62 Excavations at Birrenswark. 



tumulus 70 feet in diameter (Plate VIII. fig. 23), standing at th^ 

 highest point of the middle part of the plateau. While the artificial 

 work at the centre is only 5h feet higli, owing to the fall of the 

 ground it stands 10 feet or more above the level of the outer 

 circumference. A section was opened through the cairn from 

 east to west, when it appeared that the cist had been destroj'ed. 

 One stone, 4 feet long and 2 feet 4 inches high, remained in 

 position, and five others lay at hand which had evidently belonged 

 to it, also some fragments of charred bone. Orientation does not 

 seem to have been observed ; the cist lies nearly parallel with the 

 length of the hill. The construction of the tumulus shows the 

 rock surface under it slightly sunk for the reception of the cist ; 

 over the cist was a small mound of clay rounded so as to carry off 

 the water, and above the clay rose the wide, flat cairn of stones, 

 disposed as if in layers concentric with the clay core. The pieces 

 which composed the cist, as well as the smaller and more angular 

 stones making up the cairn, correspond with the description of 

 rock on the hillside, whence it is presumed the material was 

 obtained. 



At the east end of the plateau the rock surface seems to have 

 been utilised as a floor, the depressions being levelled up by stone 

 pavement. Stone pavements are very extensive, both at the east 

 and the west parts. Some vestiges, but uncertain, as of walling, 

 were also disclo.sed. These remains, however, furnish no definite 

 information, further than sliowing how elaborate the preparation 

 of the camp has been. 



Charcoal and fragments of charred bone were plentiful, and 

 generally appearances of occupation were much more abundant 

 here than in the lower camps. 



Among the relics discovered were a considerable number of 

 leaden sling-bolts, singly and in groups, twenty at one of the 

 south gates, and twelve at the other ; one or two stone balls • 

 scraps of iron not plentiful ; leaden whorl, similar to one found in 

 the south camp ; at the east end, two small transparent glass 

 discs ; in the fortlet, a bead similar to one found in the south 

 camp ; two fragments of glass bracelets, one in the substance of 

 the enclosing mound of the fortlet ; and outside the fortlet, on 

 the rock, and covered by a stone, a small intaglio. 



All the details disclosed by the excavations have now been 

 described, and it only remains to say a word regarding General 

 Roy's plan and the Ordnance map, both of which have proved 



