58 Report on the excavation of the Earthwork
Camp at Seaford ('Journ. Anthrop. Inst.' vi. 287), which I
have shown by excavations similar to the present to be British,
and in many other British entrenchments that are known to
me, when it became necessary to leave the natural line of
defence which is determined by the ground and cut across the
top of a hill, the turn was made abruptly. On this account
I ventured at the meeting of the Society, which was held last
year ('Proceedings,' vol. i., xxiv.), to say that there was
nothing in the formation of this camp which predisposed me
to regard it as the work of the Romans.
Mr. Meldola, the President of the Essex Field Club,
having done me the honour of consulting me on the subject, I
suggested at a meeting of the Club, held on 3rd July, 1880,
that the only means of obtaining any further clue to the
origin of the earthworks was by means of an excavation
in the rampart. The exploration of other camps excavated
has almost invariably brought to light relics which, though
of little or no intrinsic value, were such as to afford certain
evidence of date. When these camps were thrown up, in all
probability large numbers of men were collected to do the
work; these men encamped upon the ground previously to
commencing operations, and strewed about the surface bits
of broken pottery, knives, or various fragments of utensils in
common use. The ditch was then dug on the outside, the
materials from it were thrown up to form the rampart, and
all that was lying on the surface was by this means covered
up and preserved. A section through the rampart and ditch
would reveal these objects; sometimes relics of interest are
found, sometimes mere fragments and refuse; but in all the
camps I have explored bits of pottery at the least have been
discovered, which were sufficient to give some idea of tho
period of construction. The meeting above referred to
having decided to adopt this course, a subscription was
opened, and an application for permission to make sections
through the ramparts was made to the Epping Forest
Committee of the Corporation of London, and readily
granted. It was decided to commence with Ambresbury
Banks; a spot was selected on the west side of the camp