300 Archceologia. 



lasted till the end of that season. It was visible from mid- 

 night. — (Chronicon Mellicense.) It was first seen in Septem- 

 ber. — (Franciscus Papinus, Chronicon.) 



1266. In August, before daybreak, a comet was seen near 

 the sign Taurus. — (Gregoras, Historia Byzantina.) A total 

 visibility of three months may be inferred. 



1269. In the twentieth year of the reign of Alexander, 

 King of Scotland, a very fine comet appeared towards noon 

 [sub meridiem] . — (Boethius, Scotorum Historia, xiii.) Probably 

 towards the south would be a better rendering. — (Pingre, i. 

 415.) It was observed in the E. in August and September. — 

 Malvecius, Chronicon Brixiense.) 



AKC1LEOLOGIA. 



BAEEOW DIGGING IN YOEKSHIEE AND SCOTLAND— DISCO VEEIES 

 IN THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETEEY AT SAEE. 



The summer and autumn of the present year have witnessed some 

 rather interesting antiquarian operations in the shape of barrow 

 digging. Perhaps the most important of them was the exploration 

 of some of the 'ancient tumuli on the estate of Castle Howard, the 

 seat of the Earl of Carlisle, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which 

 was described rather fully in the Times of the 13th of September. 

 The first barrow opened was situated at the base of the Slingsby 

 Banks, was sixty feet in diameter, and about eight feet high, and 

 had been broken into at some rather remote period by treasure 

 seekers, who had very much disturbed its contents. These con- 

 sisted of a considerable quantity of ashes, mixed with lumps of 

 charcoal, fragments of several urns, a few wrought flints, and hu- 

 man bones, charred. Indeed, the action of fire was observable on 

 all the objects found, which appeared to have constituted at least 

 six interments. For the first deposit, the ground appeared to have 

 been hollowed out like a bowl, and the mound had been raised 

 over it. A smaller tumulus in the same neighbourhood, about six- 

 teen feet in diameter, and not quite two feet high, was next opened, 

 and was found to contain only burnt bone and ashes, which had 

 similarly been deposited in a hollow. Another large tumulus, about 

 thirty yards in diameter, and eight feet in height, was subsequently 

 opened, and was found to contain only one interment. An urn, 

 " magnificently scalloped or pectinated," and further described as 

 being " not of the usual form of the cinerary vessel, but with three 

 external rims, ornamented very irregularly in four horizontal rows 

 of sharp, angular indentations," had been placed in the centre on a 

 floor of concrete. 



