2 8 BARROW-DIGGING AT MARTINSTOWN. 



20. Circular disc of Kimmeridge Shale, diameter 25 mm., 

 thickness 15 mm. In the centre of both the flat ends there is a 

 slight and small indentation ; precise use of object unknown. 

 Found close to the chalk floor, near " Hole." (See Plan.) 



Interments in the Barrow. In the excavation of this barrow 

 we were rewarded by the discovery of three interments of the 

 Bronze Age, viz., two primary ones by inhumation and a 

 secondary one by cremation. 



Secondary Interment by Cremation. Exactly on the line of the 

 cutting on the west side, and at a distance of 1 5 feet from the 

 southern end of the cutting, we firstly came to a pottery vessel, 

 which appeared to be close to the surface of the depressed 

 summit of the barrow, and it was therefore found necessary to 

 clear a space for a foot or two round the pot. The true nature 

 of the discovery soon revealed itself a large British cinerary 

 urn inverted,* resting on an irregular slab of stone, now 

 measuring about 15 Jin. x 12 Jin., and 2in. thick,f covering the 

 burnt remains j of a child (or children) of about 5 years 

 of age, wrapped in what appeared to be a woven bag or 



* Thurnam supports Hoare's assertion that Bronze Age cinerary urns are 

 " much more frequently" found inverted than otherwise. 



We do not agree with this. The position of urns discovered by Hoare in 

 Wiltshire is only named in 30 instances, and of these 14 were erect and 

 16 inverted. 



It is quite probable that he made a point of recording those that were inverted, 

 the position being naturally more striking. 



Canon Greenwell says that the urns were " usually deposited standing upright, 

 but very frequently reversed over the bones " (Brit. Barrows, p. 14). 



Of the 52 cremated interments found by General Pitt- Rivers connected with 

 Barrow 24, Handley Hill, 47 contained burnt bones and pottery (including 

 several complete urns and portions of urns), 4 burnt bones without pottery, and 

 1 wood ashes but no bones or pottery. Two only of the urns were found in an 

 inverted position ! 



t At one corner the stone bears a mark where portion of the rim of the urn 

 rested. 



J Cremated remains of the Bronze Age are not always found in or under urns, 

 although in Dorset they have been found enclosed in urns in proportion of three 

 to one. In Wilts, according to Hoare, on the other hand, the proportion is only 

 one to three. At Cleveland Mr. Atkinson found that, out of 50 burials by 

 cremation, the bones were deposited in an urn in 32 cases. 



According to Canon Greeuwell, burnt bones are found enclosed in urns much 

 less frequently 011 the Yorkshire Wolds than in other parts of England. 



