ON THE TUMULI OF ST. ADHELM'S HEAD DISTRICT. 45 



up. '* The whole deposit occupied a space of only three feet two 

 inches in length. The next discovery was upon the floor of the 

 barrow, at the distance of twelve feet east from the centre; it 

 consisted of a large deposit of burnt bones which appeared to have 

 been pounded, or broken into small pieces, and lay upon a layer 

 of brown matter, resembling some rotten vegetable substance, 

 such as a slab of wood, or bark, upon which the deposit had 

 been placed. Near the centre upon the floor, a depth of ten feet 

 from the apex, was found a piece of chalk flint, and with it a 

 well formed ring of Kimmeridge coal, measuring one inch and 

 three eighths in diameter, which may be designated an amulet. 

 Chippings of chalk flints, and also round pebbles were prevalent 

 throughout. There was also found an oval stone from the green 

 sand, which measured five inches in length, two inches in width, 

 rather less than an inch in thickness, and equally rounded at 

 the ends and sides. It would be difficult to suggest the probable 

 use of this stone, it being of too soft a nature for a Celt, and 

 does not present any appearance of having been a hone for sharp- 

 ening weapons. Possibly it might be of the class of objects which 

 are supposed to have been of talismanic value. Over the whole 

 extent of the floor existed evident traces of a very strong fire, 

 most probably the funeral pile, over the ashes of which the bar- 

 row had been raised. About midway between the floor and the 

 apex, were further traces of fire. 



The enquiry now remains as to what period and people this 

 barrow must be ascribed. It doubtless, contained three distinct 

 kinds of burial. That upon the floor, which consisted of only 

 the remains of burnt bones, we may conclude to have been of the 

 early British period, over which the barrow was originally formed. 

 The skeleton which was foimd with the knees gathered up, be- 

 neath slabs of stone, I consider of a later, but still early date. 

 Lastly, the barrow was made use of as the burial place of some 

 Romanized British family,'* at a period not long anterior to the 



12 Sir R. C. Hoare, in his description of the different kinds of burial 

 in Wiltshire, mentions that of the skeleton with the legs and knees ga- 

 thered up to the chin, evidently by design. In a barrow which I opened 

 in the year 1840, near the Blandford racc-coar8e« was an interment of 

 this description. 



13 In the Archaeological Journal, Vol. xi, p. 815, is a description of 

 a tumulus, near Uley, in Gloucestershire; of a very remote period. 

 Near its summit was discovered a secondary interment, accompanied by 

 Roman coins and pottery, 



e 



