EXCAVATION'S IN LOUGHTON CAMP, EPPING FOREST. 119
At the stream there is a small dam, but this is out of alignment
with the ramparts, and has a modern appearance. I do not
think that this small dam could have lasted in that position
(right in the bed of the stream) for any prolonged period. Water
is needed in charcoal burning, and as there is a charcoal hearth
(C.P.) just above it at the termination of the rampart, I think
the dam was probably made by charcoal burners.
It will be remembered that a portion of the excavation-fund
received from the Morant Club was used in the exploration of the
Pillow Mounds2 of High Beach, and the conclusion was reached
that they belonged to the Prehistoric Iron Age. During a
number of years I have found upwards of 200 small fragments
of pottery of that date, scratched out of the Pillow Mounds by
rabbits. Careful search in rabbit-scratchings which are not
in the Mounds has shown that this pottery is strictly confined
to the Mounds.
When writing the Report on the Pillow Mounds I hesitated to
draw the conclusion that the flint industry found in the Mounds
was contemporary, and I felt that the relics from the Mounds
and those from the two Epping Forest Camps needed careful
comparison one with another, when more material should have
been obtained. This has now been made possible, and the results
are embodied in the present report.
Although the bulk of material is not large, I think there is
sufficient pottery from the two Epping Forest Camps and the
Pillow mounds to indicate that they are contemporary one with
another and of Early La Tene date.
The remains found during the previous excavations in the
two Camps have been thoroughly re-examined in the light of
modern research, and they have proved to be of greater value
than was realised.
THE EXCAVATIONS OF 1926 and 1927.
During the diggings of 1882 four trenches were cut through
the ramparts. The position of these is marked on the plan
accompanying the report, while a fifth trench is stated to have
been cut in one of the pits which are situated within the Camp.
The position of trench V is not more precisely known, but it
2 Since the Report on the Pillow Mounds was published, I have heard that an association of
similar mounds with Iron Age Camps is being observed on the Continent of Europe, notably in
Austria.