Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-11-12

I \ from end to end ny parry
No~ of the British Archaeolo'
,ical Association, but the explorations
are said to have thrown no new light
on the puzzle these wonderful excava-
lions present to the antiquarian.
Who constructed them, in fact, no.
body knows; nor for what purpose, |
nor when.
Altogether there are about four
miles of passages, varying in height
from six feet TO ten, and in width he
tween one yard and four.
They have been cut ont of the solid
chalk, at an enormous expenditure of
time and labor, The walls showing
everywhere marks Of the wOrEmeh'S
picks.
An even greater mystery attaches to
the Dene Holes Of Essex and Kent,
ancient artificial caverns in the chalk,
having deep, narrow, vertical en-
frances.
Many of these entrances are fifty,
eighty, OF even one hundred feet in
depth, and three or four feet in diam
eter. They pass straight down through
the everything sands and gravels into
the chalk beneath, in which are eX-
cavated several large and lofty cham
bers, arranged symetrically around
the bottom of the shaft.
AN sorts OF '.ApIunationS have been
advanced to account for the existence
OF Dene Holes. Some authorities say
they are merely prehistoric chalk pits.
But this is obviously ridiculous. For
there is plenty of surface chalk to be
had in the neighborhOod without sink
ing shafts for it.
Others assert that they were used
as places of refuge when an invader
sailed up the ThDmes; but against this
may he urged the fact that the bottom
of Dene Hole would be about the
last place in the world in which a man
would care to be found by his enemy.
Another favOrite theory with some
archaeologists is that they constituted
the habitatiOn of our fOrefathers in
days before the art Of building was
known in this county. But no trace
of permanent habitation has been
found in any of them and it is much
to be feared that any race dwelling
in the Dene Holes would quickly sue
cumb to ague and rheuma tism.
Others have haZarded the theory
that they We're prisons, snbterranean
chapels, places of sepulture, and even
silos for the storage Of green fodder.
But these explanations are all mere
guesswOrk.
Two facts about them only are GER
| tain. One i, that they are very ancient.
SO long ago as the reign Of Henry ~.
people knew nothing Of the race that
eXcavated them, and attributed them
to the magic arts of the British King
CunObeline. Another Is that the labor
of constructing them must have been
enormous. 1t Is estimated that from
one single group Of Dene Holes in
Hangmans Wood, Essex, no fewer
than 10000 tons Of chalk were GUAR
ried ard raised.
At Trelowarren, in Cornwall, arc
some very remarkab g subterranear
chambers and galleries, the Origina
use of which is quite unknown.
Some CT the galleries are more thar
ninety feet long, and, though higl
enough inside to allow a man stand
| ing upright, are approached only by
very low doorways, through which any
one desiring ingress would have Il
creep on his hands and knees. Cham
bers and galleries alike are linet
| throughout with hewn stones, man!
of which are of immense size.
Other similar but smaller under
| ground structures have also been dis
| covered at Boliet and Pendeen in TIT
Land End district, as well as in th'
parish of st. Constantine, and at San
creed, near PenZance.
1t is well known also that subter
ranean galleries of precisely the SAM
character have been found beneath
tie old forts or "raths' Of ireland
and from this circumstance some All
thOrities are inclined to believe tina
they were intended as stOrehOuSes 70
reserve warlikc stores, arms and pro
visions.
i These Irish galleries, however, mus
in nowise be COMPOUNDED with the GU
i rious beehive-shaped underground
chambers, which are so abundant il
County Cork and elsewhere, an
which are called by the peasant
"Dane holes" because, they say, tn
Danes We're wont to hide in them i
olden times.
This may have been so, by the way
for many of these subterranean apar
ments would form excellent hidin
places; but they We're certainly COZ
structed originally by the Irish then
selves, at period long anterior
the advent Of the Danish invaders.
Probably they are allied to til
"Picts' houses" of the Orkney Islands
which are either chambered tumuli G
underground dwellings, or both.
The rock "tOmbs" of the ancier
Etruscans are also Of this categor!
Men lived within them, and they ais
buried their defunct relatives with
them, underneath the floor, just as I'll
Inuits do now. A few inches of cart
sufiiced to separate the living frol
the dead. In Peru, again, are sim
lar subterranean tumuli houses CO
ering thousands of acres Of grOun
When the British conquered Ind
they thought the vast cave temple
at Ellora and elsewhere were the VOL
of giants. And in that belief the
were almost justified. for it even no
we'll nigh passes comprehension hoy
or by what means, they were origi
ally constructed.
From one series of these alone it
estimated that there were excavatt
one thousand million tons Of solid roc
Near Aurangabad is collection
splendid subterranean temples, wi
single chambers, and halls measuril
go feet deep by $50 feet wide. al
| these extend for miles