184 Stonehenge and its Barrows. 



hook of gold, there was a small lozeng-e-shaped plate, not perforated, 

 about an inch in diameter.'^ (Tumuli, plate xxvii, fig. 5.) 



Five of the seven barrows yielding objects of gold were on Salis- 

 bury Plain, near Stonehenge, four of them within half-a-mile of that 

 structure, and a sixth on the confines of the plain, at Upton Lovel, 

 in the vale of Wily. The seventh alone was altogether out of this 

 district, at Mere, ten or twelve miles to the west. No objects of 

 precious metal are found in the barrows of North Wilts, and Sir 

 Richard Hoare inferred the " high antiquity of the tumuli near 

 Abury from finding in them ' no costly ornaments of jet, amber, or 

 gold.'" 



In the Upton Lovel barrow were found several tusks of the wild 

 boar, perforated at the broad end, lying near the feet of the male 

 skeleton. In other barrows were the canine teeth of the wolf and 

 remains of the deer, the ox, the dog, and the horse. Bones of 

 birds were occasionally met with. 



first time in 1803, by Mr. Cunningtoii. (See " Archseologia," vol. xv.) 

 At the depth of 2 feet was fouud a little pile of burnt bones in a shallow 

 bason-like cist, and at the distance of 1 foot from the bones was a consider- 

 able quantity of ashes with fragments of burnt bones. About 2 feet from 

 the pile of bones were discovered: 1. Thirteen gold beads made in the form 

 of a drum, having two ends to screw off, and perforated in two places on 

 the sides for the purpose of stringing. 2. A thin plate of the same metal, 

 6 inches in length, and nearly 3 in width, richly wrought and perforated 

 at the 4 corners. 3. Another ornament in the form of a cone, decorated 

 ■with circles and zigzags, and fitted closely to a piece of dark wood, like 

 ebony, on which the maiks of the pattern still appear impressed ; the bottom 

 part of this article is also perforated. The above are all of pure but 

 thin gold, neatly worked, and highly burnished. The large flat plate must 

 have been, like the cone, strengthened by a strip of wood behind ; and the 

 whole by their several perforations, are strongly marked as forming the decorative 

 accoutrements of some distinguished British chieftain. There were beside two 

 small articles in gold, resembling little boxes, about an inch in diameter with 

 a top, in the form of a cone to take off. (See Tumuli, plate x.) And some 

 large plates of amber, and above one thousand beads of the same substance and 

 different sizes, and a curioas little grape cup. Subsequent rt searches in 1807, 

 resulted in the discovery of two cups, one plain, the other covered with a pro- 

 fusion of zigzag ornaments, a small lance head and pin of bronze, and on the 

 floor of the barrow, in an oblong cist, about 18 inches deep, a simple interment 

 of burnt bones. 



