188 YORKSHIRE. EAST RIDING. 



either side, so as to meet at the centre, without penetrating to the 

 front 1 . The stone button [fig. 4] is 1| in. in diameter, and is 

 formed exactly like those* of jet, only that it has a slight ornament 

 due to four engraved lines, which quarter the face and nearly meet 

 at the apex, constituting in fact a cruciform pattern 2 . At the hips 

 was an axe-blade of bronze 3 [fig. 38]. The handle, which had 



Fig. 105. i. 



been under 2 ft. in length, could be plainly traced by means of a 

 dark line of decayed wood, extending from the hips towards the 



1 Buttons of this form are by no means unfrequent. I have met with them in six 

 instances on the wolds, and in three in Northumberland. They are also made of bone 

 after the same fashion, and in Wiltshire Sir R. Colt Hoare found them made of wood 

 plated with gold. Ancient Wilts, vol. i. p. 99, pi. x; p. 201, pi. xxxv. fig. 1. 



2 A similar pattern, but more skilfully executed, and occurring upon jet buttons, 

 will be found noticed in the account of a barrow at Thwing [No. Ix], and of one 

 at Rudstone [No. Ixviii]. 



3 So far as I know, this is the only instance of the occurrence of a bronze axe in 

 association with an interment which has been met with on the wolds. Indeed they 

 have very rarely been found under such circumstances in any part of Britain ; some 

 instances, however, are here noted. In a barrow at Normanton was a male skeleton, 

 with a bronze axe-head near the shoulders, a dagger and spear-head of bronze, some 

 bone and gold articles, and a pierced stone. Hoare, Ancient Wilts, vol. i. p. 203, 

 pi. xxvi. Near Wilsford, in a grave was a burnt body, with a small bronze axe, pin, 

 and a ring of bone. 1. c. p. 208, pi. xxviii. In a barrow, also near Wilsford, was a 

 skeleton, with a bronze axe, a stone hammer, &c. 1. c. p. 209, pi. xxix. In a barrow 

 called Borther Lowe, near Middleton-by-Yolgrave, Derbyshire, was found a skeleton 

 with a plain coarse urn, a flint arrow-point, and a ' diminutive bronze celt.' Bateman, 

 Vestiges, p. 48. On Parwich Moor, Derbyshire, in a grave under a barrow was the 

 skeleton of a man, 'and close to the head were one small bead of jet, and a circular 

 flint ; in contact with the left upper arm lay a bronze dagger, with a very sharp edge, 

 having two rivets for the attachment of the handle, which was of horn, the impi-ession 

 of the grain of that substance being quite distinct around the studs. About the 

 middle of the left thigh bone was a bronze celt, which is of the plainest axe-shaped 

 type.' Bateman, Ten Years' Diggings, p. 35. 



