The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1911-02-09
SUN TEMPLE IS
Barred TO LIGHT
WORK OF PREHISTORIC HANDS
is FOUND UNDER RO-
= MAN COLOSSEUM. IA
USED FOR CONTESTS
Building Discovered in Dorchester
England as Result of
Accident ,.sf

England as Result Of
Accident. ,=sS
London. Observation-Disclosures Of
mn temple of prehistoric origin have
been discovered on the site of the
great Roman colosseum at Maum-
bury Rings. near Dorchester, in the
southwest of England. Important
As are the excavations in the Colos-
scum itself, they are overshadowed
In archaeological Importance by the
dnds beneath the chalk floor of the
t96-foot in diameter ring where the
Britons in Caesars time fought wild
beasts in the presence of a vast con.
course Of spectators.
According to st. George Gray.
hose who dug out the original tenn.
pie of worship used red deer ant
ers as picks. Flint flakes, cores and
hammer stones, too, have been
found. Formerly there rested on the
surface near the entrance to the
temple sighting stone, used, as ia
believed, in connection with the OBJ
servations of the sun, moon and
stars. In 1916 a farmer who regard.
ed the stone merely as an obstruction
to his pillow rolled it away and bur
led it.
AS for the colosseum, the excava-
tions have now gone far enough to
show it was the greatest of it's kind
in England in Roman times. The
amphitheater was a double theater
banked high around with seats. In
the amphitheater took place public
contests of men with men, men with
beasts and other displays. The anc-
tent area belongs to the Duchy of
Cornwall. At first the arena was
surrounded with a plain earth en-
bankment 81 to % feet high. In la
ter times the inner side of the en-
bankment facing the arena was ter.
raced into seats. The whole thing
was 345x333 feet in it's area. The
floor of the arena was cut out of the
virgin chalk and was hard and level
The den where the beasts were
kept has been discovered. The arena
was bounded all around the inner
wall, and the terraced ring of specta-
,ors' seats. The purpose evidently
was to provide a place of refuge into
which the men who fought the beasts
could jump and secrete themselves
when desperately pressed by the
beasts. Such wall and trench would
be of service only IL the case OF
bulls, and inasmuch as the continent
tai bull rings have similar arrange
ment, it is regarlG2 "a proof that
the Maumbury colosseum was used
for bull fighting Ia Roman days as
well as for contest, with wild beasts.
The skins and Tor Oh Of human be.
ings have been eScavated from the
arena and its side chambers, but
there is as yet no means OF judging
how many people lost their lives il
the early English gladiatorial and
wild -. .;,.s c.-h.t. MANY Roman
and ancient British relics have come
to light there.
The finding of Queen Elizabeth
sixpenny coin of 1854 on the interior
terrace would appear to indicate the
arena was used for contests as late
~ that queens day About three in
ches below the turf line of the inter.
Tor terrace and apparently above the
Roman deposits, have been found
two human male skeletons, lying side
by side, the right leg Of one crossing
the left leg of the other. One of the
men was more than six feet tall and
the other about i've feet eight inches
Maumbury was adapted into q
fort in the civil war of 1929, and
was garrisoned by the parliamentary
forces to oppose the earl of Carna.
von's advance from Weymouth. In
1905 or 1706 the young wife OF
Thomas Ohanirg, whom she had pois-
oned. was strangled 1T Maumbury
and burned at the stake, and for Q
long time the public gallows stood
on the site Of the prehistoric SUE
temple and later colosseum.
In digging out the old moat which
Henry VIII put around Hampton
court, the palace of the Tudors and
the Stuarts, In 1896, many curious
relics have been disoovered-old Tu.
dor brick of purple. crimson and rose
colors; delicately wrought panel OF
Jane Seymour's arms, lists of the
kings beasts; stone and glass bot
ties which the court reveler in the
days of Elisabeth flung from the win
dows into the waters of the moat;
comb and toilet knick-knacks; dos
ems of clay pipes OF the time of Will
liam III; oyster shells from his ma
jesty's table.