Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/255

 IN CADBURY CASTLE, DKVON. 195 five feet wlicrc the sliaft was only six feet in diameter, the workmen met with fragments of broken urns or vases, some ashes, small fragments of bone, various armillge and other ornaments, beads, &c., and five feet below these the remark- able ring to be mentioned hereafter. The excavators con- tinued their labour till they reached the bottom of the shaft or well at the depth of fifty-eight feet ; at four feet from the ])ottom the well was contracted to three feet diameter, and formed into an inverted cone, and was evidently puddled round with clay for the pm-pose of retaining water. No spring rises in the hill, the supply of water must therefore have been the rain and drippings that could be collected from the surface, if the shaft was intended for a well. Of the various ol)jects found, the large ring is probably the most curious, it is of bronze and contains an intaglio of an- tique paste, transparent and of light green colour, bearing an object of which the name and use are unexplained. A similar form is met with in relief on two ancient coins of Argos in the collection of the British Museum, one of silver on which it is alone, the other of brass where it is associated with a tripod and a club ; these facts seem to represents some object connected with the to Apollo or Hercules. There are no letters or other characters. (Sec sketch and impression.) Other articles found were a variety of extremely elegant and delicate ar- millae of bronze, with very fine patina, and exhibiting small portions of gold at in- tervals; some of them round, some square, some twisted, some flat, the latter have varieties of the " circle and ])oint" pattern punched on them, of delicate design and workman- shij), some have hooks for fastening; these are very similar to ornaments found in a Roman tomb in York. Also two small finger rings and two styles of bronze ; portions of rings and armillse, and a pierced button, of jet ; several glass and enamel beads of various sizes and colours, one of them ribbed ; a lump of enamel or glass which a[)pears to have been set in a ring or other ornament ; a small fragment of some instru- ment or weapon of iron, very much corroded ; horses' teeth and that it sacrifices either suggest