164 Stonehenge and its Barrows. 



The following is Dr. Thurnam's classification of circular barrows 

 in equal areas around Abury and Stonebeuge : — 



Avebury. Stonehenge. 



No. Per Cent. 



Bowl-sbaped 84 80 



Bell-shaped 12 10.5") „f. 



Disc-shaped 10 9.5J''" 



Total 106 100 275 100 



" If we look at the relative proportions, it will be seen that in the 

 Stonehenge district half as many more are of the more elaborate 

 forms as in that of Avebury. The invention or introduction of bell- 

 shaped and disc-shaped tumuli must be regarded as a more recent 

 event in the Avebury district than in that of Stonehenge. It is 

 certain also that these types of barrow are of decidedly more elegant 

 form in the last-named district. The bell-shaped barrows, in par- 

 ticular, are higher and more conical, and as a rule, stand on platforms 

 of larger extent. Many of the bowl-shaped barrows near Avebury, 

 as in North Wilts in general, are trenched close to the base, and in 

 this respect show an approximation to the bell-shaped barrow, which 

 to some degree they represent in this district. Altogether, it is 

 probable that the elaborate bell-shaped and disc-shaped grave-mounds 

 were invented by the people who built Stonehenge, and who, in its 

 construction, manifested a great advance in the arts over those 

 aboriginal tribes by whom rude, though gigantic, megalithic circles, 

 like those of Avebury and Arbor Lowe, were most likely erected.^' 



Charactee, op Interments in Round Barrows. 



" Out of the 354 circular barrows, of the more or less successful 

 opening of which there is a record in Sir R. C. Hoare's volumes, the 

 primary interment in 272 appears to have consisted of burnt, and in 

 82 of unburnt, bodies. Many observations show that the two prac- 

 tices must often have been strictly contemporary. On the plain, 

 within a mile-and-a-half of Stonehenge, are two fine bell-shaped 

 tumuli of very similar size and proportions, in such close proximity 

 that their surrounding trenches reciprocally intersect, so as to con- 

 stitute them a kind of twin barrow, leaving Little doubt of their 



