THE LATE LIEUT.-GENERAL PITT-RIVERS. 251
cemetery of Winkelbury, Bockerly Dyke, and the Wandsdyke, it is princi-
pally the villages or camps of the Bronze and the Romano-British ages that
are described in these volumes. Several Bronze Age camps have been
excavated, and the occurrence of vessels and quantities of fragments of pottery,
similar to that found in the barrows, serves to dispel the idea, held by some,
that such vessels were fabricated solely for sepulchral purposes and show
conclusively that such pottery was in common use. There are the settlements
of Woodcuts, Rotherly and Vindogladia, the latter with which Bockerly
Dyke is associated, besides portions of the remains of other Roman-British
villages, all producing relics and skeletons with marked characteristics, distinct
from those of the Bronze Age. The relics procured from the villages were,
relatively to the vast amount of excavation necessarily undertaken, small in
quantity and poor in description, it is therefore the more to the credit of Gen.
Pitt-Rivers that he persevered so continuously in the exploration of such sites.
They were such as would perhaps present but few attractions to most
excavators, looking for greater compensation in the shape of numerous and
imposing relics.
Not the least important of the results of these excavations are the
measurements obtained from the human remains. A large number of
skeletons of the Stone and Bronze Ages, and the Romano-British and Saxon
periods, have been discovered and carefully measured. These data constitute
an invaluable contribution to anthropometrical science. Pitt-Rivers had to
contend with much opposition from well meaning but unscientific people
concerning the unearthing of human skeletons. On one occasion a local
clergyman came to him and begged that he would cease disturbing human
remains. On the reasons for doing so being explained to him, he requested,
that after the measurements had been obtained, the bones might be
re-interred in his churchyard. "My dear sir," exclaimed the General, "are
you aware that these people were pagans ? Would you have pagans buried
in consecrated ground ?" This apparently removed any scruples the reverend
gentleman may have had, for he never troubled further in the cause of the
early Britons.
The great care taken in recording all that was found, has furnished a mass
of evidence which throws considerable light on the nature and social condition
of our pastoral predecessors. Though much remains to be done and similar
explorations are, indeed, much needed in other districts to complete the story,
it is not too much to say that Gen. Pitt-Rivers has given to us one of those
pages of our history which Green declared himself unable to write until such
researches had been undertaken.
He died on the 4th May, 1900, and was cremated at Woking ; the ashes
were buried at Tollard Royal Church, Wiltshire.
The excellent portrait accompanying this notice is. from a photograph by
Messrs. Downey and Co., and is reproduced from the third volume of the
Excavations in Cranborne Chase.
For the photographs of the bust and Rushmore House, I am indebted to
my friend and former colleague Mr. W. S. Tomkin, by whom the negatives
were taken.
F. W. Reader.
[Mr. Reader has kindly presented the blocks of the illustrations used in
this notice.—Ed.]