Rev. W. Greenwell on Barroios at Ford. 393 



stones. On removing the stones of Avliich the mound was 

 formed, there was found upon the original and undisturbed 

 surface of the ground, a thin stratum of burnt bones, wood, 

 and earth. This band of burnt matter was about two inches 

 thick ; scattered irregularly throughout it were many small 

 fragments of urns, and pieces of flint, uncalcined. The burnt 

 matter was not found throughout the whole surface but only 

 in patches. There was no indication that there had ever been 

 a whole urn interred, the fragments were very various in 

 texture and colour, and seemed to be portions of many vessels, 

 having the appeal ance, both in colour and hardness, of hav- 

 ing been burnt as fragments,* along with the bones and wood. 

 The barrow had never been disturbed, the stratum of burnt 

 matter being quite regular and unbroken. A careful examin- 

 ation of the surface of the ground, and of the stratum of burnt 

 matter, shewed that one or more bodies had been burnt, with 

 pieces of pottery, and that then the remains, with flint flakes 

 added, had been deposited in thin patches on the ground, and 

 the mound of stones raised over them. There had never been 

 a cist, or apparently any unburnt body, in the barrow. 



Such records as the above may seem trivial to many per- 

 sons, and it may appear as though we have had, in various 

 archaeological publications_, notices of the opening of barrows 

 so often as to become wearisome, but it is only by the record 

 of many interments that we can arrive at any just conclusion 

 as to the mode and circumstances of the burial of the early 

 inhabitants of Britain, and so through their burial rites, 

 always sacred and religious, at a knowledge of their religion, 

 habits, and social relations. 



* Such fragments are not of unfrequent occurrence in sepulchral interments. 

 Mr. Carrington found in a barrow, at Little Lea, Castern, shreds of an urn, a 

 bone pin, and several flints, which had all been exposed to the fire which had 

 consumed the body. See Bateman's Ten Years Diggings, p. 190. Similar de- 

 posits have been found in very many instances in barrows, which have been 

 examined in various parts of Germany. It is probable that this custom of plac- 

 ing broken pot-sherds, and flint flakes, in the tomb, may have a religious sig- 

 nificancy which as yet we cannot explain. From the frequency of their occur- 

 rence we cannot suppose them to have been accidentally deposited, and their 

 being found associated with the dead, is strong evidence of their being linked 

 to some religious chord in the faith of these ancient people. A passage in 

 Hamlet, Act. v. Scene 1, may have originated in a lingering remembrance of 

 this custom, where the priest, answering Laertes, relative to the burial of 

 Ophelia, says, — 



Her death was doubtful ; 

 And, but that great command o'ersways the order, 

 She should in ground unsanctified have lodged 

 Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers. 

 Shards, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her. 



