PARISH OF WESTOW, EAST RIDING. 495 



body, but still further to the west, was the body of a child, with the 

 milk dentition, burnt like the two last. The signs of burning 

 began to be less evident about this point, though the action of fire 

 had still been considerable. One foot to the west of the child were 

 some burnt bones of a strongly-made adult man, but only 

 fragmentary ones, and never having formed (though all the bones 

 of one leg were present) a perfect body when placed in the barrow. 

 The flagging still continued, having gradually declined from a 

 height of 3 ft. until where it ceased it rested upon the natural 

 surface. The evidence of fire became gradually more and more 

 scanty, and, at a distance of 30 ft. from the commencement of the 

 mesial deposit, the burning, flagging, and the ridge-shaped pile 

 of stones disappeared together, the ordinary earthen material of the 

 mound taking their place. A single piece of plain pottery 

 occurred in the burnt matter at the east end of the deposit. 



The peculiar arrangements of this long barrow appear to give an 

 explanation of the way in which the burning of the bodies in these 

 mounds had taken place. It seems to have been done in this 

 manner. The bodies, sometimes in a complete state, at other times 

 fragmentary and the bones disjointed, were laid at or above the 

 level of the natural surface, on a thick layer of clay, or, as in 

 this case, on a pavement of flag- stones ; upon them were placed, as 

 here and at Rudstone, turfs or earth, and upon that again stone ; 

 there does not appear, in all cases, to have been any intervening 

 turfs, the stone itself lying immediately upon the bones. Wood 

 was placed amongst, alongside, and underneath the stone, the 

 evident remains of it, in the shape of charcoal, being found 

 abundantly in some parts ; and in others, where charcoal is 

 wanting, it is probable that the intense burning had consumed the 

 wood too perfectly for any remains beyond a white ash to be left. 

 Over and upon this covering deposit of stone was then thrown up 

 the ordinary material of the barrow. It is not easy to say 

 positively how the fire was applied in the first instance, but 

 it is not unlikely that the cross trench at the south-east end 

 of the mesial deposit in this barrow and in that of Raiset Pike, 

 and the holes found in a similar position in those at Rudstone, 

 Market Weigh ton, and Kilburn, were connected with the ignition 

 of the pile. In the Market Weighton long barrow, opened by 

 Professor Rolleston, and which I had an opportunity of inspecting 

 from time to time as the work went on, there seemed to have been 

 a further provision for continuing the operation of burning by 



