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The regular form, good proportions, and flat surfaces of the upright stones at Coldrum are very remarkable, and suggest artificial shaping and perhaps dressing. These also point to a late period in the neolithic age, and present remarkable similarities to the forms at Stonehenge. That these careful forms and surfaces could be produced with stone tools has been shown in the case of Stonehenge by Professor Gowland, 'Recent Excavations at Stonehenge.'1

The idea of enclosing the principal structure within a line of stones is also common to Stonehenge and Coldrum; but whereas Coldrum was obviously sepulchral monument, Stonehenge, though following to some extent the same arrangement, was conceived on a more ambitious scale, and probably designed før a very different purpose.

The megalithic structures of Kent furnish a valuable series illustrative of the constructive skill of neolithic man. At Kits Coty House the two main uprights lean somewhat inwards and rest against the middle upright between them, thus distributing the weight of the capstone so as to consolidate the whole structure, the resistance of which to complete denudation proves also the excellence of its foundations. At Coldrum the construction has developed further, for the uprights still stand erect, even though no capstone remains.

The author traces in these rectangular megalithic monuments the prototypes of the series of Anglo-Saxon churches, sometimes called 'Scottish," "Celtic, a 'British,' of which good examples are seen at Boarhurst, Hants, and in Dover Castle.

5. Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, 1899-1903.2
By T. ASHBY, jun., M.A.

The Romano-British city of Venta Silurum, the site of which is now occupied by the village of Caerwent, Monmouthshire, five miles west of Chepstow and eleven miles east of Newport, is only mentioned by this name in the Antonine Itinerary and by the Geographer of Ravenna. In the former it appears as a station upon the Roman road from London via Bath to South Wales. In the classical authors it is not spoken of, though the tribe of the Silures is mentioned by Tacitus; but an inscription recently discovered in the centre of the city shows that it was the centre of the tribal organisation under which the Silures lived in Roman times. The text is as follows: . . . leg(ato) leg(ionis) ii aug(uste) proconsul(i) provincia) Narbonensis leg(ato) Augusti) pr(o) prætore) provi(ncia) Lugudunen (sis) ex decreto ordinis respublica) civit (atis) Silurum.

The external walls of the city are still clearly traceable. They form a rectangle of about 500 (E. to W.) by 400 (N. to S.) yards, and on the south side are preserved to a height of some 20 feet. Some remains of the east and west gates still exist, while the north gate is preserved up to the spring of the arch, and shows signs of modification. Within the wall and parallel to it a mound of hard clay has been discovered in many places, which is believed to have been the original fortification of the city; whether its origin is military or civil is a point as yet uncertain.

Excavations are still in progress, and, if circumstances permit, may be carried on for several years more, as the greater part of the site is unoccupied by buildings The ancient city appears, at one period of its existence at any rate, to have been divided into twenty insula. The modern highway, which runs from east to west through the centre of the site, follows the line of the ancient road; and st almost equal distances north and south of this ancient roads have been brought to light. There seem to have been four roads running from north to south, of which the easternmost alone has not yet been discovered in any part of its course. It is obvious, however, that our statements on this point must be subject to reserve, inasmuch as much further excavation remains to be done.

The buildings which have been brought to light consist chiefly of private

1

Archeologia, vol. Iviii. pp. 37-118.

2 Full reports in Archæologia and summary in Man, 1904.

houses, and some of these present a ground plan which appears to be unique in England, having the rooms arranged round all the four sides of a rectangular courtyard. The walls are strongly built of blocks of limestone, and in some cases the painted plaster upon the walls is found in situ in good preservation. Some interesting mosaic pavements have been found.

A large building near the North Gate (so far only partially excavated) may have had some public character, and a little to the east of this gate an amphitheatre (apparently of late date) has recently been discovered within the city walls. So little of it is preserved that it must be supposed to have been mainly of wood; the arena wall, which exists almost in its entirety, encloses an oval the diameters of which are about 145 and 125 feet.

The smaller objects include a roughly sculptured head in sandstone, probably of some deity, while pottery, bronze and iron objects, &c. are found in profusion. Some of the coloured enamel is especially good.

6. Ribchester: the Roman Fortress Bremettenacum.
By JOHN GARSTANG, B.Litt.

Ribchester, on the Ribble Valley, has long been known. Roman remains, some of them exceptional in character, have been found there since the beginning of archæological record. One object in particular, a bronze ornamental helmet, the head probably of a deity, now preserved in the British Museum, is specially noteworthy. The fame of this Roman station has been increased by an old tradition of buried treasure, which seems to have been based actually upon an event of postRoman date, and has been shown recently by a distinguished numismatist to have probable reference to the Cuerdale hoard of Saxon coins.

Excavations made in 1898-99 have now shown that the station at Ribchester conformed with the general scheme of frontier defences of the Roman Empire. It was one of a series of such fortresses in methodical arrangement which with the wall of Hadrian formed the northern frontier defences of Roman Britain against the hill tribes of the north. It is analogous in plan and constructive details with other forts of the same system and period. It is to be distinguished primarily from the camps of a moving army the disposition of which is well known from literary sources, just as the name castellum is different from the word castra. Latin historians were careful of this distinction, and it behoves English archæologists to be equally on their guard. The Roman fort is hardly treated in contemporary literature, but its character and military organisation are now clearly defined by the results of archæological research. This fort is to be distinguished secondarily with the class of which it is an example from the later type of Roman fortress, familiar from ruins on the south-eastern coast line, built in the fourth century to oppose the dangers which threatened the Saxon shore. These later strongholds have external buttresses and turrets, are generally larger and with higher walls, and exhibit the prototypes of some of the mediaval details of fortification.

But the class of fortress to which Ribchester belongs is entirely of the earlier character, severe rectangular shapes with internal buttresses and mural towers, magnificent double-arched gates, a stout wall not very high, with parapet and guard chambers upon its length. In large examples of this class, of which Ribchester is one, the interior was filled with stone-built barrack-rooms and stables, arranged regularly in rows and streets. In the centre was the large 'prætorium,' the headquarters of the commander of the division which constituted the garrison. On one side was commonly a large storehouse or granary, and at Ribchester (quite exceptionally) there seems to have been a temple within the walls. Another sub-class of this period is found to be of smaller area-about three acres only-with the outer walls and prætorium only of stone.

The inception of the idea of a series of frontier fortresses in the north was due to Agricola, but the scheme elaborated to its perfection with Hadrian, and much activity in building is still evidenced from the inscriptions under the Antonines.

It was about this period probably that Bremettenacum was finally built There is no definite evidence of its earlier origins, but it is known that a detachment of the Sixth Legion (from York) completed some building work under Calpurnin Agricola in the middle of the second century. It was garrisoned at one time by a wing of Sarmatian cavalry (auxiliaries), and later by a body of Asturians It was connected in the military scheme by roads into the Roman stations & Manchester (Mancunium) and at Wigan (Coccium) to the south, with Overborg (Galacum) and Lancaster (? Rigodunum) to the north, and directly with the legionary headquarters at York (Eboracum) by the road over the hills throasi Ilkley (Olicana).

[A full description of the excavations and recent discoveries is given in the excursion handbook for the Southport meeting.]

7. The Roman Fort at Brough. By JOHN GARSTANG, B.Litt. Excavations of an exploratory character have been made during the past mandi upon the Roman site at Brough, in Derbyshire, near to Hope village and station They have shown that the station there was military, being in fact a fortress f the earlier class, built probably under Hadrian or Antoninus Pius, in the earlie half of the second century. It corresponds in many particulars to the type forts along the wall; though small in area it was stoutly built. Its outer were nowhere less than six feet in thickness, and its prætorium was extensive, wil a remarkable strength of masonry. It had the usual four gateways and rounded corners surmounted by turrets, and it was situated in the favourite position & the junction of two streams. The outline of the fortress, the position of the pr torium and adjoining buildings, and the suggestion of other stone buildings withi the enclosure have been determined by these experimental excavations. In central position, possibly within the prætorium itself, was disclosed a deep-walled enclosure, with steps leading down from top to bottom. The masonry is chara teristically solid. În clearing out the refuse from this there were found, a other remains, two inscribed altars, difficult to read, the one small and well carved but broken, the other large and complete. Of more immediate interest were portions of a large inscribed tablet which when put together proved to have been about five feet in length, with a nice moulded border. The inscription dates fr the time of Antoninus Pius, and seems to have been set up by a præfect of the First Cohort of Aquitani under Julius Verus, then Governor of Britain. The name of the præfect appears to be new, but the contingent is known from mour ments found near Bakewell and elsewhere.

The Council of the Derbyshire Archæological Society are encouraged by these tentative results to make a careful and systematic excavation of the whole site and cordially invite general interest and support. The inception of the schere due to Mr. W. J. Andrew, F.S.A., editor of the Society's journal, in which the full account of the present and future discoveries will be published from year

year.

8. Report of the Committee on the Silchester Excavations.
See Reports, p. 412.

9. On a Prehistoric Drinking-vessel found near Burnley.
By TATTERSALL WILLIAMSON.

The author described a number of urns found at Todmorden. The urns,

which

are hand-made, are associated with a flint arrowhead, showing very fine workman ship, a bronze fibula, a pin, and a number of jet and bone beads. In the central cinerary urn, which was of a finer character, were found human remains, and also an incense-cup and a food-vessel; a microscopical examination of the

latter showed traces of its former contents.

In other excavations in the neighbourhood the remains of two persons had invariably been found together, one an adult, the other a child. The author assigned the prehistoric sites near Burnley to three distinct periods, that of the barrows, followed by the epochs of the Earth Circle and the Stone Circle. The period of the barrows would appear to be the earliest, as the barrows-unlike those in Yorkshire, explored by Canon Greenwell-had never, as far as the author knew, been found to contain bronze objects.

10. Antiquities near Kharga in the Great Oasis.

By CHARLES S. MYERS, M.D.

The photographs illustrating these antiquities were for the most part taken by the late Anthony Wilkin, who accompanied the writer on his visit to the Great

Oasis in 1901.

(i.) At the eastern entrance to the oasis is a large buttressed fortlike ruin, called by the natives El Deir, i.e. the monastery. Its walls have a thickness of twelve feet, it covers about a hundred and ninety square feet. The neighbourhood abounds in worked flint implements.

(ii.) On a rising piece of ground about three miles north of the village of Kharga stands the early Christian (Nestorian) necropolis, now called El Baguat. It consists of streets of well-preserved tombs and funereal chapels of unburnt bricks, formerly faced with plaster. Remains of mummy cloths can be seen. Niches are

built into the walls, probably to receive lamps and gifts of food for the dead. The interiors of the tombs are decorated with the Egyptian ankh, birds, vine-tendrils, &c. There is a large chapel and a tomb covered with frescoes of Biblical scenes, photographs of which are exhibited. The buildings may be attributed approximately to the seventh century.

(iii) Somewhat nearer Kharga stands the well-preserved temple of Hibiɛ, begun by Darius I. and completed by Darius II., one of the most important monuments of the Persian dynasty in Egypt.

11. Egyptian Burial Customs. By JOHN GARSTANG, B.Litt.

Excavations made during the past winter upon the hillside at Beni-Hasan, in Upper Egypt, have resulted in the discovery of a necropolis of the Middle Empire, about 2200 B.C., which has thrown much light upon the burial customs of that period. Visitors to the well-known rock-hewn tombs of the princes and great officials are familiar with the paintings of barques and offerings and general funereal furniture upon the walls. These newly found tombs are the buryingplaces of the minor officials and distinguished women, the middle classes of the locality. They are not sufficiently large, for the most part, nor of suitable character, for mural decorations; but they were found furnished with numerous wooden models, which explain at once many points of interest connected with the burying of the dead, and in themselves illustrate the industrial processes of the ancient country.

Altogether 492 tombs were found and examined. Many of these had never previously been disturbed. Fortunately, too, in several instances the preservation of the objects was perfect. They were seen, as the door of each tomb was opened -boats under sail, funereal barques, granaries, men with oxen, women with geese, brewers and bakers-all in their places, freshly painted and free from dust or accumulation, exactly as they had been left four thousand years ago. A series of photographic views of the interiors, taken by reflected light, illustrate the whole process of the excavation, and these observations, stage by stage, as well as pictures of the deposited objects themselves.

A comparison of results obtained from the several well-furnished tombs shows that there was some uniformity as to the character of the objects that furnished

To be published more fully in Man, 1904.

the houses of the dead. They included essentially the following characters: (a) a rowing-boat; (b) a sailing-boat; (c) a granary; (d) a bakery; (e) a brewery; (f) an ox, or sacrifice; (g) a girl with geese and basket. The groups varied slightly, but these were uniformly included. They seem to have borne no relation to the profession of the deceased, but are simply of religious motive-the elaborate provision for a future journey. In one case two other vessels were deposited, but they were of warlike character, and in this case probably had a special significance. In them were armed men, shields, spears, and an interesting group of two figures playing chess.

Numerous small objects were discovered, among them a small wooden statuette of a woman carrying her babe in a shawl upon her back. She is characteristically Libyan. The photographs number about 450, and arrangements are being made for their publication.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14.

The following Report and Papers were read :

1. Report of the Committee on the Psychology and Sociology of the Todas. See Reports, p. 415.

2. Toda Kinship and Marriage. By W. H. R. RIVERS, M.D.

The kinship system and marriage institutions of the Todas were studied by means of the genealogical method. The Todas preserve their pedigrees by oral transmission for several generations, but considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining the record owing to the existence of a taboo on the names of dead relatives. Finally, however, a fairly complete genealogical record of the whole community was obtained, going back for two or three generations, and this furnished the basis for the study of the social organisation.

The system of kinship is of the kind known as 'classificatory,' every male of an individual's clan being either his grandfather, father, brother, son, or grandson and every female his grandmother, mother, sister, daughter, or granddaughter. A special feature of the system is that the father-in-law receives the same name as the mother's brother, and the mother-in-law the same name as the father's sister. The orthodox Toda marriage is one between the children of brother and sister: & man marries normally the daughter of his maternal uncle, or of his paternal aunt: and this custom, which is common in Southern India, has so influenced the system of kinship that both mother's brother and wife's father receive the same name, even when the two relations are not united in the same person.

There are two distinct sets of kinship terms: one set used when speaking of a person, and the other used in direct address. The latter terms are more limited in number than the former, and are used in a more general way, and the names of this kind given by individuals to one another are determined largely by the respective generations and relative ages of the speakers.

6

Although the Toda system is definitely of the classificatory kind, the people often used terms which define more exactly the nature of the relationship; thus, s man might speak of his nephew as my son,' or as my younger brother's son." This and other similar practices seem to show that the Toda system is losing its purely classificatory character, and is approaching the descriptive stage.

The Todas have very definite marriage regulations. The people are divided into two endogamous groups, each of which is subdivided into a number of exogamous groups which may be called 'clans.'

The two chief groups are not allowed to intermarry: a man must marry a woman of his own division. The clans into which the two chief divisions are sub

1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxxi. 1900, p. 74.

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