DURHAM. 441 



the reservoir of the water-works at the place : they are preserved 

 in the Sunderland Museum. 



About a mile from Tunstall and Humbleton Hills a small 

 natural mound of sand and gravel, called Steeple Hill, rises abruptly 

 from the surrounding somewhat flat land. In removing this, 

 in February 1876, a cist was accidentally discovered, and the 

 sepulchral remains it contained were carefully collected and pre- 

 served by Mr. W. J. Cordner, the contractor. Some slight addition 

 of stones and earth had been made to the top of the mound, 

 constituting a small barrow which covered the burial-place. The 

 cist, which had an east and west direction, was about 4ft. long, 

 by 2| ft. wide, and not quite as much in depth. It had been sunk 

 to some extent into the natural mound, 'at the place consisting of 

 gravel which formed the bottom of the cist. It was constructed of 

 four whinstone boulders two on each side, of two end stones and a 

 large cover, all of limestone. In it was the skeleton of a man past 

 middle life, laid in the contracted position with the head to W. 

 Two 'food vessels' had been deposited close to the chest of the 

 man, and in them were found some few of the burnt bones of a 

 child under twelve years of age. The one vase is 4| in. high, 5 J in. 

 wide at the mouth, and 2J in. at the bottom. It is in shape very 

 much like fig. 71, and has five unpierced ears at the shoulder. The 

 whole surface, as also the inside of the lip of the rim, is covered 

 with ornament, consisting of a pattern of bands of lines, made by 

 a sharp-pointed instrument, arranged herring-bone fashion. The 

 other, which is 5J in. high, the same in width at the mouth, and 

 2f in. at the bottom, is not so well manufactured or so completely 

 baked as the former. It is ornamented as far as the shoulder with 

 eight encompassing lines of twisted-thong impressions, a similar 

 line is placed on the edge of the lip of the rim, and three others 

 encompass the inside of the lip. The remaining part of the vase is 

 covered with vertical lines of the same impressions, slightly 

 radiating from the bottom. A second skeleton, that of a woman 

 past middle life, was discovered about three feet to the west of the 

 cist. This body also had been laid with the head to W., but 

 nothing more connected with the position could be ascertained. 

 Some stones, but not arranged after the form of a cist, had been 

 placed round the body. It is not improbable that the burials in 

 this mound represent those of a man, his wife and their child, 

 and perhaps the fact that two bodies had been interred in the cist 

 may explain the occurrence of two vessels of pottery. At Hetton, 



