105 



for some reason, subsequently dug up and piled on the 

 central part, which remained undisturbed. This change may 

 possibly have taken place in 1644, when the battery was 

 erected here, during the siege of York. At the same time, also, 

 the urn in the centre of the mound may have been disturbed, 

 and the deposit of burnt bones, which it probably once contained, 

 scattered. The um, however, may have been deposited empty. 

 In any case, the position of this urn, in the centre of the 

 cemetery, surrounded by so large a number of skeletons, is very 

 remarkable. 



Another seam, of less extent, of a reddish brown colour, and 

 from one to two inches in thickness, was observed running 

 through the east side of the mound, about eighteen inches 

 above the black seam. The matter composing this seam was 

 proved, chemically, to contain a large amount of iron, and had, 

 doubtless, originated in the oxidation of portions of the old 

 iron already described.* 



For the reasons already stated, I do not in this place produce 

 the arguments which seem to warrant the following conclusions 

 respecting the place of burial now described. These con- 

 clusions are : — 



1. Lamel hill appears to have been the site of a Christian, 

 but not ecclesiastical, cemetery ; and must, consequently, be 

 attributed to a period subsequent to the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity into this island, under the Romans, in the second 

 century, and previous to the appropriation of cemeteries around 

 churches, which commenced under Archbishop Cuthbert, in 742. 



2. Whilst, perhaps, there are not grounds for concluding, 

 positively, that this cemetery does not belong to the Roman- 

 British period, it is much more probably to be attributed to 

 the early Saxon Christians of the seventh or eighth century ; 

 at which time, the burial of the dead not being allowed in 

 towns, there was no church-yard witliin the walls of Eoforwic. 



* In the section-plau of the tumulas, plate 2, fig. 3., the upper line on the left or 

 east side indicates the seam of iron-mst ; the lower line, that of charcoal. The 

 lighter stratum, beneath the skeletons, represents the earth mixed with chalk or 

 lime, beneath which is the natural gravel of the district. The dotted Imes indi- 

 cate the extent of the excavations. 



