Figsbury Rings [Map]. An Account Of Excavations In 1924¹. By Mrs. M. E. Cunnington (age 55).

There can however, be no: doubt that the earthwork was designed primarily for defence. It is, on the other hand quite clear from the character of the inner ditch as revealed by excavation, apart from its indefensible position, that this ditch was never intended for defence. Excavation at five different points showed it to be of quite different character from the outer one. It was very irregularly cut, with a wide flat bottom, whereas the outer ditch was well cut and almost V-shaped. Humps or promontories of unexcavated chalk were left in the inner ditch, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, forming occasionally what were tantamount to bridges across it. By means of these irregularities it must always have been easy to get in or out of the ditch almost anywhere on either side. Moreover, for a length of 60ft. (d on plan) the ditch had never been completely dug out. We believe, as suggested by Hoare (An. Wilts, 1., p. 218), that the ditch was simply a quarry from which the material came to strengthen the rampart. By thus quarrying at an equi-distance all round the rampart, instead of at one spot, the distance over which the material had to be carried was reduced to a minimum.

There can be no doubt that the chalk taken from the inner ditch does now actually form by far the greater part of the rampart; the chalk that came from the outer ditch, i.e., an equal bulk, having gone back in to it. The quarry ditch is still comparatively empty, having had no bank to wear down and so to fill it up.

Great labour must have been expended in making Figsbury strong, but it never seems to have been occupied for any length of time. In the trenches cut across the interior very little evidence of habitation was found. On the plateau, i.e., the area within the quarry ditch, only eight pieces of pottery were found; the circular "pot-boiling" or cooking holes, if such they were, found there also suggest a temporary rather than a permanent occupation. Evidence of habitation under the shelter of the S.W. rampart and on the floor of the quarry ditch also points to such habitation having been of a temporary nature. It consisted only of a few fire sites and a small quantity of broken pottery and animal bones.

In the excavations as a whole only about one hundred pieces of pottery were found, and only three pieces of broken mealing stones; not a single storage or rubbish pit such as usually abound on prehistoric sites, not a single worked bone, spindle whorl, loom weight, no object of bronze or of iron, and not even a hammerstone. This absence of objects of domestic use, as well as the scarcity of broken pottery, shows that the site cannot have been regularly inhabited. It seems probable that the place belonged to some tribe or community that lived near by, and that the people came in here for refuge with their animals in time of danger. As an alternative it might be suggested that the entrenchment was merely a place of safety in which to pen the flocks and herds, and that the relics of human habitation are those of the herdsmen who came with them. The great strength of the entrenchment, however, and the fact that it was thought necessary to add to it on two separate occasions, as well as its exposed position, makes this less probable.

Water Supply. In the absence of wells or ponds the nearest water in prehistoric times, as it is to-day, would have been the river Bourne, in the valley about half-a-mile distant.

Comparison with other works. Figsbury has been compared with the three Nosterfield circles, and two on Hutton Moor, all in the neighbourhood of Ripon, in Yorkshire, of a superficially similar plan, but it appears that the resemblance is probably misleading, and they may have little or nothing in common.

THE DATE OF FIGSBURY.

Five fragments of Bronze Age pottery were found, but this can scarcely be considered to afford evidence that even the earliest part of the earthwork dates from that period; the fact that very few worked or flaked flints were found does not add to the probability.

Scanty though it is, the only decided evidence of habitation is that by a people in the Early Iron Age who used pottery of the All Cannings Cross type. These seem to have squatted, temporarily at least, on the open floor of the inner ditch, and under the shelter of the S.W. rampart, before the second, or last, addition, was made to it.

In the absence of evidence of a later occupation, it is probable that these are the people who made both additions to the rampart, and the quarry ditch. As to who made the first bank and its corresponding ditch there is no direct evidence available. It is probable that when the additions to the rampart were made that the outer ditch was cleaned out, if not deepened. There can be no doubt that whoever made the outer ditch as it is now, also cut out the deeper part of the quarry ditch at "d" (see p. 55). Both the shape of the cutting at "d" and the character of the work are identical with that of the outer ditch. It is probable on the whole that the original bank as well as the two additions fall within the same period, and were the work of the same people in successive years.

The site does not seem to have been inhabited in Romano-British times, only one piece of pottery of this period being found, and that just under the turf in the quarry ditch.

A bronze leaf-shaped sword, said to have been dug up in Figsbury in 1704, is now in the Ashmolean Museum (W.A.M., vol. 37. pp. 100, 129). This type of sword is regarded as of late Bronze Age date, and a "not very remote ancestor of the Hallstatt iron type" (Brit. Museum Guide, Bronze, 1920, p. 31). As Bronze Age types are known to have survived into the Early Iron Age, for example the bronze razor and socketed celt found at All Cannings Cross, it seems quite possible that this sword was contemporary with the pottery of All Cannings Cross type found in Figsbury.

THE POTTERY.

With the exception of one piece of Romano-British, one of a bead rim bowl, and five of Bronze Age type, all the fragments of pottery found were such as occurred at the Early Iron Age site at All Cannings Cross. Considering the small number found it was fortunate that so many pieces belonged to the distinctive type of red-coated bowls. Only sixty pieces of pottery were found in the inner ditch, thirty-five at the edge of the S W. rampart, including the burnt layer under the bank, and only eight on the plateau.¹

Note 1. It is interesting that while pieces were found of several red-coated cordoned bowls with ornament characteristically incised after baking (of All Cannings Cross type, Pl. 28, figs. 3—4), no fragment was found of the furrowed bowls (Pl. 28, fig. 1), a type much more common at All Cannings than the cordoned. In the Early Iron Age pits on Fifield Bavant Down described by Dr. Clay ( W.A.M., xlii., 457), Pl. vi., fig. 5 a bowl of the cordoned type was found but none of the furrowed. From the character of the pottery as a whole the pits at Fifield are thought to be rather later than the site at All Cannings. It appears probable, therefore, that the cordoned bowl as a type is rather later than the furrowed boWl. Another point, not without significance is that the bowls from All Cannings have actual raised ribs at the angles, while the vessel from Fifield is without them. Some of the pieces from Figsbury have raised ribs, others are without them. It appears, therefore, that as time went on the type deteriorated, and the bowls were made without raised ribs. Pottery with finger tip ornament was not found at Fifield or at Figsbury.

ANIMAL REMAINS.

No animal bones were found on the plateau, but a few were found along the side of the S.W. rampart, and a few in the inner ditch, more especially at "b" They were for the most part very fragmentary and included those of sheep, oxen (three horn cores of the bos longifrons), pig, pony (jaws and hoof, and dog (parts of two jaws). Of the red deer only one piece of an antler was found, and that was on the plateau in Ex. D.

HUMAN REMAINS.

The broken and scattered condition in which the human remains were found is remarkable. With the exception of fragments of a skull and a collar bone found about a foot deep in accumulated soil at the edge of the S.W. rampart, they were all found scattered promiscuously with animal bones, etc., in a layer of rubble mixed with soil on the floor of the inner ditch. They were for the most part found broken, but some of the scattered pieces have been fitted together; teeth from the jaws were also scattered. At "b" there were two separate pieces of a lower, and one of an upper jaw, an ulna, and a radius, both incomplete, and two other fragments of limb bones. At "a" two pieces of limb bones. At "f" parts of three lower jaws, several loose teeth, in one instance thirteen were found lying close together, part of an ulna, a radius, a humerus, and another limb bone; it has been possible to restore one of the jaws to a fairly complete condition.

REPORT ON HUMAN REMAINS FROM FIGSBURY RINGs, BY SIR ARTHUR KEITH.

WORKED FLINTS OF LATE TYPE FOUND IN THE DITCH.

An interesting find was that of some two hundred worked flints scattered over a space of some 4ft. to 5ft. in diameter in a layer of soil and rubble on the floor of the inner ditch at "e." Their condition is fresh and sharp, and they appear to have been worked on the spot; two or three large unbroken flints found may represent the raw material intended for working into implements. About half the number of broken flints belong to a type that has been found on a few sites in the neighbourhood, and that has been illustrated and described by Heywood Sumner in "The Ancient Earthworks of the New Forest," p. 85—6, Pl. xxiv. a. The discovery of these flints in situ "in a ditch that dates in the Early Iron Age is interesting, because this type of worked flints had already been regarded as of late date (as compared with other flint implements) on account of the surroundings in which they had been found elsewhere. In the same layer with these flints was found a single fragment of the rim of a wheel-turned bead rim bowl, that dates probably in the 1st century A.D., or only slightly earlier. This was the only fragment of this type of bowl found. This part of the ditch had been much disturbed and was infested by rabbits, indeed the cutting was not carried so far as had been intended on this account.

PLAN SHOWING POSITION AND EXTENT OF THE EXCAVATIONS.

In F.H.I. a small piece of slag was found; in F.H. 2 a fragment of a bowl of All Cannings Cross type, and several small pieces of burnt clay; in F. H. 5 a piece of the rim of a hematite coated bowl of All Cannings Cross type; in F.H. 6 a fragment of indefinite dark pottery and a small piece of bone, not burnt. It appears therefore that these holes are not earlier than the period of All Cannings Cross pottery.

It will be seen that holes 2, 3, 2a, 3a, form approximately a rectangle this gave rise to a suggestion that these might be post holes of a hut; but this is improbable on account of their contents of charcoal and burnt flints, and the fact that other holes similar in every respect were found singly.

A.—An irregular hole, 7ft. long, 3ft. wide at one end, 2ft at the other, 2ft. to 3ft. deep, with sloping sides; below the general level of the floor a hole 9 inches deep, låft. in diameter. Among the rubble filling in was a piece of the base of a Bronze Age "beaker," and a small sherd of red-coated ware of All Cannings Cross type.

B—A large irregular hole, 8ft. by 7 ft., 2½ft. deep. Among the chalky filling in there was a little charcoal, two pieces of sarsen stone, and a piece of rather coarse sandy pottery of a kind common at All Cannings.

C.—An irregular hole some 7ft. by 6ft., 2½ft. deep. Chalky rubble filling.

D.—An irregularly shaped hole or pit, 6ft. by 4½ft., 2½ft. deep; on the west side there was a semi-circular enlargement, 2ft. in diameter, full of charcoal and burnt flints, with sides discoloured by fire. At the bottom of this very roughly made pit-dwelling were found a small fragment of a mealing stone, a piece of deer horn (the only piece found in the whole camp), and piece of red pottery with impressed lines, of All Cannings Cross type.

E.—A roughly circular hollow about 16ft. deep, full of burnt flints among them was a piece of a sarsen mealing stone, and part of a base of pot of sandy ware of a kind common at All Cannings Cross.

F.—An irregular hole some 8ft. by 5ft., and 2ft. deep,

G.—A basin-shaped hole, 2¼ft. by 1¾ft. and 1¼ft. deep, containing burnt flints but no charcoal; perhaps this was a cooking place like those described under F.H. above.

H.—An irregular hole 6ft. by 2½ft., and from 2ft. to 3ft. deep; a piece of ornamented pottery that may be of Bronze Age date was found near the bottom.

I—An irregular hole some 4ft. in diameter, 21ft. deep, containing among the rubble filling-in many burnt flints and a small sherd of Bronze Age pottery.

These holes, A to I, were all filled with chalky rubble mixed with a little brown surface soil. The absence of dark soil or humus, such as is usually found on sites that were inhabited for any length of time, was very noticeable. The scarcity of remains will be appreciated when it is said that all the objects found are notified above; no animal bones, except a small fragment in F.H. 6, were found either in the holes or in the surface trenches in the plateau area.

EXCAVATIONS IN THE INNER OR QUARRY DITCH.

Note a. (See plan). A space, 14ft. by 10ft., was cleared out here. Original depth of ditch 10ft., depth of filling at centre 41ft. Only a few pieces of coarse pottery was found in the rubble.

Note b.—A space, 30ft. long by 13ft. wide, was cleared here. The floor of the ditch was level, from 10ft. to 12ft. wide; original depth 9ft.; depth of filling 2åft.; width from bank to bank 44ft. A number of burnt flints, fragments of pottery, and broken animal and human bones were found strewn in a layer of earthy rubble on the floor of the ditch. On the same level close under the inner wall, extending along it for about 8ft., was a fire site consisting of charcoal and quantities of burnt flints.

Note c.—A cutting, 37ft. long by 13ft. wide. Original depth of ditch I0ft.; silt 3ft. On the level floor were found a few animal bones, many burnt flints, and fragments of pottery, including pieces of at least two red-coated cordoned bowls, and part of the base of a Bronze Age beaker.

d. Fig. 1. Length of cutting 60ft. In this cutting the floor was reached at 5½ft. from the surface level, except along the outer or berm side, where in a comparatively narrow, almost V-shaped trench, the ditch had been dug down to about its normal depth, 11½ft. That part of the ditch dug only to a depth of 5½ft. runs up into and ends at one of the buttresses, or promontories, described before (p. 49) as having been left unexcavated in the ditch at unequal intervals. It seems that the ditch was at first dug to a depth of about 5ft. all over, then deepened as more material was required for building the rampart, and that this section of the ditch was left only partly cleared out.

The deeper or trench-like part of the ditch seems to have been intentionally filled in. Being comparatively narrow and steep-sided it was likely to prove dangerous to cattle, and possibly for this reason was filled in up to the 5½ft. level. In re-excavating, it seemed at first that the bottom had been reached all over at the 5åft. level, the hard compacted chalk in the trench appearing so much like the undisturbed floor, and quite distinct from the silt and rubble of the upper filling in. Pottery of All Cannings type was found on the 51ft. level and at the bottom of the trench.

e.—A cutting 15ft. square. Original depth 12½ft., width 54ft., silting 3ft. deep in centre. For worked flints and fragments of bead rim pottery found here see page 53.

f.—Cutting 48ft. by Original depth width 46ft. In a layer of earthy rubble on the floor were found a few animal ones and pieces of pottery including fragments of red-coated bowls of All Cannings Cross type, and the piece of a rim of a Bronze Age urn of the over hanging, or moulded rim, type.

d. 1.—A narrow cutting was made across the ditch at this point to test whether it was normal, or only partially dug out as at d. It proved to be normal with the usual wide flat bottom.

RAMPART SECTIONS.

Three cuttings were made through the rampart in each of which two old turf lines were found, representing, it is believed, additions at two different times.

The original bank as shown by turf line No. 1 (Fig. Il.) was a comparatively small affair, and had become thickly clad with turf before the first addition was made. This in its turn seems to have become or to have been covered with turf when the second addition was made.

In the material of the first addition there were dark streaks that looked like thin lines of turf running out through the bank from the regular turf line. The meaning of these streaks of turf in the body of the rampart was not at first clear, but as similar ones were 'found in all the rampart sections it is thought that they probably indicate layers of turf laid during the construction of the bank to give it stability and to prevent it slipping.

The first bank was composed of finer and more compacted chalk than that of the additions, both of these latter being to a great extent built up of large lumps of chalk with occasional large flints.

THE OUTER DITCH.

It was proposed to clear at least 20ft. of this ditch but as it proved unexpectedly large and deep only 8ft. were cleared to the bottom. An indefinite piece of pottery was found at a depth of 5ft. in the silt, and two more with snail shells practically at the bottom (Fig. II).

CUTTINGS AT INNER EDGE OF S.W. RAMPART.

The berm trench showed a thickening of soil with a few fragments of bone and pottery close to the bank, so a cutting was made as shown, parallel with the bank. At the spot shown traces of fire with charcoal and numerous burnt flints were found at the foot of the rampart extending along it for 10ft., and spreading back under it. It was clear that there had been a big fire here at two successive times, one before and one after the first addition to the rampart.

The lower layer under the rampart 'was on the ground level, but the upper one was on the slope of the bank, having been made after the first addition to the rampart. Distinctive sherds of red-coated bowls of All Cannings type were found in both layers.

Beyond this first fire site for 14ft. there was no sign of burning, and then the firing began again and extended for a length of 27ft., parallel with the bank and spreading back under it as in the first patch, but only on the ground level. Trenching along the edge of the bank for a length of 122ft. south of this showed no further signs of burning. The signs of burning ended abruptly at the old plough line at the foot of the bank, so it is probable that further out they have been destroyed by cultivation. A barn or some such building seems once to have stood at this spot, for a few feet out from the foot of the rampart a line of squared malm stones (Greensand rock) were found with pieces of modern bricks and mortar.

THE CAUSEWAYS.

The turf was taken off the northern half of the western inner causeway in search for post holes; and for a length of 30ft., 4ft. wide, along the inner and outer edges of the quarry ditch, but none were found. From appearances outside the western entrance it seemed not improbable that a sunken way led through the rampart as at Casterly Camp (W.A.M., xxxviii., 69); a trench cut between the two ends of the outer ditch proved, however, that there is a solid causeway of undisturbed chalk. The nature of the defence of this entrance remains therefore unknown.

The pottery, human bones, flints, etc., found in the excavations have been placed in the Society's Museum at Devizes. We are indebted to Sir Arthur Keith, M.D., F.R.S., for kindly examining and reporting upon the human remains, and to Mr. C. W. Pngh for drawing the plan and sections, and assistance during the course of the excavations.