Journal of Proceedings.
lvii
This " Dene " proved to be a very fine specimen, and well worth the
trouble taken to effect an entrance. The strata exposed in the section of
the shaft were in this descending order:—Gravel, 6 ft. ; Thanet sands,
53 ft. ; beyond which the secondary strata of Upper Chalk were penetrated
to a further depth of 22 ft., making the total depth of the entrance shaft
80 ft. Its diameter was about 3 ft., but its form was funnel-shaped at the
upper part by the falling in of the sands from around the orifice at the
surface, where originally the shaft was probably of no greater diameter
than below. It differed from the two shafts examined on June 17th in
wanting " foot-holes." At the bottom of the shaft was the usual conical
mound of Thanet sand, &c, which had fallen in and trickled away in all
directions. On each side were three chambers,—six in all,—arranged in
a double-trefoil fashion (see Plate II., No. 3 Pit) and excavated in the
white chalk, the exact horizon of the strata being clearly indicated by the
thin lines of black tabular flints so well known to geologists. The
chambers were tolerably uniform in length, height, and width,—height
about 18 ft. and breadth about 12 or 14ft.,—the walls perpendicular, and
the roofs nicely arched and evidently made with eare. In the north-west
and south-east direction the extreme length from the end of the one
chamber to the end of the other was about 70 ft.; in the other direction
the two sets of parallel chambers were severally in similar extreme length
about 40 ft. This symmetry in the arrangement and the similarity in the
arched form of all the chambers is adverse to the theory which has been
propounded of their having been ancient marl-pits for the application of
the excavated chalk to the cultivation of the soil. The abundance of
"pick-marks" (quaere, stone, bronze, or iron) were very noticeable, the
diagonal positions of which, from proper right to left on the surface,
would accord with the blows of a pick, and it was suggested that the
" Dene " might belong to a comparatively late period, or at least had been
enlarged subsequent to its first construction. The floors of the chambers
were covered to some little depth by a black humus, commingled with which
were numerous fragments of soft rotten wood. Mr. Mackie pointed out
that the humus was such as might well have been produced in the lapse
of ages by the decay of corn or other grain, and was very like the dark
soil produced by the decay of refuse malt from brewhouses. No exami-
nation of the mound of earth was possible, of course ; it was estimated
that a gang of men would take a week to clear it out in the careful way
that must be adopted if a proper scientific examination was to be made
by the Club. Only one piece of evidence was got from it, the Rev. W.
Linton Wilson being fortunate enough to unearth from the lowest part of
the heap a partly-worked flint. A few semi-recent bones of dog and
sheep, with the gelatine still remaining in them, were turned up from the
superficial sand, being those of animals which had fallen in through the
open entrance.
Time did not allow of other pits being entered, and, after careful
measurements had been taken by Mr. Holmes, the party walked back to