xxx
Journal of Proceedings.
acknowledgment of their freely-rendered services, the names of those
acting as watchers and directors of the work, with the dates of their
attendances, are here given :—
Monday, May 30th.~General Pitt-Rivers, Messrs. D'Oyley, Meldola,
H. A. Cole, and W. Cole.
Tuesday, May 31st.—Messrs. Meldola, D'Oyley, A. Lockyer, H. A. Cole,
and W. Cole.
Wednesday, June 1st.—Messrs. Meldola, D'Oyley, P. H. Varley, H. A.
Cole, and W. Cole.
Thursday, June 2nd.—Messrs. Meldola, H. 3. Barnes, H. A. Cole, and
W. Cole.
Friday, June 3rd.—Rev. W. Linton Wilson, Messrs. D'Oyley, Meldola,
H. A. Cole, and W. Cole.
Saturday, June 4th.—Messrs. Robarts, Fisher Unwin, Meldola, D'Oyley,
and W. Cole.
Monday, June 6th. — General Pitt-Rivers, Messrs. Fisher Unwin,
Meldola, D'Oyley, H. A. Cole, and W. Cole.
Tuesday, June 7th.—Messrs. H. A. Cole and W. Cole.
Wednesday, June 8th.—Messrs. D'Oyley, W. S. Hodge, H. A. Cole, and
W. Cole.
The excavations were watched at night by two of the Forest Keepers,
Mr. Luffman and Mr. Butt (permission being kindly given by our member,
Captain M'Kenzie, Superintendent of the Forest), in order to protect us
from unwelcome visitors; but their office was almost a sinecure, as no
interference with the work was attempted.
As the investigation progressed it became more interesting. We
quickly came upon vestiges of man, and evidence of the use of fire in the
shape of bits of charcoal and burnt clay. Early on Wednesday morning
a considerable deposit of this kind was unearthed near the spot
marked "Charcoal" on the section (Plate IV.)—quite a quantity of
charcoal, burnt clay, and calcined stones, evidently the remains of a long-
continued fire. Near this spot a piece of rim of a pot and a flint flake
were turned up. We were soon able to distinguish the "old surface-line"
or original undisturbed soil of the Forest, the exact limits of which it was
so necessary to define. The artificial character of the soil composing the
rampart was often very noticeable, the successive layers of deposited earth
being readily distinguished; Mr. D'Oyley has indicated this non-natural
stratification by shadings on his section. Great care was exercised in
making out the true section of the ditch or fosse, the determination of its
exact construction being considered by General Pitt-Rivers a matter of
much importance.
In the report of the investigation in the ' Transactions ' but a passing
reference has been made to the scanty literature of this earthwork. The
Editor has been enabled to find but very few references to it. It was the
custom to ascribe it to the Romans, but local tradition perhaps more
justly connected it with the Amazonian heroine, Queen Bodug, and the