340 YORKSHIRE. NORTH RIDING. 



also with what I have myself observed upon the opposite high 

 ground, on Grimston Moor, near Gilling, and rather further south 

 on the same range of hills, on Slingsby Moor. 



I examined three of the barrows on Wass Moor which remained 

 more or less undisturbed, as well as a fourth situated about two 

 miles south of them, an account of which will be found amongst 

 the series of long-barrow notices. The three barrows just specified 

 are placed about 30 yards apart, lying in a line which runs north- 

 east by south-west. 



CXXIX. The first, that which lies the furthest to the north- 

 east, was bowl-shaped, 56 ft. in diameter and 5 ft. high ; and the 

 land having never been under the plough, it was of its original 

 size and form. The outer part was formed of small stones (such 

 as are abundantly found scattered on the surface of the adjoining 

 ground) with a very slight intermixture of earth. Beneath the 

 stones was a most regularly-constructed mound, composed of 

 alternate layers of yellow and white coloured sand interspersed with 

 many pieces of charcoal. This inner mound was 29 ft. in diameter, 

 and rose at its apex to within a foot of the top of the barrow. The 

 spot over which the first commencement of the mound had been 

 made was most clearly marked ; but there was not the slightest 

 indication that, either at that place or at any other part of the 

 barrow, there had ever been an interment. It is quite impossible 

 that any burial after cremation can have been made in the mound, 

 for, as I have remarked in other places, burnt bones appear to be 

 indestructible. Indeed I may say that, in the course of a very large 

 experience, I have never noticed any change to have taken place 

 in calcined bones under whatever circumstances they have been 

 placed. The only explanation I can give (one which I have had to 

 offer in the case of a barrow lately noticed) is that an unburnt 

 body had been laid on the natural surface of the ground, and that 

 every trace of it had disappeared ; a circumstance of by no means 

 uncommon occurrence where free admission of atmospheric 

 influences is afforded to the body by reason of the porous nature 

 of the covering matter. I must however admit that in this 

 barrow, on account of the nature of the material, I should have 

 expected to have found some remains of the bones. 



It has been held by some, as I have already stated in the 

 Introduction, that these now empty and tenantless barrows 

 are cenotaphs ; that, in other words, no interment has ever 



