larger group of stones.

268. Small globular glass bead, painted red; in rammed chalk. 274. Fragment of shale armlet, on level of inner trench; another piece, No. 334, found in filling-in.

288. Chipped flint implement, weathered white, of Neolithic type, length 3in. (Fig. 2); in rammed chalk, depth 3ft.

294. Fragment of red Samian ware, ornamented; depth 2.5ft. 296. Oval hammer-stone of bi-convex section, 3in. in diam., smooth on both faces and bearing evidence of hammering round the edges; in rammed chalk, depth 5.5ft.

297. Part of a Romano-British bowl of black burnished ware, with bead rim; in inner trench, depth 6ft.

298. Fragments of red Samian and other ware; in the rammed chalk of arena-floor, depth 4.7ft.

299. Fragments of R.B. pottery, red on faces, black internally; depth 4.85ft. on arena-floor.

300. Greater part of a pot-cover, of blackish-brown ware, with funnel-shaped perforated knob (Fig. 2); the burnished surface faintly ornamented with triangles filled with crossed lines, and comparable with designs found in the Lake-villages in Somerset. Depth 4.8ft. on rammed chalk arena level.

301. Large iron ring, corroded and distorted; over the inner trench, depth 4.8ft.

302.

Bent bronze pin, perhaps of a brooch; on rammed floor. 303. Part of an iron spear-head with sides hammered up to form a socket; found as No. 302.

335.

Small iron arrowhead (Fig. 2), with rivet-hole on one side of the hammered up socket, length 51mm.; found in filling-in.

V.-CUTTING XXI.

THE PREHISTORIC SHAFTS (PLATES III., IV., AND V.).

(See Cutting X., Report, 1908; Cutting XV., 1909; Cuttings XII. Extension and XX., 1910.)

We must now turn to the somewhat puzzling shafts of which eleven have been uncovered at the mouth, five having been completely re-excavated (Plan, Plate I.). The first was

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MAUMBURY RINGS, DORCHESTER, 1912. CUTTING XXI. PREHISTORIC SHAFTS, Nos. VIII, IX, X and XI.

(Full Title given at the beginning of the Report.)

From a Photograph by Mr. H. St. George Gray,

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