BARROW-DIGGING AT MARTINSTOWN. 



2 9 



pouch. We are not aware that anything precisely similar has 

 been found elsewhere ; probably the occurrence of textile fabrics 

 in barrows has never been recorded by those who have merely 

 " rifled " barrows, Thurnam, however, quotes a few instances 

 of the finding of textile fabrics with cremated interments.* 



Far from the bag being in a 

 condition to remove entire, it 

 was only possible to preserve a 

 few fragments, the best of which 

 are represented in the accom- 

 panying illustration. A. repre- 

 sents portion of the external 

 upper margin of the bag, B. being 

 the internal view of the same 

 fragment. Several fragments of 

 C. were found ; and it probably 

 represents a piece of the string 

 with which the bag of incin- 

 erated remains was tied up. 

 Portions of the bag have been mi- 

 croscopically examined through 

 the kindness of Professor H. B. 

 Farmer, who has sent the follow- 

 ing report : 



" The carbonised wrapping, a 

 sample of which you sent me, 

 is certainly not hemp, so far as 

 its condition makes identification 

 possible. There seem to be two, 

 at any rate, plants, one of which 

 is a grass. 



" I should say that the twist is made primarily of grass stems, 

 with perhaps the leaves, and that there is an accidental mixture 

 of something else. 



Portions of a Woven Bag 

 which contained the 

 Cremated Remains of 

 a Child. Barrow 3, 

 Martinstown. 



* Archseologia, Vol. XLIIL, p. 326. 



