A BRITISH TEMPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 11

A BRITISH TEMPLE

THEORY OF NEW DISCOVERY > While digging at Maiden Castle, the prehistoric earthwork near Dorchester, recently, students came- upon, traces oi a massive timber structure. It is believed to date from the, earliest days of -this historic site, some 4000 years ago (says the "Daily Telegraph"). A succession of floors dating from the Stone Age to the Roman occupation- is being investigated. It is too early to say what this timber structure represents,: but further light will be thrown on the discovery within a 6 Dr R. E. Mortimer' Wheeler, Keeper of the London Museum, who is -m charge of the excavations, went at once to the spot 'when students working under his directions-made the discovery They were digging in a deep, narrow t'ench, when' they came upon two postholes. The fact that the holes were close together in the narrow trench suggests that the posts had a great burden to support, and from the size of the postholes the building must have been one of considerable dimensions. . "The nature of this structure-is not yet : certain," Dr.' Wheeler said*, "but the remains are being explored: It may even prove to be the site of an ancient temple, used for worship hundreds of years before Christ. ; , "Our excavation party is larger than in previous years/ We have" between fifty and sixty students from: many British and foreign universities, rangging from Chjna to America, and inv eluding a number of people from India. STONE-AGE TOWN. "Work is proceeding upon three separate sites, 'each ; relating to one or more of the main periods in the history of the camp. Particular interest attaches to the new discoveries in | relation to'the''Stone Age occupation of the hilltop some 4000 years ago, sixteen centuries' or more before Maiden Castle itself was built. -"Further lengths of the entrenchments which surrounded the Neolithic town are being excavated, and large quantities of pottery representing the three main civilisations of England, about 2000 8.C., are .being recovered. These civilisations, derived partly from France, partly from Scandinavia, and partly from the region of the Rhine. "We find the 'three' civilisations approaching from different directions and meeting here. • The occupation of the village,, as Maiden Castle then was, ended at the beginning of the Bronze Age, soon after the 19th or 18th century B.C. The fifteen centuries- between that date and the foundation of Maiden Castle as we know; it still remains a blank: It is now reasonably certain that occupation of the downlands ceased during those centuries owing to ■. continual drought."