100 



Notes on Barrow-digginga. 



potsherds ; but it must bo remembered that this tumulus was par- 

 tially explored in 1812, and again in 1824, on which occasions a stone 

 celt, a flint arrow-point, and in the upper part of the huge mound, 

 as belonging to a secondary interment, an iron fibula, were found. 

 There is therefore good reason to suppose that there had been 

 interments in them, although Mr. Bateman inclined to a contrary 

 opinion. I am disposed to look upon these tumular structures as 

 family burial places, and used as such for a long period, perhaps 

 even down to Roman times, to which the small brass coin found in 

 No. 6 may bear witness. 



Another point, connected with barrows Nos. 4, 5, and 6, to be 

 observed, is the orientation of the secondary interments in relation 

 to the primary one. They are all on the south, south-west and 

 south-east sides ; and in one instance only, viz., in ~No. 5, was an 

 interment found due east of the central one. In no instance did 

 we meet with an interment due west, and none was found on the 

 north side. 



Before quitting this group of barrows, we must notice that the 

 custom which prevailed with regard to the disposal of the dead 

 was by cremation, and that the exception to the practice occurred 

 very seldom. In two cases, viz., in barrows Nos. 4 and 6, the 

 primary interments appear to have been of the bodies entire, but 

 no argument can be based, as to the priority of the mode of burial, 

 upon this fact, for in the latter instance there was an accompanying 

 and co-eval interment after cremation ; and if the tradition relating 

 to the discoveries in 1840 has any foundation, and I see no reason 

 to doubt its truth, a skeleton, laid on its right side, was found far 

 from, and to the south of, the centre. It must also be noted that 

 the five skeletons, which were found in this group, were all laid 

 upon their right sides, and that of the four found by me three 

 had their heads to the west and one to the N.W. I have wished to 

 draw especial attention to this mode of depositing the dead, because 

 it may be found to have been a tribal custom. It is a curious cir- 

 cumstance that in the north of England, in the counties of 

 Leicester, Stafford, Derby, and York, Mr. M. S. Bateman observed 

 that out of 149 skeletons found in barrows, 101 were on their left 



