In the early summer of 1919 a memorable discovery was made on Traprain Law in the county of Haddington, a hill on the East Lothian estate of the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour. From the natural advantages for defence which the hill presents, as well as from the plentiful surface indications of occupation, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland had concluded that the site was well worth excavating, and had begun work on it in the summer of 1914. This was continued during the following summer till operations were suspended by the war. One of the results of these two seasons' exploration was the revelation that beneath the turf were four welldefined floor-levels referable to periods of occupation dating from the first to the fourth, or commencement of the fifth, century of our era. In May last year the latest of these floor-levels had been removed, and the second was just being loosened with the point of the pick when a remarkable hoard of Roman silver plate was discovered buried in a hole some two feet in diameter and two feet in depth. No evidence remained of any sack or box in which it might have been contained, but the pieces lay jumbled in a mass as if they had been thrown in disorder into the hole. Few of them resembled silver—to such an extent had the treasure been affected by its long burial in the soil—and a dull leaden hue with a tinge of purple best describes its colour. Its condition otherwise bore eloquent testimony to the treatment it had received at the hands of its owners previous to its concealment.
