[2] For full details of the most recent excavations and finds, with plans, see reports on "A Romano-British settlement at Ewe Close, Crosby Ravensworth," by W. G. Collingwood, F.S.A., (1907-8) _Transactions_, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society, N.S., vols. viii. and ix. EARTHWORKS. THE SITES OF ANCIENT BRITISH VILLAGES. The most important monuments left by the ancient Britons who inhabited this country previous to the Roman invasion are the several remains of villages. Cæsar, in describing what the Britons call a town, says:--"It is a tract of woody country surrounded by a vallum and a ditch for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of their enemies." Strabo confirms this, and says further:--"That within the inclosures formed of felled trees they build houses for themselves and hovels for their cattle: these buildings are slight, and not designed for long duration." The vallum is expressed in Welsh by _caer_ or _dinas_, the same with the Gaelic _dun_. Diodorus Siculus and Strabo tell us that the houses of the Gauls were wretched cottages, being constructed with poles and wattled work in the form of a circle with lofty tapering or pointed roof, and Cæsar also says that the houses of the Britons were similar. These it is true were of south Britain, but it is reasonable to infer that with little alteration those of the northern inhabitants would be similar. Some authors suppose the present Welsh pigsty to represent the form of the ancient British house. This is a circular building with a conical roof, and having a large circular enclosure attached.