404 ON THE PEOPLE OF THE LONG-BARROW PERIOD. 



in no way owing their disposition to the disintegration of the 

 tumulus into talus. The horned east end, therefore, which, to us, 

 when we had removed these masses of stones,, presented a magni- 

 ficent and striking appearance, was not presented to the eyes of the 

 early Britons, who erected it, nor, till 1874, had it been presented 

 to those of any one else. 



The almost perfect state in which one skeleton found in the 

 passage was recovered enhances the regret with which we have to 

 think of the rifling of the ' chamber/ and the destruction, for 

 craniological purposes, of the nine, or possibly more, bodies it con- 

 tained. This skeleton was much contracted, lying on its left side, 

 with the head at south-west by south, with the right hand up to 

 the face, and the left at the elbow of the right arm. The two 

 skeletons which lay beneath this one had been disturbed, probably, 

 when its owner came to be buried. One of the two disturbed 

 skeletons had belonged to a child about two or three years of age, 

 and it lay under the lower part of the man's skeleton, having all 

 its upper part in position, with its head to the north. Close to the 

 child's head was the arm-bone of a woman from 18 to 20 years of 

 age, of whose skeleton the lower vertebrae and pelvic bones were in 

 situ, whilst the rest had been disturbed, and the skull was missing. 

 The femur was recovered, however, and being 15.9 inches in length, 

 gives a stature of 4 feet 10 inches ; one disproportionately small, as 

 compared with that of the male, which was 5 feet 5 inches. 



No record has been preserved, or, at least, has been recovered by 

 us, as to how the nine bodies, or more, which the chamber contained 

 had been packed away in its area of 7 feet by 4. Some further 

 interest is given to this barrow by the fact that some secondary 

 Saxon burials were discovered in it in the November of 1874. Two 

 of the three bodies discovered upon this occasion had been disturbed; 

 one was in the extended position, and still in situ from patellae to 

 lower jaw, inclusive, but had suffered some displacement, owing, 

 probably, to the exceeding shallowness (9 inches) of the grave in 

 which it lay. With this skeleton were two buckles, one on each 

 shoulder, a knife on the pelvis, an amber bead near the sternum, and 

 a piece of red pottery (pseudo-Samian) at the feet. The bones show 

 the skeleton to have been a woman's, of about thirty years of age, 

 and the mode of burial shows the sex and nationality to be as above 

 stated. The head was at the south, the hands upon the pelvis. 



