PARISH OF RUDSTONE, EAST RIDING, 499 



affected by the burning. The fire within this hollow was probably 

 connected with the burning of the bodies afterwards discovered^ and 

 which constituted the primary interments of the barrow. Indeed, 

 it was most likely synchronous with the funeral fire, if it was not 

 itself, as seems probable, the starting-point of the fire then 

 employed. This hole and its contents bear a strong resemblance to 

 what was observed in the excavated trench at the east end of the 

 barrow last described, and both, there can be little doubt, originated 

 in the same purpose. 



Commencing about 2 ft. to the east of, and therefore beyond, the 

 edge of the hollow just described, was a deposit of burnt earth and 

 chalk, 6 ft. in width and 2^ ft. in depth, which, resting on the 

 natural surface, ran in a direction west-north-west towards the 

 west end of the mound and along its mesial line, being parallel 

 with, and enclosed within, the verge of the northern limb of the 

 barrow. The material of this deposit not only diflfered from the 

 general mass of the mound in which it was enclosed, in being 

 burnt, but in its having been originally composed of substances 

 of another character, much less compact and more combustible than 

 the earth and chalk of the barrow itself. As has been stated, it ran 

 quite over the hollow, and its northern boundary was conterminous 

 with the northern edge of the hollow itself. The complete burning 

 of this linear deposit extended towards the west for about 14 ft., 

 and then the action of fire became less apparent, until at last it died 

 entirely away. The same materials however, although no longer 

 showing any signs of burning, continued to be employed in the 

 formation of a deposit, retaining the same dimensions and direction ; 

 the whole deposit, burnt and unburnt, reaching in length to a 

 point 38 ft. distant from its commencement just east of the large 

 hollow. The intention, no doubt, had been that the entire deposit 

 should become ignited, but here, as was also the case at Scamridge, 

 the burning had ceased from some cause or other (most probably 

 from insuflBcient draught) before it reached the point to which it 

 was meant to extend. 



Throughout the whole length of this deposit, although more 

 abundantly in some places than in others, were the broken and 

 dislocated remains of several human bodies, all laid upon the 

 natural surface. In some instances a few of the bones were 

 in juxtaposition and in their proper order, but only in one case 

 was there anything approaching to an entire body ; and, generally 

 speaking, nothing more than fragmentary and disjointed portions 



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