22(4 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Sept. 



Roman form, spears, axes, cleavers, <fcc. No coin of any kind has as 

 yet been found in these places ; and until the present case, I am not 

 aware of any metallic objects having been discovered, except those 

 iron remains just noted. All these facts, and more especially the free 

 use of iron tools, and the tolerably well preserved state in which these 

 have been found, (seeing the rapid decomposition which iron exposed 

 to damp and air undergoes) lead me to believe that we shall err great- 

 ly if we attribute to these remarkable stone rings and erections any 

 very great antiquity. And I believe the evidence is sufficient to 

 shew that the knowledge of the industrial arts among the people who 

 constructed these depositories of the dead, was sufficiently advanced to 

 justify the belief that they were themselves the fabricators of the 

 curious relics found with their bones and ashes. I believe they could 

 have made them, whether they did or not. 



At the same time, it is by no means improbable that they w r ere 

 procured by barter or otherwise from other races, with which they held 

 intercourse. Possibly the false or imitation character of the small 

 metallic ornament might tend to confirm this belief, or it may have 

 escaped solely on account of its counterfeit nature, and have been de- 

 posited with the ashes of its owner, merely because it was of no intrinsic 

 value. It is by no means improbable, in my mind, that it and many 

 others of similar character may have been imported by the earlier 

 European traders, many of whose fleets visited the well known har- 

 bours of the Malabar coasts some centuries since. 



I can offer no conjecture what this disc was intended for, or what 

 the object of the slit may have been. It could scarcely have been 

 intended to be used as a brooch, on the same principle as the now well 

 known Tara brooch found, with other slit brooches, in Ireland, inasmuch 

 as in the present case, the material is of equal thickness and size 

 throughout, and there would have been nothing to prevent the pin 

 from slipping off. It was to be used separately, and was not attached 

 permanently to any other article, as there is no trace of such a point 

 of attachment, and the coating of gold has been originally extended 

 over the entire surface. 



I have laid these few remarks before the Society, trusting that they 

 may excite the attention of any who may have the opportunity of 

 extending our acquaintance with the remains of the races inhabiting 



