192 YORKSHIRE. EAST RIDING. 



the head to N., the right arm across the body, the fingers resting 

 on the loins, the left hand up to the face. The head and feet were 

 both in contact with the sides of the grave, and, consequently, 

 lay rather higher than the rest of the body. In front of the face 

 was what seems to be part of a flint knife, 2 in. long and chipped to 

 a sharp edge along that side which remained. At the head was 

 the tine of a red-deer's antler, 8 in. long, partly cut and partly 

 broken ofFfrom the beam ; \A?hile another tine, also Sin. long, partly 

 sawn and partly broken off, lay at the feet. Prom the position in 

 which they were found they had probably been once applied to some 

 special use, although it may be vain to speculate what that use was. 

 It is possible that they may have been employed in flaking flint, 

 for the ends are worn quite smooth, though that may have been 

 done during life by the animal rubbing them against trees. In the 

 grave there were also a part of the pelvic bones and one of the 

 femurs of a child. 



Parish of Weaverthorpe. Ord. Map. xciv. n.w. 



The series of barrows next to be described is a large one, and 

 extends through the parishes of Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe, 

 Langtoffc, and Cowlam, along the ridge of high land lying south 

 of the great wold valley. The whole district, to judge from the 

 number of barrows it contains and the numerous earthworks which 

 intersect it, as also from the amazing quantity of flint implements 

 and chippings scattered about on the surface in every part, must 

 have been thickly peopled and over a long space of time. 



XLII. The first barrow examined was in the parish of Weaver- 

 thorpe, about a mile to the south of the village, and standing upon 

 a rising piece of land, although not upon the ridge of the hill. It 

 was 60 ft. in diameter, 4 ft. high, and formed of earth, with an 

 intermixture of some chalk stones. Twelv^e feet south-east from 

 the centre, and extending for about 5 ft. towards that point, was a 

 layer of soft black mould about 4 ft. wide, placed on the natural 

 surface, and varying in thickness from 2 in. to 6 in. A great deal 

 of charcoal in small grains lay amongst it, with many broken animal 

 bones, and numerous flint flakes and chippings, amongst which was 

 a long, oval, carefully-worked scraper. About the middle of this 

 deposit were the remains of what seemed to have been when first 



