ANCIENT CHAMBERED TUMULI. 61 



thcre seems to be no proof of any similar constructcd 

 barrow having been formed since the diffusion of Christi- 

 anity, altbough we bave seen tbat barrows were formed in 

 foreign countries, and probably in this also, to a very late 

 period. 



As to the purpose for which New Grange Tumulus was 

 constructed, " We believe," says a high recent authority, 

 "with most modern investigators, that it was a tomb, or 

 great sepidchral pyramid, similar in every respect to those 

 now standing on the banks of the Nile, from Dashour to 

 Gaza, each consisting of a great central Chamber, containing 

 one or more sarcophagi, and entered by a long stone 

 covered passage. The external aperture ivas concealed, and 

 the whole covered with a great mound of stones or earth, 

 in a conical form. The type and purpose in both is the 

 same." That the oval basins originally contained human 

 remains there can be little doubt ; but for the assertion 

 that any human skeletons were found in the discovery of 

 the cavern in 1699, there is no foundation. It was rnuch 

 in the same State as at present. 



That the tumulus, together with the tico nearly similar 

 monuments which exist in the same locality, was rifled by 

 the plundering Northmen a.D. 862, is recorded in the 

 Annais qf the Four Masters. How far anterior to the 

 Christian rcra the date of New Grange Tumulus may be 

 placed, it is in vain to enquire ; by most of the learned 

 and intelligent modern archreologists it is supposed to be 

 coeval, by some to be " anterior to its brethren on the 

 Nile." The same writer observes : " The tumulus at 

 Wcllow, ncar ßath, although on a much smaller scale, 

 bears much resemblance to the tumulus at New Grange, 

 and may probably be of the same aera. The same kind of 

 rüde arch is used in the construction of the roof, which is 



