ulation, and so fascinating did it prove that it attracted the
attention of a vast number of minor authorities, who in the face of no
definite data on which to base their theses, set the date of
Stonehenge at almost any period except that to which it has been
proved to belong.

Many decided definitely that it was of Roman origin. For the most
part, these speculations have not been based upon the tangible
evidence of the Stones, the Tools, and the Barrows, but rather upon
the records of early historians, whose evidence in those days was
probably not a question of first-hand information.

After all, the objects actually exhumed from the foundations of the
Stones, must of necessity be the evidence of greatest importance. What
are these objects? The following is a complete list taken from Mr.
Gowland's report.

_Excavation I._ (Seven feet deep.)--A Roman coin of Commodus and a
penny of George III. at eight inches below the turf.

A flint hammer-stone, and a splinter of deer's horn embedded in the
chalk, at a depth of two and a half feet (below datum line).

_Excavation II._ (Eight feet deep.)--Two, edged hammer-stones of
flint, and two rounded ones of the same material, at a depth of three
feet (below datum).

_Excavation III._ (Eight feet three inches.)--A halfpenny of George
I., just below the turf.

A Roman coin (sestertius of Antonia) ten inches below the turf, and a
pewter farthing of James II. at the same depth.

Below this, at a depth varying from two feet to four feet, were
twenty-six axes and hammer-stones of flint, two hammer-stones of
Sarsen, and a large maul of the same material weighing over sixty-four
pounds.

A fourth excavation, known as Excavation Q, yielded at a depth of
three feet six inches to four feet six inches, ten flint axes, one
sandstone axe, nine edged flint hammer-stones, four rounded flint
hammer-stones, ten Sarsen hammers, and seven mauls, weighing from
thirty-six to fifty-eight and a half pounds. Large numbers of deer's
horn splinters were discovered in this excavation.

_Excavation V._ (Eight feet deep.)--Four axes of flint, one of Sarsen,
three edged hammer-stones of flint, one Sarsen and one Diabase
hammer-stone, were found at depths varying between two feet and four
feet.

One Sarsen hammer-stone was found under the base of the foreign
upright, which stands in front of the upright monolith of the Great
Trilithon, at a depth of six feet below datum.

In this last excavatio