PARISH OF RUKSTONE. 263 



as to prevent their position being- ascertained. Seven feet soutli-west- 

 by-west from the centre, and at the same level, was a child's body, 

 too much decayed to allow anything- more to be determined. Two 

 feet south of the centre, and upon the level of the natural surface, 

 was the body of a man, laid on its right side, with the head to 

 S.W., the hands being up to the face. On the ground-level at the 

 centre, and just over the middle of the first grave (to be noticed 

 presently), was a child, laid on the left side, with the head to S.W., 

 and the hands up to the face. There was a great deal of burnt 

 earth and charcoal both above and below the body ; and throughout 

 all this part of the mound were the disturbed and broken bones of 

 two bodies, one being of an adult, the other of a child. Immediately 

 beneath the child was an oval grave, north-east and south-west, 

 8 ft. by 41 ft. at the bottom, and 9 ft. by 8i ft. at the surface-level, 

 and 6i ft. deep. It was filled in with chalk. At the bottom of 

 the grave, about the middle, was the body of a man, laid on the 

 left side, with the head to S.E. by E., the right hand being up to 

 the face and the left on the upper part of the stomach. About 

 midway between the knees and the face were several articles, 

 some of which had apparently once been employed in fastening the 

 dress. They were placed upon each other in the following order. 

 On the top was a long and narrow implement of mica-schist, 

 ground over the whole surface [fig. 

 14] ; it may very possibly have 

 been a whetstone. The under sur- 

 face is flat and the upper one con- 

 vex, and it decreases in width from 

 the middle to the ends, which are 

 rounded ; the flat surfiice is hol- 

 lowed to some, though a trifling-, ex- ,,. , ,., 

 tent, and there are slight scratches 



upon it which may have been caused by its having been used 

 for whetting ^. Immediately below it was a very prettily engraved 

 jet ring" [fig. 123], with two perforations in the side, similar to 

 those in the jet buttons as shown in the section below. This ring 



^ Two similarly-shaped stones, one remarkably like the Rudstone specimen, were 

 found by Sir R. Colt Hoare in a barrow in Wiltshire. They were associated with an 

 uiiburnt body, with which were also deposited a ' drinking cup,' a large button and 

 a 'pulley bead,' both of jet, and a flint rudely chipped, as if for a dagger or spear. 

 Ancient Wilts, vol. i. p. 118, pi. xiv. There is a gi-eat resemblance between the 

 objects discovered in the above Wiltshire barrow and that at Rudstone, though the 

 two burials do not correspond in all the accidents. 



Mr. Evans regards these articles as \vhetstoues, or for polishing. Ancient 



