By Mr. Cunnington i F.G.S. 



115 



There is reason to believe that the interment of human remains 

 does not extend beyond a distance of 13ft. or 14ft. from the cist, 

 no further traces of bones having been found. If such be the case, 

 the number of individuals here entombed, as far as they can be 

 computed, would not exceed twenty or twenty-five. This would, 

 however, be more than is recorded in any other barrow of the 

 period. 



About three yards within the barrow, towards the south-east, 

 and about a foot above the base, the cores of the horns of four oxen 

 were dug 1 up, in undisturbed ground. They occurred in a space a 

 little more than a yard square. They were in no regular position, 

 and were accompanied by a few metatarsals. All were much 

 decayed, being not far from the surface. 



Mr. Cunnington found the remains of seven other oxen here in 

 1801, and there can be little doubt that more yet might be dis- 

 covered if the east end of the barrow were fully examined. 



At the base of the barrow, beneath the interments, and occasionally 

 thrown up in irregular layers,sometimes of several inches in thickness, 

 amongst the general mass of the chalk above, there was a large 

 quantity of very black unctuous earth, distinctly different from the 

 original turf, as usually found at the base of round barrows. It is 

 almost quite black when moist, and is then soapy to the touch ; when 

 dry it is of a reddish-brown colour, and exceedingly hard. The 

 decomposition effected in it by the slow chemistry of Nature has 

 been so complete that no traces of the vegetable fibre remain. 1 The 

 origin and condition of this peculiar earth has been a puzzle to 

 antiquaries since it was first observed by Mr. Cunnington in 1801. 

 Dr. Thurnam speaks of it as a substance the nature and origin of 



1 As stated above, the vegetable fibre has disappeared from this old turf of the 

 long barrows, but in the turf obtained from the base of round barrows the 

 fibrous structure is usually more or less distinct, whilst in the layers of ancient 

 turf found under Silbury the mosses are so well preserved that the species may 

 still be readily determined. It must, however, be borne in mind that the vast 

 conical mass of chalk which forms this mound (with an angle of 30 degrees) 

 would throw off much of the rain-water, and thus retard the decay of vegetable 

 matter beneath it. 



i 2 



