4000-YEAR-OLD TEMPLE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19127, 23 September 1936, Page 8

4000-YEAR-OLD TEMPLE

DISCOVERY IN BRITAIN THEORY OF NEW FIND LONDON, Aug. 14. While, digging to-day at Maiden Castle, the. prehistoric earthwork near here, Students came upon traces of a. massive timber structure. It is believed to date from the earliest days of this historic site, some 4000 years ago. A succession of floors dating from flic Stone. Age to (tie Roman occupation is being investigated. It is too early to say what this timber structure represents, but further light will be thrown on (lie discovery within a few days. Dr. P,: E. 'Mortimer Wheeler, Keeper of the London Museum, who is in charge of the excavations, went at once to the spot when students working under ltis directions made the discovery. They were digging in a deep, narrow trench, when they came upon two post holes. 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 postholcs the building must have been one of considerable dimensions. "The nature of this structure is not yet certain,".!))'. Wheeler said, "but the remains, sure 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. Wo have between 50 and 60 students from many British and foreign universities, ranging from China to America, and including a number of people from India. STONE-AGE, TOWN "Work is proceeding upon three separate sites, each relating lo one or more of the main periods in the history of the camp. Particular interest attaches (o tlio new discoveries in relation Lo the Stone Age occupation of (he hilltop sonic '4OCO years ago, 16 centuries or more before Maiden Castle, itself was built. "Further lengths of the entrenchments which surround the Neolithic town are being excavated, and large quantities ot pottery representing the three main civilisations of England, about 20CO 8.C., are being .recovered. These civilisations derived partly from France, partly from Scandinavia and partly from the region of the. Rihjnc.

"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 thoso centuries owing to continual drought.