10G 



Notes on Bowl's Barrow. 



skulls had been cleft with great violence on the left side. All 

 were very dolichoccphalous. 



In 1885 a deep trench was cut on the south side of the barrow 

 near the highest part. At a depth of about four feet there were 

 layers of the black soapy earth ; some of them in places nearly a 

 foot in thickness, but soon thinning off and disappearing altogether. 

 No traces of human handicraft were found, with the exception of a 

 small oval pebble of variegated quartzite {not a Wiltshire stone) 

 which had been used at both ends as a hammer (query, was not this 

 " knapper " used in making the flint implements ?) and a small rude 

 flint knife. These, and the flint flakes mentioned below, are the 

 only relics of man's art hitherto found in this large and elaborately- 

 constructed mound. 



The examination was renewed in June, 1886, by the writer, 

 assisted by his brother, the late Mr. Henry Cunnington, whose 

 acute powers of observation were of great service during the opera- 

 tions, and by whose kindness the conveyance to the barrow was 

 daily provided. The work was carried on, by the aid of four men, 

 for five days, in the face of much difficulty, the barrow consisting, 

 as already stated, mainly of rubble and large stones ; a great part of 

 which, moreover, had been rendered very loose by the operations of 

 former explorers. Mr. Akerman's opinion, that the opening of such 

 barrows " is at once tedious, irksome, and laborious," was abundantly 

 verified. Deep trenches, reaching to the natural chalk below, were 

 dug to the total length of eighty-two feet. 



Much information has been obtained as to the general history 

 and conditions of the interments, but no works of art were 

 found, except mere flint flakes. These mostly occurred, to the 

 number of forty or fifty, on a space on the old turf about two feet 

 square, within a few yards from the edge of the barrow, to the S.E. 

 They were mostly quite small, and were so close together as to 

 suggest that they were struck off on the spot, in the process of 

 making some kind of flint implement or weapon. A very small 

 quantity of wood ashes was found near these, covering a space of 

 about eighteen inches square. On the floor of the barrow were the 

 remains of the interments as left by the previous explorers, and 



