Still less likely is it that their presence in the pits was the result of an accident. It looks much more as if they had been hidden on the eve of a sudden retreat.
But the querns do not stand alone as evidence, Pit XXII which contained one of them held also these wonderful helmets and the trappings that still bear the names of DOMETIUS ATTICUS and of SENECIO. Again, in Pit XIV tools, an unbroken vessel of Terra Sigillata, a sword, and a cooking pot with the name of LUCANUS were found. Lastly, Pit XVI held what can only be described as the contents of a camp smithy—weapons and tools, hub rims for wheels, spears with blunted points, pioneers' axes with worn edges, implements to be sharpened, old metal ready to be forged and welded into something new. It is hardly possible to apply any explanation other than concealment to this curious deposit. And what of signs of struggle? They too can be detected, though not in the early pits alone. Human remains were found in Pits I, XVI, XVII, XXIII and LVII. In Pit I, portions of two skulls were found at the bottom, while remains of a skeleton lay crushed among the debris of building material in the upper levels. In Pit XVI, a portion of a skull was got among the smith's stock. In Pit XVII, the skeleton of a dwarf was buried underneath the bones and skulls of horses. In Pit XXIII, a skull cleft as with the blow of some sharp weapon was lying beside the well buckets, with heavy wheels and long birch branches above it. In Pit LVII (the well at the Baths) the skull, a charred oak beam, and a lamp were associated with a battered helmet mask, and four swords, three of which were bent and broken, while in Pit LVIII was another sword with the hilt doubled down on the blade.
The signs of some great disaster then seem plain enough. The exact time of its occurrence is less plain. Did it take place at the close of the first occupation? Or was there any connection between it and the abandonment of the enlarged fort of the second occupation. The pottery gives no help in distinguishing these epochs. As far as it can be satisfactorily interpreted, its evidence goes to show that in the second occupation the same types of dishes were in use as in the first. The early (first century) forms had not yet given place to the somewhat coarser pottery of the Antonine period. A word of caution is, however, necessary. The extent of the ditches of the second occupation cleared out was, after all, not large; and, while there is little doubt that our investigations give a clear indication of
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