DIRECTION OF THE HEAD. 25 



bones so ari-ang-ecl that the correctness of the description cannot 

 be disputed ^. 



The position in which the hands have been placed varies con- 

 siderably. They are found up to, and in front of, the face — and 

 this is perhaps the most frequent position — at the neck, under the 

 head, crossed over the chest or stomach, at the knees and hips, and 

 extended down the side, or out from the body ; in fact, arranged 

 in almost every way in which it is possible to place the arms of 

 a body laid upon the side, and just as they would naturally be 

 adjusted during sleep. 



There is no rule as regards the direction of the body, the head 

 being laid with the face opposite to any point of the compass '^. In 

 the whole series of the wold barrows, 234 bodies wei'e in a suffi- 

 cient state of preservation to admit of the position of the head in 

 this respect being ascertained, together with the side on which the 

 body had been laid. Without having regard to the minute divi- 

 sion of the compass points, they may be thus classed ^ : — 



DIRECTION OF HEAD. ON THE EIGHT SIDE. ON THE LEFT SIDE. TOTAL. 



Head pointing to N. 8 11 19 



N.N.W. 3 3 6 



N.W. 12 6 18 



W.N.W. 6 17 



W. 20 5 



za 



W.S.W. 7 18 



S.W. 16 3 19 



S.S.W. 4 5 9 



S. 11 8 19 



S.S.E. 15 6 



S.E. 3 18 21 



E.S.E. 1 9 10 



E. 13 24 37 



E.N.E. 1 -4 5 



N.E. 6 15 21 



N.N.E. 4 4 



112 122 234 



It will be seen from this table that when the head has pointed to 

 the West or the adjoining pai'ts to North and South of it, 

 by far the larger number of bodies were laid on the right side ; 



^ See a paper by Mr. Lukis in the Journal of the British Archseological Associa- 

 tion, vol. i, where at p. 27 is an engraving of the skeletons in the position in which 

 they were discovered. 



^ The direction of the head is given with reference to the line of the vertebral 

 column, the head being regarded as the final vertebra. 



^ Sir R. Colt Hoarc (though his observations in this respect are not very carefully 

 recorded) appears to have found the head generally directed towards the North. 



