New-York tribune., 1908-07-19
A ROMAN RUBBISH PIT.
Search for Relics on the Site Of an Ancient
Villa.

1t was an ancient beachman. who. like me hooo.
cd crow makes it his business 10 proWl ao1s tns
,bs feesHk nsWs Ibs Ibal anogher o them old wells ha1
been brought to light by the falling away o: ns rs
andon IaGs Ti lob We had often heard of q
wells" and on making inquiries @ ,I a@9ns sas -
Ionged to old '-housen' which had long SINCE az
appeared. but reark made by Iealnea .s. and md
Roman roads had caused US to doubt the Gu.I .ss =
the & m 15 r M @ hed foof Of ne e soon
convinced that the ant1quaTy was rlsnl 80 ~ ~
fishermen wrong For there at our fssi d as az
around 1T numerous fragments OF coalser ~ po ~
were strsWn wne nsn ~ t Of DARK soil in tie
midst of the undisturbed sand plainly matAsu srs az
had fallen The fishermen had recognized that ms
patch of dark soil indicated tnat nos naa S 1i n
dug in the sand and afterward filled agan aS aS-ss =
their opinion a hole twelve feet deep and tnss @
feet wide must have been well out ] us s9n'snS anS
clearly showed the purpose had Serse1. .ssrs 80
proved that a Roman villa had stood sone"He'
it. -.
1t was not easy to climb the elf. down ,I.. ~
face of which little cascades OF sand were eonum -
ually descending but borrowed LADDER nepeu saos =
overcome the difficulties. and suppnea sals , nd nd
hold while we dug away into the dark son -, ,rs
lowered il in a basket 10 the peach oa.ched
cottages by the cove our proceedings were ws. sn.
curious fisherman or fisher boy %eaInIs sse a. @tows2
Indifference abstraction. would saIn9sr 1;ad ,osf
us along the beach AT first IL was pei~exsu ~ @ nuf
we were searching for sand martins essS, cr ne ne
when the basket. nlled with earth. Vas :, S,yW
suspicious of nest raiding were aoanuoneu ,,n.y,
of the idea that we were seeking ncaen = i,s rsr
There is scarcely country parish w." and there
dtion of buried boards of gold or SILVER, ~, s sucn
seems 10 be some reason Tor 1eliees ssnf genera
ton OF country folk from unsettled unss, avs
it ron raiders but in this particular instance a.
though we kept sharp lookout for U Gun, ~ VIC,
only found a solitary denarius or the res" " -
TIE potsherds and other relics discoveIbsur red
IN LAYERS: but this no doubt. was due 10 ss ca "a
having been thrown into the pit Iry1 and v.ge
ta Bile matter. There was an aoundance y os war vsrs
pottery; but most of IL was coarse .fx inter
with little or 10 ornamentatiOn ana on-s - ,ss
esting on account of the varied deslsn .nis, we're
fragme1tary rims scarcely tS TSs 5wo u lines fe..
pieces of Sanlian ware seemed 20 tons-,srred ns,s with
Neurological figures. and there were aso wSits
blush fragments with a scroll pa,sseIbn Ibn-,nsht
tne news OF the discovery OF the pit rsnastI.sv rsI.sv
that the people who bad broken so muca s. Vsddsl
signifcantIy that he had known OF rouse some
difference of opinion among the I'm plates ard
dishes The character OF the occupaf,ssss OF
this ancient longshoreman when we unearu usI shell
large quantity Of oyster shells alos. :, bsd been
having little notch in its edge, where II HAN
opened with Roman knife ,,.o ,crns
Several rusty iron nails were FOUND sV havs
been used in constructing some wooden snavs
work Our hopes Of fndins trinksss y, ~ diss ppolnt-
ment and perhaps IL was unreasonsole p,scss Of
to hnd such things in RUBBISH heap sp one Of tD
former being scored with the ziszaS lncis ,asfsf
supposed 10 have served 70 supgor .as how
The greatest treasure brought to light Was, "as.,~, ,r
ever an almost un6amaged bronze 81 ne pit
acrz,per which must been thrown ,n'o -. ,nlv
by accident IL was, In all prooaninty u'e,~cld u'e
object found which dealer In antiauuew W. hsA
Rave pronounced to be OF any value w. .Svsr
hopes OF finding other interesting relics ou. ou.rr,d
two days spent In searching the e., We, We a fur-
10 the spot on the third day. 10 and tnAs T.. sl,e
ther landslide had quite obliterated ~ wnrs,bra
waves high tide, had swept away e'us 90 have
,haf had fallen to the beach Since then We .sto
kept a constant lookout for wells IN e sne nave
but although fragments OF Roman PctlEs.J.. soi
occasionally fallen from tho crumoifnS snfia@s
no other rubbish pit has been discoveries