STONEHENGE — STEVENS 475 



THE ROUND BARROWS 



These may be roughly divided into three main groups : 



(1) The Bowl Barrow, most frequently encountered, having a 

 diameter of from 20 to 60 feet, and a height of 3 to 5 feet. 



(2) The Bell Barrow, which reaches its highest development on 

 Salisbury Plain, and is more generally found in Wiltshire, and par- 

 ticularly round Stonehenge, than in any other part of England. It is 

 entirely surrounded by a circular ditch, from which the material 

 of the mound has been dug; within the ditch is a circular area level with 

 the turf, from which the mound rises from 5 to 15 feet in a graceful 

 conical form. The diameter will be upward of a hundred feet, so 

 that the entire structure is larger and more impressive than a Bowl 

 Barrow. 



(3) The Disk Barrow resembles the Bell Barrow, since it too is 

 surrounded by a ditch, but instead of the conical mound in the center, 

 it has one or even two or three small mounds, or "tumps," in the cen- 

 ter in which cremated remains are found. The Disk Barrows are not 

 so numerous as the Bowl-shaped Barrows, but there are roughly 

 twice as many Disk Barrows as there are Bell Barrows in Wiltshire. 



These figures are only a rough indication of the relative numbers 

 of the two last types of Barrow, for it must be remembered that, par- 

 ticularly in the case of Disk Barrows, there is a tendency for them 

 to disappear in the course of time, while the needs of the farmer have 

 often led to their being plowed down altogether. 



The contents of the Barrows are also of importance as regards Stone- 

 henge, for they shed some light upon the people buried within them. 



In the Bowl Barrows skeletons are usually found buried in a crouch- 

 ing position, with the knees drawn up to the trunk and the legs bent 

 on the thighs, the arms closed toward the chest and the hands over the 

 face. The bodies lie generally with the head to the north, but not 

 always. 



In Bell Barrows the crouched skeleton is found as before, but cre- 

 mated human remains also occur enclosed in hand-made pottery urns, 

 which were sometimes inverted and often protected by a cist of rough 

 flints. 



Almost without exception the Disk Barrows contain only cremated 

 remains. In most cases cremation would seem to have taken place else- 

 where and the remains then carried to the place of burial. Cremations 

 appear to be more frequent than inhumations, and are considered to be 

 of a later date. 



Cinerary urns vary in size considerably, from 9 to 15 inches in height, 

 and from about a pint to a bushel in capacity. The well-known "Stone- 

 henge Urn" at the Devizes Museum is a magnificent example, 22 

 inches high, while an even larger one, 2i inches in height, is in the 



