coin of similar type has previously been published, except one in Mionnet of Orchomenus, with the inscription OPX; but there are two of the same class in the cabinet of Thos. Burgon, esq. with the inscriptions TAN and OEE; and their appearance indicates some Boeotian confederation, which, according to our present information, was confined to the cities of Lebadia, Orchomenus, Thespiæ, and Tanagra. (Ibid. p. 248.)

March 28. Amongst the presents exhibited were a medal struck to commemorate the centenary of the Royal Old Well, at Cheltenham, of which a memoir by the Rev. Mr. Turnor was read; a denar of the Emperor Otto I., who lived between A.D. 936 and 973, from Mr. Pfister, who exhibited a rare gold ducat from the Mint at Zurich, bearing the seated effigy of Charlemagne, bearded and bare-headed, and holding a globe, and on the other side figures of St. Felix and St. Regula standing with their heads in their hands, as a symbol of the martyrdom which they suffered by decapitation.

Samuel Birch, esq. read a memoir on the Coins of the Thessalian Larissa. The earliest of these coins bear on one side a horse, in allusion to the fabled production of the horse in Thessaly; and over it a bee, or fly, with closed wings, the signification of which is unknown. On the reverse, within a hollow square, is an object which has been described by Sestini and Mionnet as various ornaments; but Mr. Birch shows that it is a cothurnos, or sandal, such as is frequently seen on the statues of gods or heroes (the absence of any foot within it having made its appearance so obscure), and he supposes it to refer to the sandal which Jason, the great Thessalian hero, lost when crossing the Anauros, as related by Apollonius Rhodius. The writer afterwards enumerated the other types belonging to this town, and concluded with noticing an unpublished coin in the British Museum, supposed to represent on one side the full-faced head of Aleuas, the progenitor of the Aleuadæ, a royal family at Larissa; and bearing on the reverse an eagle and thunderbolt. This essay is printed in the Numismatic Chronicle for April, pp. 222-230, with a plate of the three coins we have noticed.

of excavations made in lowering the hill in the street of Fordington, Dorchester, I think it not improbable that some detail of the discoveries may be acceptable to your antiquarian readers.

As, however, the present exploration may be regarded as a continuation of discoveries previously made, it will be well first to describe the locality, and give the amount of the previous exhumations.

Fordington, though now incorporated with Dorchester, was a suburb surrounding the ancient borough; and the inhabited part, or the village, lies contiguous to the east wall of the Roman Durnovaria, extending from the south-east corner to the point at which the Via Iceniana is reputed to have entered that station. The church of Fordington lies on high ground, a few hundred yards to the eastward of the south-east angle of the wall. Hutchins informs us that, in 1747, in digging chalk near the pound, which lies a little to the northwest of the church, 66 were discovered above two hundred skeletons, at the depth of four or five feet. They generally lay north and south; some inclined east and west. The sculls were remarkably thick, and many of the teeth very sound. By the side of one lay a sword blade, two feet and a half long; six inches appeared to have been broken off, or eaten off by rust." Again, in 1810, in excavations made nearer to the Roman wall than the spot just spoken of, we learn, from the additions to Hutchins,3 that "human skeletons were found in great numbers, certainly not fewer than 100, and numerous urns of various forms, and fragments were discovered. The bodies were lying in various directions, and at varying depths, from four feet to nearly the depth opened [13 feet]; of those found deep in the chalk, the bones were white and entire, but light in weight; those not so deep, and surrounded with brown chalk or earth (probably placed round them at the interment), fell to pieces and crumbled away on endeavouring to remove them: the teeth were almost universally good and white, in most instances were in complete sets in the jaw, and not any carious. There were taken up and preserved about 20 urns of different forms and sizes, some of brown earth, others of a reddish kind; some ornamented around with a netlike figure; others

1 1st ed. i. 574: 2d ed. ii. 342.

2 The sculls of all people whose heads have been much exposed are found thick. The negro of Africa and the wild Indian of America, who are not accustomed to any head covering, have sculls of amazing thickness; whilst the scull of the Persian, who constantly wears a high conical cap, is remarkably thin and fragile.

3 2d ed. iv. 411.

with diagonal lines; others surrounded with a wavelike ornament. An urn without contents was frequently found near a body, generally close to the head. The largest urns contained bones partially consumed by fire, and generally without any mixture of earth, as if collected from the burning of the body, the more destructible parts of which were consumed, and probably formed the black earth or ashes near the urn; some were covered with a patera containing charcoal. Most of the small urns did not contain any bones or ashes, and were found near the unburnt skeleton; probably an interment after the practice of burning had ceased. A coin of Hadrian, of middle brass, was found lying on the breast of one of the bodies; it appeared to have been inclosed in linen or some perishable substance, which, on attempting to remove, pulverized into a black powder; the sternum on which it lay is indelibly stained with a green tint, evidently the effect of the corrosion of the coin; the coin is not in good preservation. Not any other was discovered. A number of small round iron knobs were found; also some iron rings, about two inches diameter."

The site of the recent discoveries is immediately between the excavations of 1747 and those of 1810. They were commenced some weeks since, and are just completed. The workmen, in the course of their labours, have exhumed the remains of more than fifty bodies. They had been all deposited entire, with the exception of two instances, in one of which a small quantity of burnt human bones was found, mingled with a little charcoal and ashes; and, in the other, some fragments of a large sepulchral urn were turned up, bearing evidence of having been used in an interment by cremation. About half the interments were in the direction of northeast and southwest; the others northwest and southeast; the heads being placed indifferently and it is a peculiar circumstance that, in almost every instance, two bodies were found in close proximity to each other, one lying at right angles to the other, either at the head or foot, in the form of a Roman T; and it should be remarked that those bodies lying northwest and southeast appear to have been of subsequent interment, lying almost invariably at a less depth, and frequently so placed that a deeper excavation would have disturbed the other interment. Two of the bodies were lying with the face downwards. That all these bodies had been interred in coffins is manifest. On each side, or at the head and feet, were nails of good construction, of various length, from two to five inches, with clear indications of having been used to fasten planks,

the grain of the wood, preserved by the oxydization of the metal, being evident on many. Besides these nails were numerous fragments of manufactured iron;- the blade of a knife, some of the wood of the haft being still distinctly visible;-in several of the graves a number of iron studs with short points, probably used on sandals, being found close to the feet.

One of the interments was marked by peculiar circumstances. The body had been inclosed in a coffin, which was depo. sited in a species of kistvaen, or hollow cairn, formed of flat stones projecting over each other so as gradually to close it in. The remains were those of a young female, and beneath the scull were found eight elegantly formed colourless glass pins, with spherical heads, narrow hecks, and bodies tapering from the shoulder to an exceedingly fine point. They were from two and half inches to nearly three inches in length, and had a beautiful appearance, being coated with the "electrum" of the antiquaries, produced by incipient decomposition of the glass.

Round the neck of another female was a necklace of small glass and amber beads; the glass chiefly blue; perforated, and united by minute brass links. Round the wrist of this female was an armilla of that bituminous shale, found on the coast near Kimmeridge, in this county, and of which the pieces termed Kimmeridge coal money (that crux antiquariorum) were made. This armilla had been turned, finished in a manner indicating an advanced state of art, highly polished, grooved, and neatly notched by way of ornament; its interior diameter being two and a half inches. An amulet, or large bead, of the same material, well turned, polished, and ornamented with lines running round it, was found lying at the right foot of this female. It was nearly spherical, being one inch and quarter in the longer, and one inch in the shorter diameter, perforated through the shorter diameter. At the left foot of this body was a small elegant vessel of fine red ware. It had originally a narrow elongated neck, which was broken. From the shoulder to the foot it stood seven inches high, by two inches and a half in diameter at the widest part.

Two other armillæ and another amulet or bead of the Kimmeridge coal were found with other interments: these armillæ being polished but unornamented; the amu let very similar. Another armilla, of smaller dimension, was found, formed of double brass wire twisted.

In another interment, at the foot of the body-also that of a female,-a considerable number (about 120) of beads were

turned up, of various kinds,—glass, amber, bone, pearl, and clay; all perforated; one having a dependent heart-shaped amber amulet: there were also several minute bone rings. Some of the beads, both of amber and glass, had been rudely cut into facets.

With another body had been deposited two vessels of hard black ware, of good manipulation, made in a potter's wheel, the one almost globular, five inches high and the same in diameter; the other nearly upright, four inches high by three inches in diameter, having a bandlike ornament formed of the zigzag.

There were also found numerous fragments of pottery, of various sorts, of brown, red and black ware, some indicating an advanced state of art,-one glazed,-others covered with a shining black pigment, one of a light buff-coloured clay, tinted with a dark-brown on the outside, with an ornamental scroll of white paint. Of the fragments sufficient was obtained in several instances to restore the shape and size of the vessels, which were very various, but generally of similar character to those found in recognized Romano-British interments. These vessels were chiefly small, and presented no indication of any interment by cremation, excepting in the instance before mentioned.

On the breast of one body was a peculiar and somewhat ponderous bronze buckle, doubtless used with a belt, traces of decayed leather being observable about it.

Two coins only were discovered, one of Gratian, of the common third brass, lying in the ground immediately above one of the interments: another, also of the third brass, was placed on the mouth of one body, the whole jaw being tinged green by its oxydization. The obverse of this coin was so much corroded as to be quite illegible.

Between the legs of one of the bodies was a curious mass-nearly a quart-of small pebbles, apparently brought from the seashore, varying in size from that of a small pea to that of a marble; the angles abraded by the action of water, and the surfaces polished as if by constant friction, or being worn about the person.

The bodies lay at depths varying from a few inches to six feet below the surface; being all interred in the chalk. No excavations were made to a greater depth.

The above constitute all the leading circumstances connected with these interesting discoveries; and it will be seen that they comprise several peculiarities.

It is clear from the locality and from all the associated indications, that the recent exhumations, together with those of 1747 and 1810, have been made upon the site of GENT. MAG. VOL. XI.

the burial-ground of the Romano-British city of Durnovaria, founded after the conquest of the Durotriges by Vespasian, and the abandonment of their ancient metropolis, Dunium (Maiden Castle). The interments of children, of females bedecked with their ornamental attire, and of males, with whose remains were deposited drinking cups and sepulchral vessels which indicate a deliberate and well-arranged depositure, prove this to have been the cemetery of a settled people and not the hurried burial of those who fell in battle. The practice of burying the dead in established cemeteries, set apart outside the walls of the city, and chiefly by the highways, appears to have been introduced into Britain by the Romans, with whom it was the general custom (not in Italy only, but in the more distant provinces conquered by them), as well as with the Greeks and some other heathen nations, and with the Jews. Nor, indeed, was interment within the walls of a city permitted amongst the Christians until 300 years after our era.

It will have been seen that the interments at this burial-place comprised the practices both of cremation and of burying entire in coffins; and the circumstances connected with some of the deposits of the latter description favour the conclusion that the custom of urn burial gave way to that of coffin interment in this country at an earlier period than has generally been supposed. The practice of burning the body and depositing the ashes in urns, prevailed commonly among both the Britons and the Romans, more especially with the latter. Numa, indeed, particularly forbade the burning of his own body, commanding it to be laid in a stone coffin;5 and Cicero and Pliny7 inform us, that the family of the Cornelii interred their dead entire until the time of Sylla, the dictator, who gave express orders to have his body burnt. these and some other instances are but exceptions, the infrequency and notoriety of which establish the rule. It appears, however, from some of the interments under consideration, that the decline of urn burial had commenced and was gradually proceeding at an early period of that intercourse which took place in this neighbourhood between the Durotrigean tribe and the Romans. The establishment of the Roman power in this part of the country was early

But

4 Gen. xxv. 9; Joshua, xxiv. 30; 2 Chron. xxvi. 23; Matt. xxvii. 52, 53; John. xix. 20, 41.

5 Plutarch, in Numa.
6 Cicero de Leg. 1. 2.
7 Pliny, N. H. 1. 7, c. 54.
3 Y

and easily effected, and the commixture of races induced acorrespondent intermingling of manners and customs; and we may, therefore, expect to find, in the more early years of such intercourse, much of the practices of the Britons still prevailing, mingled with the customs and more advanced art of the Romans, which were engrafted on, and which ultimately eclipsed the customs of the ruder islanders. Thus the peculiar kistvaen above described is unusual to Roman interments; and the occurrence of necklaces of beads of various substances, the placing of small earthen cups near the heads of the bodies interred, &c. are precisely analogous to the practices developed in tumuli of acknowledged British origin; whilst the armillæ and beads or amulets of the Kimmeridge coal afford, I believe, a singular instance in which ornaments of that material have been found associated with remains decidedly Roman. The occurrence of the coffins, with their iron nails, by no means establishes these interments to have been of a later period. The evidence of interment in coffins goes back to a very ancient date. Coffins were in use in ancient Egypt, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus and many other authors; and antique coffins, not only of stone, but of the sycamore, or Pharoah's fig-tree, the wood of which is almost everlasting, are still to be seen in that country: and the practice of thus interring those of high station prevailed there prior to the Exodus of the Israelites, for the body of Joseph, at his death, B.C. 1689, was not only embalmed but "put in a coffin in Egypt."9 And although Maillet apprehends that all were not inclosed in coffins who were laid in the Egyptian repositories of the dead, yet we have sufficient to establish that the use of coffins, as receptacles for the dead, was known even at that early period. That this mode of interment was also known in ancient Rome is manifest from the dying mandate of Numa. But not to go out of our own island, we find numerous instances of the occasional adoption of this practice among the British tribes. Thus Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in describing the British barrows of Wiltshire, speaks of " an interment of burnt bones deposited in a box of wood,"-" a deposit of burnt bones that had been placed in a wooden box,"-" a pile of burnt bones which had been inclosed within a box of wood,"—and, what is still more to the purpose, a skeleton placed within the rude trunk of an elm tree; on the left side of its head a beautiful urn had been deposited,"-and again, "the

66

skeleton of a man with his head placed to the northeast, upon a plank of elm wood." 10 So also the recent discovery of a body deposited in the hollow trunk of a tree near Scarborough. And, as if to remove any doubt, in a barrow cut through by the Watling Street, and which, of course, must have been thrown up prior to the making of that road, the Rev. Mr. Douglas disinterred a skeleton that had been " deposited in a coffin together with iron relics." The bones lay four feet beneath the road.11 And, coming down thus to the very period under consideration, the same author, speaking of the Romano-British barrows explored by him, says that he "seldom"-thus admitting that he had sometimes-" found iron nails which might ascertain the bodies to have been inclosed in coffins." 12 But in a barrow described in the same work by Dr. Mortimer, it is said "here were found several pieces of rotten wood and some nails clenched with the wood adhering."13 And in the Romano-British settlement brought to light a few weeks since, in a cutting near Ashton Waters, for the Bristol and Exeter railway, two coffins containing skeletons were found, and the coffins are described as "of rectangular shape, made of oak planks about three inches thick, roughly hewn, and nailed together."

Thus it will be seen that on the general disuse of cremation, coffin burial naturally would, and in fact did, commonly supervene and if, as has been supposed by many, that general disuse began with the commencement of the Christian era, such a change would certainly take place; for when the early Christians, as the consequence of their faith in the resurrection of the body, abhorred the practice of burning the body, and deposited it entire in the ground, they would assuredly effect that depositure in a way indicating some care for the corporeal relics, so as to protect them from the contact of the soil. That the decline of urn burial in this part was not synchronous with the adoption of Christianity, but preceded it, scarcely militates against the supposition just mentioned; for when we regard the moral phenomena of nations, we find that, if the superstitions of an ancient religion are frequently engrafted on and incorporated with the rites of a newer faith; so, as

"Coming events cast their shadows before," are the emollient influences of a new institution not seldom spread from state to