A HISTORY OF ESSEX In 1882 four cuttings were made by the Essex Field Club through or into the bank, and one of them was carried to the bottom of the ditch. The ditch, like that of Ambresbury, was found to be pointed. Many flint flakes, a flint chisel or celt, and fragments of pottery were found in the excavations. From the evidence obtained in these explora- tions, General Pitt-Rivers was of opinion that the camp was pre-Roman. Pits of various shapes and size exist on the enclosed area, and more numerously on the plateau adjoining on the northern side. These may have been the result of digging for sandy material, or, as some think, the regular circular form of many may indicate habitations of early men. Personally we incline to think their material was excavated as an ingredient of the plaster so commonly and long used in wattle-and-daub houses 379
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... j_ ./_ ,<: ^ ^362 " .-.,w vs ^Vs,.VV*. 8 . v ^~-* vvt ""-V x . <**" ^^vx,. ^vx. A, 7 feet of silt had accumulated here since fosse was cut. B, Present summit of rampart, originally higher. The shaded line indicates present surface. c, D, Position at which the trench was cut for examination by the Essex Field Club. E, T, Banks cut in the sixteenth century to form a roadway. The figures indicate feet above sea level. The section is copied from Essex Field Club Transactions, 1881. 2 7 8
