known as Ambresbury Banks, Epping Forest. 07
"clamped" for measurement. The desiccating action of the
atmosphere soon rendered it friable, and as the clayey
agglutinated lumps broke up, objects previously hidden in
masses of earth could be more readily detected. Consequently,
in the operations of carrying back the soil to the ramparts,
the workmen lighted upon several pieces of broken pottery
and two or three flint flakes, which were faithfully preserved
and given into Keeper Butt's care, and by him duly handed
to the Hon. Secretary. In this collection there are four or
five pieces of pot of considerable size, as well as several
smaller fragments, all presenting characters similar to the
specimens enumerated in General Pitt-Rivers's Report. The
larger shards may be thus described :—
a. Piece of Pottery irregularly triangular in shape, with a
slight curvature inwards; about 2.75 in. long, by 1.7 in.
wide, and 0.45 in. thick. Brick-red for about one-third of its
thickness on the convex or outside, and very superficially so
on the concave side, where the colour is not so rich and the
surface probably less fired. Interior substance blackish
brown, coarse in texture, with small angular fragments of
pebble intermixed. Apparently a fragment of a vessel of
considerable size.
b. Irregularly-shaped piece of pot, about 2.4 in. from
corner to corner, by 2 in. broad, and 0.4 in. thick, with a
slight curvature towards the inner or less-fired surface.
Colour and texture in all respects like "a." On the convex
surface are to be noted a few almost obsolete striations,
similar to the markings referred to by General Pitt-Rivers in
his description of No. 7 (page 61).
c. Small rimmed pot-shard, 1.2 in. by 0.8 in., about
0.40 in. thick at the rim, and about 0.25 in. at the thinner
part. The rim is sloped-off towards the outside at an angle
of about 45°. The colour is black throughout, except on the
outer surface, where a very superficial brown-red tinge
obtains. Texture somewhat harder than "a" and "b," and
very different in character. Small fragments of quartz and
grains of whitish pebble are abundantly intermixed.
d. Small fragment, 1.2 in. by 0.85 in., and 0.4 in. thick-
Colour and texture similar to "a" and "b."