134 Examination of a Chambered Long Barrow. 
more than two or three portions of the same vessel. Onesmall vase 
had been perforated at the bottom and sides. (Fig. 11.) In the cen- 
tral part of the chamber was a shard of pottery, perhaps Roman, (fig. 
12); and a fragment undoubtedly such, was turned up at somé depth 
outside the chamber, near its western end,—affording a probable 
indication that it had been searched during the Roman period. 
By whomsoever opened, its contents had been but partially dis- 
turbed ; as was proved by the condition and order of the skeletons, 
and by the presence of a defined layer of black unctuous earth 
immediately above them. Not a bit of burnt bone or other sign 
of cremation was met with; there were no traces of metal, either 
of bronze or iron; or of any arts for the practice of which a know- 
ledge of metallurgy is essential. 
The upright and covering stones, of which the chamber and its 
appendages were formed, were of the hard silicious grit or sarsen 
stone of the district; the horizontal masonry (of which there were 
traces between the uprights at the bottom of the chamber and 
gallery, as well as surrounding the base of the mound), was of tile- 
like stones of calcareous grit, the nearest quarries of which are in 
the neighbourhood of Calne, about seven miles to the west. 
The skulls, of which four were nearly perfect, are more or less of 
the lengthened oval form, with the occiput expanded and projecting, 
and present a strong contrast to skulls from the circular barrows of 
Wiltshire. They confirm the observation previously made, that 
crania from the long chambered tumuli of this part of Britain are 
usually of a narrow and peculiarly lengthened form. The forehead 
is mostly low and narrow; the face and jaws, as compared with the 
other ancient British type, decidedly small. 
The principal skeleton, to which the skull figured in “ Crania 
Britannica,” (pl. 50) belonged, was that of a man about 35 years 
of age. It was deposited in the north-west angle of the chamber, 

with the legs flexed against the north wall. The thigh bone — 
measured 172 inches, giving a probable stature of 5 feet 5 inches. 
The skull faced the west. The lower jaw was found about a foot 
nearer to the centre of the chamber, as if it had fallen from the 
cranium in the process of decay. Being imbedded in the clayey 
a 
