144 NOTICE OF A CINERAEY URN AT HUSTYN. 



miller, was engaged with a labourer levelling the mound. Its 

 sepulchral character was not suspected. There was not a very large 

 quantity of earth to be removed, but stones, many of them of a 

 sparry nature, were numerous. These varied in size from such as 

 are commonly used in hedging, perhaps about 6 inches in diameter, 

 to larger ones 2 or 3 feet long. They formed a cairn which rose 

 about 3 or 4 feet above the surface of the field. 



The Barrow, containing the cairn, was nearly circular, and, at the 

 time of my visit, measured from 35 to 41 feet in diameter. Its 

 mode of construction was not then very apparent, but from what I 

 could learn, stones had been placed at its circumference, and a stony 

 circle was formed at some distance further in. Near the centre the 

 stones had been built together, for about a foot in thickness, so as 

 to enclose a space which was filled with soft fine earth, almost as 

 black as eoot. In this was embedded at a depth of about two feet 

 from the top of the mound, a large earthen pot or urn, mouth up- 

 ward, standing on a stone at about the middle of the Barrow. The 

 black earth completely surrounded the vessel (as closely as if it had 

 been trodden or "tamped" in), and filled its mouth. The stone 

 seemed to rest on the natural soil. 



The discoverers being surprised at what they beheld, did not 

 pause to reflect. A shovel was inserted, the urn was lifted, carried 

 to the edge of the mound, and broken on the ground, A quantity 

 of fibrous roots was found within, — binding together in a compact 

 mass, calcined bones. 



The interment had not been previously disturbed, but the urn 

 must have been somewhat crushed, or had become slightly cracked, 

 where it stood — either by the downward pressure of the earth upon 

 it, or through the expansion of roots within it, — for notwithstanding 

 that it was lifted as if all in one piece, roots are still adhering to 

 some portions of the bottom in such positions as indicate penetration 

 through an old fracture. The bones, which are broken into small 

 fragments, are hard and very white. They seem to be parts of an 

 adult human skeleton. 



I carefully examined some of the conglomerate, breaking it up 

 in water and freeing the bone particles from the fibrous roots in the 

 hope of discovering, in the deposit, beads or flints — but in vain. 



From the mound, however, 3 pieces of flint were obtained, also a 

 sherd of pottery harder than the urn. Whether any of the flints 



