98 



Notes on Barrow-digging*. 



interments were found. The greatest thickness of this rubble at i] 

 its junction with the compact footing was two feet six inches;;! 

 and it was obsorved that all the interments were in the thickest I 

 part as at D ; in most instances placed on the surface slope of the j 

 original barrow ; and in no instance whatever was the slightest I 

 trace of bone or of pottery found in the pounded chalk. I have I 

 sometimes thought that many of the large Wiltshire barrows 

 obtained their vast proportions by means of secondary interments ; 

 and it would appear as if this had been so in these three cases. 

 There is no good reason to suppose that the interments on the 

 south side of the barrow No. 6, were the remains of twenty slaves, 

 sacrificed on the death of their lord and . buried on his tomb. 

 There is more reason in the supposition that these interments took 

 place at various times, as the deaths of the individuals occurred, 

 and that they were here interred because it was a family burial 

 place. We have no certain knowledge of the customs of that early 

 period, and there is very little foundation, if any at all, for the 

 statement made by some authors that it was a custom at that time 

 to slay the slaves of the deceased at his tomb, as a part of the 

 funeral ceremony. If this had been so, we should have found 

 traces of it in every barrow of any size. It should be borne in 

 mind that the primary mounds are so large that they must have 

 taken a long time to erect with the simple and imperfect appliances 

 of those days. There is very little mould covering the chalk 

 downs of Wiltshire in the present day, and there must have been 

 less 2000 or 3000 years ago; so that the barrow builders must 

 have had great difficulty, and must have laboured for a considerable 

 time in amassing and heaping up such enormous mounds. On the 

 supposition therefore that the custom prevailed of immolating 

 dependants on the death of the chieftain, those who entertain this 

 opinion should tell us what was done with the victims all the while 

 that the mound was forming. 



I have thought, and I throw out the suggestion for the con- 

 sideration of others, that the history of many of these large mounds 

 in Wiltshire is as follows. A space of ground was first of all set 

 apart for a family burial place, and enclosed with a fosse and 



