540 Bronze Age Barroius 07i Am Hill, Warminster. 



remains of carbonised straw or grass can also be detected in it. 

 One side of tlie urn is noticeably better baked than the other. 



Fig. 3.— Whetstone of hard slaty stone found in Urn in Barrow on 

 Warminster Golf Course, -r- 



A beautiful little perforated whetstone (Fig. 3) was found among 

 the bones in the urn. It is of a well-known type, sometimes found 

 associated with Bronze Age remains, and described by Dr. Thurnam 

 as " Polished Hone Stones " {Archceologia, XLTIL, page 424). It 

 is of a fine black dense slaty stone, the surface being carefully 

 smoothed, almost polished, and showing some slight signs of use.^ 



The hole was bored from both sides by some tool that has left 

 distinct grooves on its inner surface. The stone has an oblong 

 section, it is 3in. in length, and tapers slightly at both ends.^ 



Before the discovery of the urn itself the workmen noticed 

 several flat stones, apparently lying on what would have been the 

 original ground level or " floor " of the barrow, to the south-west 

 of the urn. These stones might well be taken for modern roofing 

 tiles ; one that appears to be unbroken is roughly oblong in shape, 



' I am indebted to the authorities at the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) 

 for kindly determining the nature of the stone. They state that West 

 Somersetshire or Devonshire is the nearest locality from which this slaty 

 rock could have been obtained. 



' There are several whetstones of this type from Bronze Age Barrows 

 in the Museum at Devizes, amongst them one precisely similar to the 

 Warminster example, with one end broken off ; this was obtained from a 

 schoolboy at Clyffe Pypard, but nothing could be ascertained as to where 

 it was found. Sir John Evans cites several of the type, among them one 

 found in an urn at Broughton, in Craven, in 1 675, with a bronze dagger 

 and stone axe-hammer. Stone Implements, p. 269. 



