246 YORKSHIRE. EAST RIDING. 



ments given place it 14 ft., more or less, within the outer circum- 

 ference of the barrow. It was formed into compartments by narrow 

 divisions of chalk left undisturbed l ; these, so far as the trench was 

 examined, proved to be four in number, each 1J ft. wide and 2 ft. 

 in height, and consequently not reaching to the level of the natural 

 surface. The distances between them varied : one of them, lying 

 south-west by west from the centre, being 16 ft. from the next, 

 which lay south-south-west from the centre ; this in its turn being 

 14 ft. from its other neighbour, which was south-south-east from 

 the same point, and 12 ft. from the fourth, which lay south-east of 

 the centre. Immediately to the south of the south-south-east 

 division was an extension of the trench, in the shape of an oval 

 hole, lying north-west by south-east, 5f ft. long, 4J ft. wide, 

 and 2| ft. deep, which had in it some flint chippings and charcoal. 

 At various points the trench itself contained animal bones, flint 

 chippings, and a few disturbed human bones. 



There were some very peculiar features in this barrow, such as I 

 have not often met with, and which are not easy of explanation. 

 Within the circuit of the trench and extending over it, at the level 

 of the natural surface, was a stratum of what seemed to be puddled 

 earth, 8 in. in thickness. I think there can be no doubt that, in 

 one way or another, designedly or otherwise, it had been tempered 

 with water, for no earth that had not gone through that process 

 could have been so hard and compact 2 . Above this was a layer 

 of fine chalk gravel, 3 in. to 6 in. thick, then another layer of 

 tempered earth 9 in. thick, then 3 in. to 7 in. of chalk, and then the 

 ordinary earth of which the bulk of the mound was composed. At 



1 This appears to correspond with some openings which existed in an encircling 

 wall within a cairn at Spottiswood, Berwickshire. The cairn contained deposits of 

 burnt bones and an urn. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scotland, vol. v. p. 222. 



2 I have met with the same kind of hardened earth in another barrow of this group 

 [No. Ixviii], described further on, and in a barrow at Weaverthorpe [No. xlvii]. 

 Mr. Bateman mentions some instances where ' tempered earth ' had been used in the 

 Derbyshire barrows, by which expression I suppose he means something like what was 

 noticed in this mound. Ten Years' Diggings, pp. 34, 36. The same condition of 

 earth has been observed in barrows in France. ' Sous ces deux metres de pierres 

 melangees de gravier et de terreau, nous avons rencontre une calotte tres compacte de 

 terre glaise battue, epaisse de O m , 15 & O m , 20, uniformement repandue sur la con- 

 struction sous-jacente, comme pour la mieux defendre des influences exterieures, et 

 notamment de Finfiltration des eaux. Le meme precede a ete, vous le savez, souvent 

 employe pour le meme but au profit des tumulus Armoricains, temoin le fameux 

 Mane-Lud.' Les Fouilles du Magny- Lambert (C6te d'Or) Revue Archeologique, 

 N. S., vol. xxiv. p. 354. The probable explanation seems to be that these barrows 

 were erected during very wet weather, and that the soil became puddled by the con 

 stant trampling of the persons employed in throwing it up when in a wet state. 



