MR DOUGLAS ON AN ANCIENT SARCOPHAGUS. 75 



ists in adult skeletons. The epiphyses, at the extremities of the long 

 bones, were detached from their shafts, owing to the removal of the con- 

 necting cartilage ; and from the same cause the bones of the pelvis were 

 all separate. The appearance of the upper and lower jaws indicated 

 that the period of second dentition had only nearly commenced. The 

 first molars remained, and the four anterior permanent molars were the 

 only teeth of the second series which had risen from the jaw, the other 

 molars, together with the incisor teeth, remaining imbedded within the 

 alveolar processes. With the exception of a few of the small carpal 

 and tarsal bones with the phalanges, which were awanting, the skele- 

 ton was tolerably entire, and in excellent preservation, which latter 

 circumstance is to be ascribed to the dryness of the situation in 

 which the coffin was deposited. 



In the sarcophagus, along with the bones, was likewise found an urn 

 similar to those used by the ancient Britons. The urn contained some 

 earth, according to the description of the workmen ; but as no earth was 

 elsewhere observed in the coffin, it is probable that the contents of the 

 urn were in reality the ashes of the viscera of the body. The urn was 

 chipped at the edges; it was about six inches in height, and varied from 

 three to five inches in diameter. In thickness, it did not exceed a quar- 

 ter of an inch. The material of which it was composed was coarse 

 earthenware of a yellowish brick colour, and it was rudely ornamented 

 with circular and dia5;onal lines. 



The mode of sepulture adopted in the present instance at once fixes 

 the era of the mound or barrow at a very remote period. The Romans 

 did not in general bury under tumuli : when such are found of Roman 

 formation, they are considered by antiquarians to have been extraor- 

 dinary memorials of honour, and, in all probability, confined to distin- 

 guished military characters : that these reasons could not have operated 

 in the present instance, is apparent from the small size of the barrow, 

 and of the skeleton contained within the sarcophagus.* The urn like- 

 wise is evidently of ancient British manufacture, and closely resembles 

 those found some years ago at Murton and Chimside, and described and 

 figured in the first and second Numbers of the Transactions of this 

 Club.t 



♦ It is remarked by Sir Richard Hoare, a distinguished British antiquarian, that 

 *' barrow burial is said to have lasted till the eighth century. In all the numeroas 

 barrows explored, not a single one contained even a fragment of Koman pottery." 



t In the Transactions, however, the urns are erroneously ascribed to Roman 

 manufacture. 



