188 



tumuli are set, is very distinct, and the even sharp aspect of 

 the little oval round trenches remains. It was ascertained, hy 

 measure, that most of the tumuli are set in square fossse, as if 

 the angles were more depressed than the other parts ; by the 

 compass it was clear that they had been set out by the cardinal 

 points, north and south, east and west. This was not the case 

 with the oval tumuli. The same facts were observed in the 

 eastern group. Between the two sets of tumuli is an elevated 

 portion of dry, sandy ground, now covered with furze, across 

 which an old trackway, to some depth, is traceable, passing 

 down to the south side of the fossa of the great tumulus,, and 

 joins the road to Ricall. In the other direction it is marked by 

 old tracks on the north of the smaller group of tumuli. Small 

 single, double, and even treble banks and ditches pass away 

 from the elevated ground; on the east of it is an irregular 

 inclosure like a small field, but trenched and banked after an 

 antique fashion, and enclosing ^t the north-east corner two oval 

 ring trenches. 



The tumuli on being opened shewed neither urn nor skeleton, 

 nor arms of any kind ; nothing, in fact, but the heaped up and 

 discoloured sand, oak, charcoal, and some few calcined bones 

 and a few chips of flint, such as in other cases have been 

 regarded as arrow heads of the rudest kind. The oval or 

 circular rings were slight trenches, the materials from which 

 had slightly raised the interior ; the central spaces were ex- 

 amined with little success. Merely shewing traces of fire 

 towards the end, rather than in the middle, they suggested the 

 notion of their being the bases of rude huts. 



The observations made on Thorganby Common, near Skip- 

 with, lead to exactly the same results. Similar tumuli, set in 

 similar square fossae, similar earth rings, oval and rectangular, 

 but mostly square, occur on that Common. The tumuli, when 

 opened, yielded carbonaceous matter, but no skeleton. On 

 other parts of the Common, other earth rings appear far away 

 from the tumuli. 



On the evidence obtained from these tumuli and earth rings, 

 there is no difficulty in deciding that the hills were not raised 



