A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



interest in investigations of this kind. Men, women and children had 

 here been laid to rest, and the burial ground had evidently been in use 

 for a considerable time, as in all probability different rites were in obser- 

 vance at different periods. Of the 188 unburnt burials, all but 1 1 were 

 sufficiently preserved to indicate the direction in which the body had 

 been laid in the grave. In 96 cases the head was placed to the west, 

 while 54 pointed to the south-west and 27 in other directions. As 

 the excavations proceeded towards the north end of the field, the orien- 

 tation of the graves became more exact, .and an obviously Christian 

 interment was found to be strictly east-and-west. Of the 27 irregular 

 burials, 1 5 were with the head towards the south ; and it was observed 

 throughout that the position of children's skeletons differed generally 

 from that of the adults, being usually from north to south. 



Of the graves in which no relics were discovered, 29 were of chil- 

 dren and 19 of adults ; and though it is possible that articles of perish- 



BRONZE PANELS OF STOUP, LONG WITTENHAM. 



able material were deposited with the dead, the absence of metallic objects 

 such as weapons and brooches is in any case significant. As bearing 

 on the religious beliefs of the persons so interred, it may be noted that 

 27 out of the total of 48 were laid with the head towards the west, 

 and of the remainder 1 5 were children or young persons. The omission 

 of grave furniture in the case of those who had not reached a mature 

 age is not surprising, but the cemetery contained a notable exception, 

 which also throws a good deal of light on the question of orientation. 

 A grave less than 4 feet in length contained the body of a boy, whose 

 head lay at the west end. At the feet was found a bronze cauldron 1 

 resting on a slab of wood, by the side of which was a spearhead about 

 6 inches long, with the point downwards. A small iron knife lay on 

 the breast, and to the right of the head stood a beaker or stoup (see 



1 Arch, xxxviii. pi. xviii. fig. 2. 

 230 



