PARISH o*' RUDSTOM;. 261 



by the side of her child's lifeless body. Assuming the probability 

 of these conjectures, the circumstances would seem to point to a 

 stage of progress quite inconsistent with the idea of an utterly un- 

 cultured or savage people ; indeed, they would imply something like 

 hereditary rule, or at least a state of society in which the son of 

 the chief was regarded by the community as having especial claims 

 on their regard and respect, and whose burial-place it was fitting 

 to honour with a more than ordinary observance. 



At a distance of 15 ft. north-east of the centre, and 6J ft. above 

 the natural surface, was the body of a child, very much decayed ; 

 close to the head was a small and perfectly plain vessel, 3| in. high, 

 3f in. wide at the mouth, 4J in. at a distance of 1J in. below the 

 mouth, and 2^ in. at the bottom. One foot and a-half east of the 

 last was another child, also much decayed ; at the head, and pro- 

 bably in front of the face, was a small ' drinking cup,' in form 

 like fig. 120, 4| in. high, 3f in. wide at the mouth, and 2| in. at the 

 bottom. It is ornamented to within 1 in. of the bottom with four 

 zigzag and two saltire-formed lines encompassing the vase, and 

 alternating with a series of four plain encircling lines, the whole 

 slightly marked and made by a sharp-pointed tool. Twenty-one 

 feet and a-half east-by-north from the centre, and 6J ft. above the 

 level of the ground, was the body of a man, laid on the back and 

 at full length, with the head to W. by N. One foot north of the 

 last was another man ; and 1J ft. to the north of the second was a 

 third man's body, both of which, like the first, were laid at full 

 length on their backs, and with the head in the same direction ; 

 the hands in all three cases being placed on the hips. Two feet 

 north-west of the third man was a fourth, laid on the right side 

 in a contracted position, with the head to S.W., and the hands up 

 to the face. Just beyond the feet of the three extended bodies 

 there was another, the bones of which were too much disturbed by 

 the plough to admit of the position of the body being ascertained. 

 It is not improbable that the three bodies laid at full length, and 

 indeed the other two as well, were those of Angles, placed in the 

 mound many centuries after its construction. In the absence of any 

 associated relics this is of course mere conjecture ; but it is one which 

 at least may safely be hazarded, inasmuch as the position was so 

 exactly that of Anglian burials in general, and as it was by no 

 means an uncommon thing for the later settlers to make use of 

 earlier burial-mounds in which to inter their own dead. 



It has already been mentioned that there was a deposit of dark 



