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REPORT ON THE DENEHOLE EXPLORATION
British Museum, agree in determining them to be mediaeval, possibly
as late as the 16th century.
Examination of the mound in No. 2 showed at various levels bones
of the ox, sheep, dog, and other animals, but none calling for especial
remark. But slightly above the floor, and at the corner of the slight
recess which represents the sixth chamber, were some fragments of
pottery. Two of them were rough, reddish pieces, with regard to
whose age Messrs. Franks and Read could form no decided opinion.
The others were fragments of a vase, black internally but with a
yellow glaze externally, which they thought dated probably from the
14th century.
The mound in the third open pit, No. 5, yielded many bones of
horse, ox, sheep, dog, rabbit, and other animals, and, in addition, a
fragment of Niedermendig lava, which had probably once formed
part of a millstone. This fragment was towards the distal end of
the primary chamber most remote from No. 6. Nothing worth notice
was found near the shaft
We may now turn to the sifting in the closed pits. In their case
we did not, of course, meddle with the material close to the shaft,
but were obliged to work from the end of a chamber towards its
mouth ; preventing the fall of sand and gravel into the cleared part
by means of strong timber placed across the mouth of the chamber.
Three chambers have thus been cleared, that of No. 7 nearest No. 3,
one of No. 10, and the greater part of the longest chamber of No. 11.
In the chamber of No. 7 the bones of a small horned sheep were
found not far above the floor. The other bones were chiefly canine.
A small fragment of very rude pottery which was discovered on, or
close to, the floor has been examined by Messrs. Franks and Read,
and pronounced by them to be certainly primitive British ware,
similar to one kind of rude "late Celtic" pottery found in Loughton
Camp, recently explored by the Essex Field Club.
The chamber of No. 10, which has been cleared, is that which lies
on the left hand of the visitor who faces the tunnel from No. 10 to
No. 5, and has the shaft of No. 10 at his back. On the floor was
almost the entire skeleton of a horse. But the most interesting dis-
covery was that of a piece of Niedermendig lava, which had evidently
formed part of a millstone according to the opinion of Messrs.
Franks and Read. Millstones of this rock were very largely, though
not exclusively, imported into this country by the Romans (see
Appendix II., post).