Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/369

Rh see whether any analogy or information can be derived from other articles to the construction of which the same material has been applied; and in this respect some very conclusive facts were brought to light early in 1839. Excavations were then made in what was proved, beyond all question, to be the cemetery or burial-place of the Romano-British settlement of Durnovaria, (the present Dorchester,) and amongst the discoveries then made were several armillæ of the Kimmeridge coal, all of which had been evidently turned, highly polished, and finished in a manner indicating an advanced state of art. One was grooved and neatly notched by way of ornament; the interior diameter of this ring was 2$1⁄2$ inches. Others were polished but not ornamented, presenting a similar appearance to the larger specimens of ring-money. One of these rings was round the wrist of the skeleton of a female. At the same time were found two or three amulets, or large beads, of the same material. These were nearly spherical, of a flattened barrel shape, being 1$1⁄4$ inch in the longer, and 1 inch in the shorter diameter. Associated with these relics were all the ordinary indicia of Romano-British interments; pottery, precisely similar in description to that found in Kimmeridge and Worthbarrow, urns of various descriptions, coins of Hadrian, Gratian, and others.

Under these circumstances, and in the absence of any trace of careful and intentional depositure, but with every indication that the pieces of "Coal Money" were thrown on the ground and left for disposition as chance might direct, there seems good reason to arrive at the conclusion that they were mere waste pieces thrown out of the lathe as the refuse nuclei of such rings as those found at Durnovaria. Three pieces of the Kimmeridge shale, now submitted to inspection, would appear to be conclusive on the subject. Two of these have been cut into a circular form, each 3$1⁄2$ inches in diameter, and prepared for the lathe, by a keen cutting tool, the shape having been determined by compasses. One has a small pivot point indented on one side, with holes on the other side for retaining the points of the chuck. The other piece has been wholly perforated with a square hole for a mandril-head. On the formation of rings from such pieces whilst in the lathe, it is manifest that circular waste pieces of the same size, form, and description as the "Coal Money," must necessarily be produced.