Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/219

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INHABITED SITES
211

passage, and to which there was also a second entrance. About six or seven paces north of the underground gallery a circular space, twenty feet in diameter, and rudely paved with flagstones, was detected a few inches beneath the surface soil. This, upon examination, was recognized as the site of a habitation, of which, however, nothing then remained except the floor, and a few relics which its occupants had left behind them. These relics are important in showing that the structures belonged to post-Roman times, for there seems to be no doubt that both the surface and underground remains were part of the same homestead. Among them were the upper stones of a quern mill, two whorls of lead, a portion of a bronze ring, some rudely hollowed stones, and fragments of iron cutting implements. Those from the underground chambers comprised fragments of various kinds of pottery, some wheel-made, a bronze needle, part of a quern, horses' teeth, calcined bones, and a large spiral bracelet of the snake-like pattern—all of which point to Romano-British times.

Outside the British Isles the underground dwellings seem to be unknown, although the statement of Tacitus suggests the prevalence of such hiding-places among the Germans. In discussing the manners and customs of this people he writes as follows (Chap. XVI): "They also dig subterranean caves, and cover them over with a great quantity of dung.