186 



such circumstances these large sepulchral urns being not unfre- 

 quently found. This opinion receives corroboration from the form 

 of it having apparently been flat, and being ornamented with 

 the zig-zag pattern peculiar to such vessels. Little doubt can 

 arise respecting the age of this place of interment : the character 

 of the pottery not made with the wheel and the ornament of bone 

 indicate it, with some precision, to be British, though (if we are 

 to agree with Sir R. Hoare) not of the earliest period, but to 

 that comparatively later time when the ashes or bones were 

 deposited in an urn. Some would conceive that the presence 

 of the incense cup would serve to indicate a more advanced 

 period of civilization, but this is probably not a well ascertained 

 matter. The existence of numerous barrows in the district 

 tends to show that this locality was inhabited by an early race 

 of people, who, from the evidence afforded by an investigation 

 of their tombs, had made but little progress in the arts of 

 civilization. 



AMPLEFORTH. 



The other tumuli on high ground, which have been examined 

 by the Yorkshire Antiquarian Club, are those on Ampleforth 

 Moor, near Helmsley, at an elevation of 869 feet. This spot 

 possesses singular antiquarian interest, being the situation of a 

 camp, dyke, and sepulchral monuments, and crossed by Roman 

 and British roads in several directions. The group of tumuli 

 is placed on the summit of the hill, on the line of ancient 

 trackway which runs nearly parallel to Dropping Gill. 



The first tumulus examined was a very large one, 250 feet in 

 circumference and above 7 feet high. On digging into it the 

 mass was found to be composed of sand and clay, with a few 

 stones, charcoal of oak, bits of flints, some of which were pro- 

 bably rough arrow heads, and traces of burned heath or peaty 

 substance. In the clay, which must have been brought from a 

 distance, placed on the level of the original soil, an urn of 

 British manufacture was found, of the usual sun-dried clay, 

 and ornamented with the ordinary marks ; it was so much 

 broken that its size cannot be stated with accuracy. The smaller 



