BARROW-DIGGING AT MARTINSTOWN. 13 



edges, resulting from attrition against hard substances. Found 

 i '3 foot above the old surface line. 



27. Rough flint implement, of quadrangular cross-section ; it 

 appears to have been fractured subsequently to manufacture. 

 Depth 7*8 feet from the surface, at the top of cairn of flints. 



Excavation into the Ditch. During the excavation of the 

 cutting through the barrow the attention of the investigators 

 was also turned to the ditch which apparently encircled the 

 barrow. The spot chosen was at a point where the ditch was 

 fairly well marked viz., in continuation of the main cutting and 

 on the south, where the surface of the silting was about i foot 

 lower than the level of the adjacent land. This cutting was 

 also made 6 feet wide. At a depth of 0*4 foot in mould 

 (29 on Plan and Section), a duckbill-shaped flint scraper was 

 found, having a sharp dorsal ridge and presenting a triangular 

 cross- section. The rounded "business-end," however, shows 

 little indication of secondary chipping. At a lower level viz., 

 o - 8 foot a worked flint flake was unearthed (30 on Plan and 

 Section). Nothing else was found here but 91 flint flakes and a 

 flint core.* The hard chalk floor of the fosse was reached at a 

 depth of 3 '5 feet from the surface of the silting. The width at 

 the top proved to be 10*4 feet, at bottom 4*5 feet. The sides of 

 the ditch were slightly incurved, as shown in the sectional 

 diagram. The filling consisted chiefly of mould, with about 

 i foot of chalk rubble at the bottom. 



It is quite probable that the chalk obtained during the 

 formation of the encircling fosse was, after the burial obsequies, 

 thrown over the large mound of mould, and formed the chalk 

 rubble and outer covering of the barrow. 



The condition of the sides of this somewhat shallow ditch did 

 not suggest what tools were used in its formation, but, as the 

 writers are of opinion that the date of the barrow should 

 be assigned to a period considerably anterior to the fully- 

 developed Bronze Age, the probability is that stone chisels and 



* One flint core was also found in the main cutting of barrow. 



