PIT XXVI. Diameter at top 4 feet 6 inches; at bottom 3 feet 6 inches. Depth 12 feet 6 inches. Full of very black deposit.
Finds. A small hemispherical cup of bright brass with a circular hole in the bottom (Plate LXXXIV., Fig. 9); a number of hazel nut shells adhering to it. A few fragments of Terra Sigillata and animal bones. Shells of oysters and mussels.
Cleared out 5 January, 1905.
Field No. 554, Ordnance Survey Plan, 25-inch scale. Second Edition. 1898. Roxburghshire, Sheet VIII. 2, Parish of Melrose.
Pits Nos. XXVII to LIII lie to the south of the North British Railway.
PIT XXVII. Diameter at surface 6 feet 6 inches; at bottom 3 feet. Depth 10 feet 6 inches.
Finds. At about 6 feet, skull of an ox and part of a whetstone, also fragments of thin wooden sarking. At 9 feet 6 inches, four bronze objects suggestive of armour (Plate XXXII., Figs. 5 to 8), and a set of belt mountings, ornamented with silver and over a hundred studs of different sizes and patterns (Plate XXV., Figs. 1 to 44). Fragments of bottoms of two vessels of Terra Sigillata, skulls of two dogs and portions of deer horn.
Cleared out 22 January, 1907.
PIT XXVIII. Diameter at surface 4 feet 2 inches; at bottom 4 feet 2 inches. Depth 12 feet 9 inches. For a depth of 6 feet at the bottom the pit was carefully built with flat red sandstones.
Finds. Bones of oxen, oyster shells, deer horns. At a depth of 9 feet, portion of a well-dressed plank showing a mortice hole, and some fragments of very fine basket work (Fig. 1a, page 108); a bowl of fine black ware (Plate L. (A), Fig. 1), portions of three vessels of black ware with lattice-work decoration, fragments of a quern of Niedermendig lava, and a number of blocks of peat.
Cleared out 25 January, 1907.
PIT XXIX. Diameter at top 4 feet 6 inches; at bottom 4 feet 6 inches. Depth 8 feet. No finds.
Cleared out January, 1907.
PIT XXX. Diameter at surface 4 feet; at bottom 3 feet 6 inches. Depth 5 feet. No finds.
Cleared out January, 1907.
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