290 MORTIMER : SUMMARY OF SO-CALLED " DAXES' GRAVES." 
proportion of earth. A few scattered nodules of the decomposed 
iron pyrites, which occur in the chalk, were also found. In the 
centre of the first tumulus was a skeleton, having the head to the 
north and the feet to the south ; it was laid on the face, with the 
limbs doubled beneath the trunk the bones of the arms, forearms, 
and of the legs and thighs, were found side by side ; the hands and 
face, elbows and knees, and the feet and hips being severally in 
contact. Close to the skull were the fragments of a vessel of rude 
earthenware about a pint in capacity. It is of a grey colour, and is 
composed of clay with numerous fragments of chalk and calcareous 
spar. It is of cylindrical form, widening towards the mouth, with 
a projecting rim at the bottom. It had been imperfectly baked, 
and probably made on the wheel, f In No. 2 was a skeleton laid in 
the same position and direction as the preceding skeleton. 
" Close to the skull was a broken Urn of the same general 
character and- composition as the former example, except being of 
a black colour and very fragile. Its shape seems to have been 
somewhat globular. On opening No. 3, a skeleton only was found 
in the same contracted position, with the head to the south-west, 
and the feet to the north north-east, lying on the left side with the 
face to the west. 
" In the fourth tumulus a skeleton was discovered, placed in 
a directly opposite position to No. 3, viz., with the head to the 
north north-west, and facing the west. A second skeleton lying in 
the same contracted position on the right side, with the head to the 
north and face to the west, was met with. Besides a piece of iron, 
much corroded, of a flat and semi-circular form, beneath the body, 
no other remains were seen. The sixth barrow was a large one,; 
5 ft. high and 25 ft. in diameter. 
"After a most careful examination no vestige of interment or 
other deposit could be found. 
* This is also a mode of burial occasionally observed in the more ancient 
British tumuli. t More probably not. — J. R.^I. 
i This might be No. 13 of the mounds opened in July, 1897, and the one 
in which the Chariot was found. — J.R.M. 
§ The Proceedings of the Yorkshire Antiquarian Club, 18o4. 
