EARLY MAN 



for if the larger tumuli have suffered so severely from the hand of time 

 it is reasonable to think that comparatively few of these slighter memo- 

 rials could have escaped sufficiently unscathed to be recognizable at the 



present day. 



On the other hand, these barrows of the third class show no sign of 

 having been derived from those of the second class. They appear 

 suddenly upon the scene, large in size as a rule, and of earth or other fine 

 materials. They seem to have been imported into our area from with- 

 out, ready-made, so to speak. For anything we know to the contrary, 

 they may be the tombs of a new aristocracy introduced by conquest or 

 otherwise, contrasting in size and structure with those of the natives. 



There is another group of Derbyshire burials which may be of late 

 pre-Roman date. They consist of inhumated interments contracted or 

 flexed like those of the Bronze age, but accompanied by iron objects, 

 usually knives ; and they are mostly found at high levels in the older 

 cairns. As however they are usually regarded as post-Roman, they will 

 be described in that section. 



' Finds ' of Implements. In Derbyshire large numbers of ancient 

 implements have been found on or near the surface. Most of these were, 

 with little doubt, casually lost, and so have little archaeological interest 

 beyond their intrinsic worth. Flint implements especially are abundant 

 in certain localities. The writer knows of farmers in the western portion 

 of the county who in a remarkably short time picked up considerable 

 numbers from their ploughed fields one in particular, near Brassington, 

 who obtained from several fields quite a large and varied collection, con- 

 taining many finely worked examples. 1 But to attempt to enumerate 

 these sporadic ' finds ' would lead to no useful result. 



On the other hand, the conditions under which the objects occurred 

 have sometimes a distinct archaeological significance. For instance, Mr. 

 Salt has observed that while flint implements and chippings are generally 

 diffused throughout his district, they are occasionally congregated in 

 large numbers in comparatively small areas. Within a space of a quarter 

 of an acre, z\ miles south-east of Buxton, he found nearly 400 pieces of 

 flint associated with many coarse potsherds. As flint is not indigenous 

 to the county, he has wisely preserved all the fragments found upon these 

 sites. These, upon examination, are found to contain perfect imple- 

 ments, pieces more or less worked, suggestive of unfinished implements 

 or implements spoiled in the making, and rough cores; the residue, 

 forming by far the larger proportion, being mere chippings. The infer- 

 ence is that flint implements were made on these sites. Mr. Turner 

 designates them ' pre-historic workshops,' but the ' wasters ' are too few 

 to indicate a lengthened manufacture, or a manufactory comparable with 

 that at Cissbury. 



Nothing of the nature of a founder's hoard of newly-cast bronze 



1 Journ. Derb. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. xi. 41. 

 189 



