NOTES ON A BONE OBJECT.
95
object was found, and its probable association with relics found
at that level, is often misleading and untrustworthy in the
absence of careful observation of the condition of the discovery.
In a note accompanying the Braintree implement, Mr.
Kenworthy tells us that "it was dug up at the side of the big
tank in the Coggeshall Road, and there was Roman pottery in
the same opening."
The only other instance of these objects having been
found in association with definite relics is that from Clifford
Street, York, which was found with Danish remains.
From the meagre particulars recorded of the rest of the series,
there is little that helps to throw light on this question.
The specimens from London Wall and Moorfields come
from a district where a great thickness of peaty mud has
accumulated during a long period, through the choking up of the
stream of the Walbrook in Roman times, due to the neglect of
the openings which the builders of the city wall left for the
passage of the stream.7 In this way, the great marsh along the
north side of the city wall came about, and lasted for many
centuries, while, within the city, the bed of what was originally
an important stream became a quagmire, eventually filled up
with mud. Although in the lower part of this deposit Roman
remains have been more plentiful than, perhaps, in any part of
London, objects of the mediaeval period have likewise been very
abundant at a higher level. Numbers of wells also were formed
here during later times, particularly in the 17th century, down to
which time much of this ground remained unbuilt upon, and was
utilized as gardens.
The Mortlake examples appear to have come from the
Thames alluvium, and offer no criterion as to their age, although
they bear indications which may point to an earlier origin than
do most of the series.
My efforts to elucidate the purpose for which these objects
were intended and the period to which they belong have, there-
fore, so far met with little definite result, but this note may
perhaps serve to draw the attention of others to the subject.
Doubtless further specimens are unobtrusively reposing
in various public and private collections. Any information
regarding such objects will be gratefully received either by the
7 Archaeologia, vol. lx. p 169.