IS 



The Seventeenth General Meeting. 



the sea. About two years ago, one of them was opened. It was 

 about six feet in height, with a diameter of about 100 feet. It was 

 surrounded by a narrow fosse. A trench about six feet wide was 

 driven through it from the south-east towards the north-west. 

 About the centre of the barrow, they came upon a large deposit 

 of charcoal, mostly in small fragments, and upon this there lay a 

 deposit of human bones. Underneath there were flints arranged 

 apparently with great care, and covering a space of about eight feet 

 square. At a short distance to the east, they found a drinking cup 

 lying on its side. Discussion arose as to the material, and everybody 

 said it was undoubtedly a wooden cup. He took it home, but it 

 soon fell to pieces. He was struck with the appearances presented, 

 and on examination came to the conclusion that the material re- 

 sembled that of the so-called Kimmeridge coal money. A high 

 authority in the British Museum confirmed the opinion that it was 

 formed of shale. Another cup was found on which there were bands 

 of incised lines, made with great accuracy. They could not have 

 been made except by means of the lathe. The cup terminated 

 conically and would not stand upon its base. Two other similar 

 cups had been found — one in Cornwall, and the other at Hove, near 

 Brighton. Another barrow of a different character was examined 

 at Broad Down, and in it was found a beautiful example of the 

 incense cup. In the middle of a third barrow they found a huge 

 cairn of stones, containing an urn, a large flat vessel, and several 

 fragments or shards of pottery. There were also quantities of red 

 ochre — used perhaps by the Madame Rachels of the period. Last 

 year in a barrow on Gittesham Hill they also found large stones in 

 a circle. On removing them, four shapeless pieces of bronze, which 

 had been apparently melted in a ladle, were discovered. This year 

 they again commenced excavating, and his attention was called to a 

 a row of seven barrows, on the eastern escarpment of Broad Down. 

 On proceeding to the spot, however, he was horrified to find that 

 during the winter the farmer who occupied the land had carted the 

 greater portion of them away, with the view of enriching a neigh- 

 bouring field of turnips. If things went on as they were going 

 he feared that not a barrow would be found in England 100 years 



