Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/366

348 the sharpness of the mouldings, even after the lapse of many ages, shew that the pieces were turned in a lathe. They have on one side, two, three, or four round holes, apparently for fixing the point of a chuck, and on the other side a small pivot hole. In a few instances these round holes are absent, and the pieces are wholly perforated with a single central square hole, so that the piece may be fixed on a small square mandril-head, circumstances which prove that the people who made these articles were well accustomed to the use of the lathe, not in its primitive rude form, but as an improved and somewhat perfected instrument. Much irregularity is observable in the number of the holes. The greater proportion of pieces have two holes; where three occur they are by no means arranged with mathematical exactitude, but sufficiently so for the purposes of turning. Pieces with four holes are rare, and generally of a small size.

As already stated, the "Coal Money" is exclusively found in the two bays of Kimmeridge and Worthbarrow. Here, in the primitive pastures unbroken by the plough, or by any operation of man, these antiquarian problems are discovered beneath the surface, at depths varying from five to eighteen inches, or occasionally perhaps at a still greater depth. In some spots they are much more numerous than in others; in one instance upwards of thirty pieces were dug up within the compass of about a square yard. They are frequently brought to light in some numbers in the construction of drains for the purpose of bringing the land into cultivation. The cliffs that constitute that portion of the coast are of a yielding nature, giving way rapidly to the frosts and storms of winter, and after a portion of the summit has crumbled into the surf below, it is not unusual to observe pieces of the "Coal Money" projecting their edges from the new face of the cliff. They are generally found at the bottom of the superior stratum of mould irregularly scattered about, and having no appearance or association to indicate an intentional and careful depositure.

Of the substances with which the "Coal Money" is found associated, the first place must be assigned to fragments of pottery. The ware thus found is of the same well-established character as that met with in all our Romano-British settlements. Chiefly of a hard close-grained texture, with a smooth black surface, it is occasionally mingled with pieces of a