840 On Long Barrows and Round Barrows. 



of large size, measuring 230 feet in length, lies east and west; and 

 was opened by Dr. Thurnam in 1866. It belongs to the class of 

 Long Barrows, a form of tumulus which differs essentially from the 

 much more numerous Round Barrows, by which, on the Wiltshire 

 Downs, they are everywhere surrounded. These latter, the Round 

 Barrows, much more commonly than otherwise — at least three times 

 as often — contain interments of burnt bodies, often accompanied by 

 bronze weapons or implements,and especially bronze knives or daggers, 

 and by ornaments of glass, amber, jet or shale, and gold. Sometimes 

 there are flint and other stone implements, but these are all of a 

 kind known to have been in use at the same time as those of bronze. 

 The Round Barrows belong, essentially, and as a rule, to the Bronze 

 Age of this country, and to an age of burning the dead. When the 

 interment is that of the unburnt body — which, in Wiltshire, is less 

 than one in four — the body has been buried with the knees bent and 

 drawn up towards the chest. That the burnt and unburnt inter- 

 ments are of one and the same period is proved by the similarity, or 

 rather identity, of the accompanying implements and ornaments. 



The Long Barrows differ in toto from those of the circular form, 

 and belong to a different and earlier epoch. From their usually 

 great size, with one end only devoted to interment, they may be quite 

 as much or even more properly regarded as monuments than as 

 mere tombs. They very commonly measure from 200 to 250 feet 

 in length, and in rare cases even 300 or 400 feet. They seldom 

 exceed ten feet in height, and are wider and higher at one end than 

 at the other — usually that pointing to the east ; though at times, 

 they range north and south, in which case the south end is of larger 

 size. It is at this larger end, under what we may term the apex of 

 the tumulus, that the interments are found, on or but little below 

 the natural level of the ground. At each side of the barrow is a 

 trench, whence great part of the material of which the barrow 

 consists has been derived ; which trenches, it is remarkable, are not 

 continued round the ends of the barrow. From the great size of 

 the Long Barrows, and the often uncertain position of the apex, 

 their exploration is attended with great labour and difficulty, and 

 hence only a comparatively small number have been explored. About 



