Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/66

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DESCRIPTION OF AN ANCIENT TUMULAR CEMETERY.

at which they were found, seems to afford the proof that the upper part of this mound has been disturbed within the last three hundred years. I incline, indeed, to a conjecture that the hill was turned over and raised to a greater height by Fairfax's army in 1644, for the purpose of obtaining a more commodious site for their battery. Another indication of such a change in the upper part of the mound is, perhaps, found in the circumstance of some of the bones having been curiously cut and bored, as if merely for amusement. This is the case with one of the metatarsal bones of Bos longifrons. The burr of the deer's antler had been made into a kind of ring.

Near the centre of the tumulus, and at a depth of nine or ten feet, two pieces of tile, which are evidently Roman, were found. Not far from these, a fragment or two of Samian ware, and several portions of that coarse earthenware, covered with a green glaze, and ornamented with a scalloped pattern, which is now likewise generally supposed to be Roman, were also found. Fragments of pottery of other descriptions, and of more ambiguous character, were also thrown up.

In the very centre of the tumulus,, and raised only a few inches above the level of the undisturbed skeletons, was found a large urn.[1] Within two or three inches of this urn on the east, was the skeleton of a man who had probably measured not less than six feet four inches in height,[2] and at no great distance on the west side were the feet of another skeleton. This urn is of simple but unusual form, and presents distinct marks of having been turned on a wheel. It measures twelve inches and a quarter in height, thirteen inches nearly in the greatest diameter, eight inches at the base, and five inches and a half at the mouth, which is surrounded by a rim of very slight elevation, and upwards of one inch in width. It has a capacity of upwards of three imperial gallons. It is formed of very hard and coarse, well-baked, unglazed ware, of a dirty brick-red colour, with here and there a patch of black, doubtless the result of fire. Part of the surface is somewhat corroded, and discloses numerous small fragments of broken pebbles, and even of granite. It was found with its mouth, which had no cover, upwards, and only contained some rather loose clayey soil, like that in which it was imbedded. The interior of the urn had a peculiar faint, but very offensive smell,

  1. Figures of this urn, and that found in Walmgate, will be given with the conclusion of this memoir.
  2. Both the humeri of this skeleton were slightly affected by necrosis. A representation of the cranium will be given hereafter (Fig. 1).