< Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu
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Allf:lIAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 73

rouiul the place, but discovered no furtlier portions of buildin<r; we coii'.d trace, however, by the hardness of the soil and different colour of the grass, a former road passing near our excavation. The whole surface around abounds with broken pottery, and I have one small piece of veiy good Samian ware, with the mark . . . fprimi, the first letters being broken off. Human bones, with those of various animals, were also found. We hoped at first that we had met with the atrium of a house, perhaps the villa of the commander of the garrison of the adjoining camp, as at Isurium, and spe- culated if it were a tomb, as its dimensions, its vicinity to the old Roman road, running in the direction of Garianonum, and the human bones with those of animals, perhaps slain in sacrifice, seemed to suggest, but no deci- sive evidence occurred to support the conjecture. The walls are built of flint, laid witli mortar composed of lime, sand, and pounded brick. The flints of the upper course all round, both inside and outside, are faced and squared, and below this course, on the inside, a slight projection of i)laster appeared, shewing the level of the floor. The lower part of the wall was built more rudely, the flints not being dressed at all. Near the south-west angle a small coin was found with charred wood. From the circumstance of the flints being faced on the inner side of the building, it is conjectured that the wails were not stuccoed, but considerable remains of stucco were found with the bones close to the spot. Many small square pieces of thick tile, resembling tessera, were found, as if the area had been covered by a pavement of that description. By Mrs. Dashwood"s kindness, excavations have been continued up to the Roman road ; again, pottery, vast (juantities of large tiles and bones have been found, but only one or two small coins of the Lower Empire, and a silver ring of rude workmanship, deprived of the stone with which it had been set. The severity of the winter has prevented my endeavouring to follow up my researches." The potter's mark noticed in this communication, occurs on several spe- cimens of " Samian,"' found in or near London, but we are not aware that it had been found at other places of Roman occupation in England. Mr. Kempe, indeed, gives the mark primitivi, from pottery found at Reculver. OF PKIMI is found on a fragment in Mr. Corner's collection, from South- wark ; of prim, appears on Avare found at St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, 1831, and other specimens discovered in London bear the stamps of frm OF PRIMVL PRIMVLI PRIMANI — PRIM M ^. Mr. Jabez Allies, Local Secretary at Worcester, has comnumicated the recent discovery of an urn, supposed to be of the Roman, or Romano-British period, at Droitwich, formed of coarse gritty clay, and of a dark colour; it is scored with lines arranged lozenge-wise, and measures about six in. in height, by fourteen in circumference, at the widest part. It was found at a depth of three or four feet, at Mr. EUins' salt-works, in St. Peter's parish, and is now in the possession of the Rev. W. Lea. In the adjacent soil >• Archseol. xxiv. 201; xxv. (>20 ; xxvii. lists of marks. Gent. Mag. x.i. 372 ; xxii. 152. See also tlic cunoiis obsiTvalions .38. by Mr. Corner and Mr. E. Price, with their VOJ,. IV. j^

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