PARISH O*' GOODMANHAM. 301 



Is it possible that in those barrows where it was intended to heap 

 above the body a large mass of earth or stone, it was not thought 

 necessary to protect it further by placing it in a grave ? 



XCI. The next barrow, though of large size, proved to be quite 

 barren, so far as any traces of a skeleton or of burnt bones were 

 concerned. It was 100 ft. in diameter, still 4J ft. high, and was 

 made of very tenacious clayey earth. At a distance of 11 ft. 

 south-east-by-south from the present centre, and 1 ft. above 

 the natural surface, a * food vessel ' was found. It is somewhat 

 in shape like fig. 69, but quite plain, except that it has a narrow 

 raised band encircling it 1 J in. below the rim, and is 4J in. high, 

 5 in. wide at the mouth, and 2-f in. at the bottom. The spot where 

 the vase was found may easily represent the place from which 

 the mound had originally been commenced to be thrown up, the 

 central point having been lost in piling up so large a mass. There 

 was no indication however that a body had ever been placed near 

 the vase, though it is possible that the bones might have gone 

 entirely to decay, leaving no trace of their former existence. For 

 reasons which are stated in the Introduction I am not inclined to 

 believe that cenotaphs were ever erected by these people, and, if this 

 view be correct, then there can be no doubt that a body had once been 

 interred in this mound ; and the presence of a sepulchral vessel makes 

 that presumption the more probable. Amongst the materials of the 

 barrow were a leaf-shaped arrow-point and a round scraper, both 

 of flint. 



XCII. The next barrow they are described in order, proceeding 

 northwards was also a large one, being 86 ft. in diameter, 5 ft. 

 high, and made of earth. At the centre, and 1 \ ft. above the 

 surface-level, in a shallow oval hollow, lying east and west, 4 ft. by 

 2 ft., and lined with wood, was the body of a very strongly-made 

 man about 30 years of age, laid on the right side, with the 

 head to W. by S., the right hand to the middle of the thigh, the 

 left hand being within the hollow of the sacrum ; the back was 

 not bowed. In front of the chest was a small oval flint scraper. 

 Immediately under this body, and on the level of the surface, was a 

 deposit of burnt bones, those of an adult, probably a woman, laid 

 in a round heap 11 in. in diameter. Below them was a shallow 

 oval hollow sunk through the original surface-mould, lying north- 

 west and south-east, 5^ ft. by \\ ft. It was lined with wood, like 



