Contents of Barrow near Ocknell Pond. 205 



of an urn placed not in the centre, but near the extreme western 

 edge. The remains here were in a still worse state of decom- 

 position, and we could obtain no measurements, but only one 

 or two pieces of ware, which, in their general coarseness and 

 grittiness of texture, corresponded with the others, and not only 

 showed their Keltic manufacture, but their extreme early date.* 



This last mound, I may add, was composed of gravel, 

 whilst the other was made simply of mould : and two depres- 

 sions on the heath showed where the material had been 

 obtained. 



About two miles to the north-east, close to Ocknell Pond, 

 lies a single barrow of much the same size as these two, though 

 a great deal higher, being raised in the centre to three feet 

 and a half. We began the excavation on the east side, pro- 

 ceeding to the centre, but found nothing except some charcoal, 

 and peculiarly-shaped rolled flints, placed on the level of the 

 ground. 



We then made another trench from the north side, and 

 close to some charcoal, about a foot and a half below the raised 

 surface, came upon the neck of a Koman wine vessel (ampulla). 

 Although we opened the whole of the east side, we could not 

 find the remaining portion. The barrow bore no traces of 

 having been previously explored, nor did the soil appear to have 

 been moved. The fracture was certainly not recent, and it is 

 very possible that some disappointed treasure-seekers in the 



* I am inclined to think that here, as in the similar instance on Fritham 

 Plain, the urns were put in the mound entire, and not, as is sometimes the 

 case, in fragments. The pieces had no appearance of being burnt after 

 the fractures had taken place, which were here simply the result of decay. 

 See on this point Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings, pp. 191, 192, where 

 Mr. Keller's letter to Sir Henry Ellis on the subject is given. 



