PREHISTORIC DISCOVERIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1269, 9 July 1914, Page 4

PREHISTORIC DISCOVERIES.

EXCAVATIONS AT AVEBURY.

The season’s excavations at Avebury were in progress, during the fine spell of weather, for rather more than two weeks, and were brought to a close about the beginning ot May (exclusive of filling in). The work was carried out under the auspices of the British Association, and the association grant has been augmented by a fund contributed by other societies and some well-known antiquaries. The season’s work has been devoted to an excavation (40ft. in length) into the silting of the fosse on the east side and against the solid chalk entrance-causeway on the south of the great circle. The crest of the vallum is here some 30ft. higher than the surface of the silting, and there is a decided “berme” between the fosse and the vallum. The excavations show that the top of the fosse enlarges to a width of some 50ft. at its termination against the causeway, the solid face of which is practically square with the line of the ditch. In the long process of re-excavating the silts, a few antler picks and hammers and a finely-worked flint implement have already been found in the chalk rubble, and in the Roman stratum nearer the surface a ring and part of a bracelet, both of bronze.

The cutting through the vallum is being made on the south-south-east; it is found to consist of chalk rubble with very slight traces ot seams of mould. In itAwo antlers of red deer have been round, and an interesting bone-pin, nicely worked and polished. The old surface-line has been reached in places, and is clearly defined. On it have been found several small fragments of prehistoric pottery, a flint scraper, and two flint saws, as well as clear traces of charcoal.