90 Armstrong : Two Ancie?il Burial Cairns. 



might be expected to lie. This proved no easy task, as the 

 stones were so tightly wedged, and had each apparently been 

 specially selected for the purpose. Almost without exception, 

 they were about a foot in diameter, oblong or oval in form, 

 and three to live inches in thickness, with flat surfaces and 

 rounded edges. No marks of tools were visible on any, but 

 all alike were either water-worn, or had been especially rubbed 

 to thek present form. The stone itself was the Millstone Grit 

 of the surrounding moor, but fragments of stone of the form 

 composing the cairn are not now to be found thereon readily, 

 although a careful search might reveal such. Personally I am 

 inclined to think that they have been transported from a con- 

 siderable distance ; that great care has been exercised in their 

 selection is indisputable. 



When nearing the inner radius of the cairn, small fragments 

 of charcoal were noticeable, but they were by no means in large 

 quantities. There was also a layer of fine grey sand an inch 

 or two in depth, which had apparently been spread over the 

 natural surface of the ground, and the stones bedded therein. 

 Sand of this kind is abundant in the vicinity of the rocks 

 upon the moor. 



In the centre, large pieces of stone were piled around a 

 rough circle of about 3' 6"' extreme diameter, and within these, 

 large and small stones, all of the form previously noticed, 

 were laid more or less upon their flat surfaces, and amongst 

 them the grey sand and charcoal were very evident ; pieces of 

 the latter up to an inch square, being found. 



Upon the gradual removal of this central mass of stones, 

 the presence of the unmistakable black ' barrow earth ' 

 became evident in a slight layer, perhaps an inch or an inch and 

 a half in thickness, and spread over the whole area within the 

 inner ring, the bottom of which had been paved with large 

 flat stones. Amongst this earth very slight traces of a greyish 

 white paste-like substance were] visible, probably the decom- 

 posed remains of the bones after calcination. The deposit was 

 carefully gathered together. Its removal bared the large stones 

 forming the bottom of the grave, and these proved to be two 

 in number, the largest being about 2' o'' across, and of a some- 

 what angular form ; strikingly different to those composing 

 the cairn itself, for the edges were rough fractures, not rounded 

 in any way. Apparently the surface soil had been removed 

 from the ground upon which the cairn was built, for the upper 



Naturalist, 



