days, is no liberal advance of modern civilisation, but a return to a state of things which advancing civilisation has obliterated. These are some of the old customs and laws peculiar to Portland. Many of them, I believe, are quite unique; and it is because I fear they will rapidly disappear now that Portland is brought into such immediate contact with the mainland, that I have made this effort to preserve an account of some of the most curious and most ancient; and if it will lead to the subject being investigated by some abler hand than mine, and thus to more light being thrown upon them, I shall feel that my humble endeavours have not been entirely in vain. REPORT ON ANCIENT REMAINS FOUND AT MAIDEN CASTLE, DORSETSHIRE. BY H. SYER CUMING, ESQ., F.S.A. SCOT., V.P. In compliance with the wish expressed at a former meeting, I have drawn up a brief report on the ancient remains exhumed at Maiden Castle during our Weymouth Congress, and kindly transmitted to London by the Rev. William Barnes, B.D. The position and general features of this famous stronghold are so well known that it would be superfluous to descant on them, but an observation respecting the origin of its name may not be deemed altogether out of place. The designation Maiden is generally asserted to signify "the fort on the grassy plain," being derived from the British words ma and din. I would venture to propose to substitute maen for ma; thus making the title imply "the stone fortress”,—an appellation which seems fully justified by the discovery of extensive traces of masonry, of which ocular evidence was produced to our members last August. It is far from improbable that the stone fortress may have been erected on the site of a much older earthwork, though the relics we are about to consider do not indicate an extremely remote antiquity. We will commence our survey with the fictilia, few if any of which can with certainty be referred to the neolithic period; the majority ranging apparently from the bronze era down to the time when Roman legions and Roman example had subdued and influenced the Durotriges, and their lands had become a portion of the province of Britannia Prima. The most ancient fragments of pottery are decidedly portions of hand-made vessels. They are of blackish and brownish hues, the paste consisting of fine clay mingled with sand; the absence of the angular bits of silex seen in the more archaic fictilia being very noticeable. With this hand-made pottery must be associated a subgroup represented by four fragments of vessels of a very remarkable character; differing materially from the preceding, and presenting features strongly reminding us of the fictilia of ancient Mexico and Peru. We need not, however, travel quite so far as America for a similitude to this peculiar fabric, for such has been found in the older graves of Germany. These vestigia show that much care was bestowed on the construction of the vessels, which are well fired, their paste compact, and their surfaces smooth and glossy. Two of the examples are of a uniform red colour on the exterior, the third black, and the fourth clouded black and fawn. The last is a portion of the rim and side of a somewhat globose urn, impressed with a bold chevron pattern and horizontal lines, both being decorated with little transverse nicks or depressions. (See Plate 1, fig. 1.) This hand-made pottery is followed by another group composed of parts of vessels which were clearly turned on the wheel, and some of which indisputably exhibit a Roman influence in contour. Take, for example, the remnant of the neck and side of an urn of black ware. (See Plate 1, fig. 2.) One of the packets sent to London is inscribed, "Sand and clay (not natural formations); the latter found ready mixed with charcoal and sand, for making urns, etc." The only observation required in addition to this description is that one of the lumps of kneaded clay retains the mark of the workman's thumb; the skin of which, to judge from the impression, was rather coarse. Besides the remains of vessels, and the clay and sand presumed to be prepared for the fabrication of such articles, we have before us two other examples of fictilia of much interest. They are portions of triangular bricks measuring about two inches and a half in thickness. They are of light, drab coloured, compact clay, well fired, both having a perforation from side to side, near the points. Triangular bricks have been discovered at Malmesbury and near Canterbury, having perforations through them of about the same diameter as those in the Dorset examples. The date of the Malmesbury bricks is not well defined; but those met with in Kent positively belong to the Roman epoch, and constituted a portion of a hearth, with which was an iron tripus, hooks, etc., for cooking." Having dismissed the terra-cottas, we will pass on to the stones, the largest of which are in all likelihood the vestiges of an aelwyd, or hearth, formed of a flag of the well known shelly stratum of Portland, and exhibiting visible traces of fire not only on its surface but for some depth in. Hearthstones with burnt surfaces have been found in several of the lake-dwellings of Switzerland and other countries, so that the use of such things in remote ages is a well established fact. Coal was a substance known to the Britannic Kelts, who called it glo; but whether the old occupants of Maiden Castle ever employed Kimmeridge coal as fuel is a question I will leave others to determine, and will merely affirm that we have a specimen of this bituminous shale from the locality. It is very fragile, and requires careful handling. In connexion with fire may be mentioned a lump of scoria, apparently ferruginous clay, which is unaffected by the magnet in the mass, but becomes attractable when reduced to a fine powder. The fusion of this mineral was more probably through chance than design; but the presence of the specimen is nevertheless worthy of record. The occurrence at Maiden Castle of the two following fossils may be due entirely to accident, but it is well to note their discovery. One is a piece of silicified wood, the other the upper portion of a pinna-shell in its ferruginous matrix. Fossil remains have been found in ancient sepulchres, as, for instance, the belemnites in the barrow on Roke Down, Dorsetshire, the opening of which is described in our Journal (ii, p. 100). 1 See Gent. Mag., Dec. 1831, p. 500. One of the discoveries made at Maiden Castle seems to point to the warlike doings of its old garrison, viz. a large quantity of beach-rolled pebbles, apparently selected for the purpose of sling-stones. Thirteen examples from this "find" are submitted, by which it will be seen that some are of flint, others of quartz; some globose, others more ovate in form; but all well suited for slinging. Respecting the use of the sling in Britain and other lands, I must refer you to our Journal (xx, p. 73). Of animal remains we have a few examples, both wrought and unwrought; and as the latter require little observation, we will take them first. Among them may be noted the lower half of a shed antler of a roebuck (cervus capreolus) aged three years; molars of the deer, sheep, and horse, and a canine tooth of a wolf or dog. To these may be added a fragment or two of bone of indefinite character. In addition to the remains of mammals are two pieces of the round bones of birds, which seem to have been designedly broken into lengths of about an inch and two-twelfths; and may have been strung, with other like pieces, to form a necklace. Necklaces of birds' bones and little shells were worn in olden times by the natives of the Friendly Islands, of which I produce an example, to show in what manner the Dorset bugles may have been employed. This necklace was brought to England by the great navigator, Capt. Cook, and was formerly in the Leverian Museum. We now come to two examples of wrought bone or antler, both designed for the same purpose, and designated "combs". The shortest is rather over five inches in length; the upper end pointed, the lower about an inch and two-twelfths wide, cut into seven short teeth, two of them having suffered fracture. (See Plate 1, fig. 3). The second specimen is about five inches and a half in length, straight at top, and full an inch in width at bottom, and, like its companion, provided with seven short teeth. (See Plate 1, fig. 4). It is stated that these two specimens were met with near the clay and sand previously mentioned, and that a third comb, of similar fashion, has been discovered at Maiden Castle. Combs much resembling these in general aspect have been found in various parts of the Britannic islands and in Scandinavia, but I have never seen any with teeth quite so short as those under consideration. |