TUMULI. 207 



clay may have been obtained in small quantity from hollows on 

 the surface, or more abundantly from the deposit of Kimmeridge 

 clay at the base of the chalk. In the oolitic district to the 

 north, the native materials are different, and sandstone takes the 

 place of the chalk and flint rubble, or a split log is hollowed 

 into a coffin. The description of one such coffin found at Gris- 

 thorp has been given (p. 131). 



This sepulture is remarkable for the absence of pottery, the 

 presence of wicker-work and misleto, and the concurrence of 

 flint and bronze instruments, and ornamental horn-work. It is 

 perhaps impracticable in Britain to mark with distinct intervals 

 the ages of stone, bronze, and iron ; the metals must have been 

 gradually introduced, and slowly communicated from one locality 

 to another. At Acklam we have had proof of the contempo- 

 raneity of cremation and burial, and at York we find bodies 

 wrapped in lead, or placed in stone, or represented by a handful 

 of ashes in a tiled grave, and yet all certainly of Roman date. 

 In the same place we find wooden coffins of the Saxon period 

 hardly less rude than the split log of the aboriginal of Gristhorp. 

 If we count the tumuli in the districts where they are most 

 abundant, and make large allowance for degradation by the 

 plough, their number will be expressed in hundreds ; and as each 

 tumulus contains usually but one interment, we see clearly that 

 only a small proportion of the natives of a country described by 

 Caesar as containing an ' infinite multitude ' of men, were con- 

 signed to such conspicuous tombs. 



The vicinity of Driffield has yielded to Lord Londesborough's 

 researches many valuable facts touching British burials. By his 

 direction in 1851, Mr. W. Bowman opened several tumuli. In 

 a pasture called King's Mill, two skeletons and several flint 

 spear-heads were found. In a field near Allamanwath Bridge, 

 a high tumulus covered an irregular vault, 4 or 5 feet long, 

 3 feet broad, and 2| feet deep. It was formed of untooled slabs 

 on the sides and ends, covered with another slab, and paved 

 with smaller stones. In it was a large skeleton with the legs 



