The next engraving (fig. 20) again shows, within a cist, in a barrow on Baslow Moor called “Hob Hurst’s House,”11 two heaps of bones, the one simply collected together in a small heap, and the other guarded by a row of small sandstone “boulders” all of which had been subjected to fire. The next illustration (fig. 21) gives a section of the Flax Dale barrow at Middleton by Youlgreave, which shows the inverted position of the sepulchral urn. This barrow was formed on a plan commonly adopted by the ancient Britons, and will therefore serve as an example of mode of construction as well as of the inverted position of the urn. A circle of large rough stones was laid on the surface of the ground, marking the extent of the proposed mound. Within this the interments, whether in an urn or not, were placed, and the mound was then raised of stones to the required height, and afterwards covered to some thickness with earth, and thus the outer circle of the barrow was considerably extended, as will be seen by the engraving.

Another excellent example of the inverted position of the sepulchral urns is here given (fig. 22) from one of the cists in Rolly-Low, near Wardlow. I have chosen it because, when found by Mr. Bateman, it had received a considerable fracture on one side, and thus showed the burnt bones which it contained, through the aperture. The urn was about sixteen inches in height and twelve inches in diameter, and was ornamented in the usual manner with indentations produced by a twisted thong. It was inverted over a deposit of calcined human bones, among which was a large red deer’s horn, also calcined. The urn was so fragile as to be broken to pieces on removal.

In some urns discovered in Cambridgeshire, at Muttilow Hill, the Hon. R. C. Neville found that the calcined bones had been collected and wrapped in cloth before being placed in the urns. The contents of one of the urns he describes as “burnt human bones enveloped in a cloth, which, on looking into the vessel, gave them the appearance of being viewed through a yellow gauze veil, but which upon being touched dissolved into fine powder.”12 The urns were all inverted.

A somewhat peculiar feature of urn burial was discovered at Broughton, in Lincolnshire, where the urn containing the burnt bones was placed upright on the surface of the ground, and another urn, made to fit the mouth, inverted into it to form a cover.

In instances where the ashes of the dead have been collected from the funeral pyre, and laid in a skin or cloth before interment, the bone or bronze pins with which the “bundle” was fastened still remain, although, of course, the cloth itself has long since perished.

In other instances small stones have been placed around, and upon, the heap of burnt bones before raising the mound over the remains.

It is frequently found in barrows, where the interment has been by cremation, that there will be one or more deposits in cinerary urns, while in different parts of the mound, sometimes close by the urn, there will be small heaps of burnt bones without any urn. The probable solution of this is, that the simple heaps of bones were those of people who had been sacrificed at the death of the head of the family, and burned around him.

It is a very frequent occurrence in barrows for the interments to be made in stone cists, and these, of course, vary both in size and in form, according to the nature of the spot chosen, and to the requirements of each particular case. The cists are usually formed of rough slabs of limestone, grit-stone, granite, or other material which the district offers, set up edgeways on the surface of the ground, so as to form a sort of irregular-square, rhomboidal, or other shaped compartment. In this the interment, whether of the body itself or of the urn containing the calcined bones, or of the calcined bones without an urn, has been made, and then the cist has been covered with one or more flat stones, over which the cairn of stones, or earth, or both, has been raised. Some barrows contain several such cists, in each of which a single, or in some instances a double, interment has been made. Excellent examples of these are afforded by the accompanying engravings, and by figs. 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 20, 28, and 29. Occasionally, when the natural surface of the ground was not sufficiently even or solid for the interment to be as conveniently made as might be wished, a flooring of rough slabs of stone was laid for the body to rest upon. This was the case in a barrow called “Long-Low,” near Wetton, in the moorlands of Staffordshire (shown on fig. 24), which was opened by Mr. Carrington.

As there are some singular features connected with this barrow, a detailed account of the mode of its construction becomes necessary. This very peculiar barrow had been thought, time out of mind, to be a “mine rake,” and attempts have from time to time been made by lead miners to find a shaft, by removing certain portions of the mound—a shaft had, in fact, been sunk very nearly in the centre of the barrow. This rendered the operations of opening both difficult and laborious. Long-Low is what is usually denominated a “twin barrow,” consisting of two circular mounds, connected by a bank, which altogether are 220 yards long. A plan of this barrow, drawn to scale, is shown on the accompanying engraving (fig. 23). The circular mound at the north-east end is thirty yards across and seven feet high in the centre, that at the south-west end not so large; the connecting bank at its base is fifteen yards wide, and where entire about six feet in height, with regular sloping sides where not mutilated. “The barrow runs in a straight line along the highest part of the land, a strong wall, separating the fields, is built over it lengthways, the stone for which, like other field walls in the vicinity, appears to have been procured from the bank of the tumulus, which, with the exception of some parts of the surface, is formed of large flat stones, which have evidently been procured in the immediate neighbourhood, where the surface of the land is lowered to a considerable extent. This is the only instance (as far as my experience goes) of a barrow being formed of stones got by quarrying, they being generally composed of such stones as are found on the surface of uncultivated land, which, owing to exposure to the atmosphere, have their angular points rounded. The strata in the neighbourhood of this barrow are but slightly consolidated, and are separated from each other by a thin seam of earthy matter, and abound with vertical cracks, so that it would not be a difficult task to dig out stones with sharpened stakes—the principal instruments, I presume, for such purposes in primitive times.”

The internal construction of this cairn is singular. By making holes in various places along the bank, was found a low wall in the centre, built with large stones, which appears to be carried the whole length of the bank. Against this, large flat stones, with their tops reclining against the wall, are placed, thus leaving many vacancies, and showing an economical way of raising the mound at less expenditure both of labour and materials. The portions of this which have been laid bare are, with remains of interments, shown on the plan (fig. 23) at C, D, E, and F.

A large cist, or chamber, was discovered near the centre of the large mound. It was formed by four immense stones, inclosing an area six feet long, five feet wide, and about four feet deep. In all probability the capstone had been removed, as none was found. On the cist being cleared, was discovered a regular paved floor of limestone, entirely covered over with human bones, presenting a confused mass of the relics of humanity. The skeletons lying in the primitive position, crossed each other in all directions. They proved to be the remains of thirteen individuals, both males and females, varying from infancy to old age. The interior of this cist is shown on the accompanying engraving, and its position in the mound will be seen at A on the plan.

On the floor were found three arrow-heads of flint, wrought into beautiful thin leaf-shaped instruments, and many other calcined flakes of the same material; also bones of the ox, hog, deer, and dog. Not far from the cist, and near the surface, was found a skeleton minus the head, imbedded in gravel, rats’ bones, and charcoal. On the floor some animal bones were found that had been burned, also neatly wrought arrow-heads and pieces of flint, and fragments of two human skulls. The point of a bone spear and a bone pin were found during our labours in this mound. “Another skeleton was found in the bank, crushed into small fragments; and where another grave had been made in the bank, for a secondary interment, the sides and bottom were found to have been burned to lime, which now resembled old mortar, to an extent that could not have been effected by an ordinary fire. It is not unusual to find small stones burnt to lime on the floors of barrows; in the present instance it had acquired a hardness almost equal to the stones, effected during a very long period by imbibing carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, to which it had free access; pieces several inches thick were broken up intermixed with charcoal.”

On one side of the cist two skulls lay close together, and mixed up with a skeleton, the bones of which, in some instances, crossed each other; in the centre lay the fine skull shown in figs. 25 and 26.13 Two other remarkable skulls, one of a woman of about fifty years of age, and the other of a girl not more than seven years old, were also found.

When the mound at the other extremity of the “bank” was opened, calcined bones and animal remains only were found, but the singular construction of this portion of the barrow made ample compensation for the paucity of relics. It appeared that the longitudinal wall, noticed before, terminated in the centre of this mound; and at its termination another and well-built wall was carried crossways at right angles with it (fig. 27), which was laid bare to the length of more than half the diameter of the mound—it was three feet in height—the whole extent was not proved. From the centre of this wall, and forming a straight line with the longitudinal one, there was a row of thin moderately large stones, set on edge, by the ends being set in the soil that formed the floor of the mound; these were placed with their edges close together, and occasionally in two or three ranks, as if for better support in an upright position. They were from 1½ to 2 feet in height, and were extended from the wall to the length of five yards. The burnt bones were found in the west angle formed by the cross wall and the upright stones, as shown in the engraving. It appeared as though the bones had originally been deposited near the surface, as they were now found in the interstices betwixt the stones, from near the top to the bottom. This mound was formed of large stones, like the other parts, reared against each other all around, with their tops inclining towards the centre.

A tolerably good cist, formed of rough masses of stone surrounding the body, is the one engraved on fig. 28, from Middleton. This cist contained the skeleton of a woman, lying on her left side, in a partially contracted position. Above her lay the remains of an infant, and about her neck were the beads of a remarkably fine necklace of jet.

Another good example of a stone cist is the next (fig. 29), from Liff’s-Low. The cist was formed of eight large slabs of rough limestone, set edgewise; and formed a chamber of very compact and almost octagonal form. It contained the skeleton of a man, lying in a partly contracted posture on his left side, the face looking to the west. Behind the knees was placed a hammer-head, formed of the lower part of the horn of the red deer. One end is rounded and polished, and the other knotched across, somewhat, (to use a homely comparison) like what is usually called a “wafer-seal.” Behind the head were a number of miscellaneous but highly interesting articles, showing, as they did after the lapse of so many centuries, that “the savage Briton, reposing in this cairn, had cultivated the art of making war amongst the inhabitants of the forest in preference to molesting his fellow savages; as almost the first observed articles were a pair of enormous tusks of the wild boar, trophies of some, perhaps his last, sylvan triumph. Next came two arrow-heads of flint, delicately chipped, and of unusual form; two spear-heads of the same material; two flint knives, polished on the edge, one of them serrated on the back in order to serve as a saw; and numerous pieces of flint of indescribable form and use, which, together with all the flint instruments enumerated above, seem to have undergone a partial calcination, being gray, tinted with various shades of blue and pink. With these articles were found three pieces of red ochre, the rouge of these unsophisticated huntsmen, which, even now, on being wetted, impart a bright red colour to the skin, which is by no means easy to discharge.” With these articles lay a small urn of unique form.

On fig. 30 is shown a remarkably pretty cist, formed of four upright stones, supporting a capstone. It contained a vase of good form.

Pit interments are occasionally met with, but are very rare. One instance will suffice: it is that at Craike Hill, near Fimber, Yorkshire, and was opened by Mr. Mortimer.14 In it no less than four interments were made, one above another, in a pit or grave covered over by a mound. The two lower and the upper were skeletons in the usual contracted positions; the other a heap of calcined bones, with a fine food vessel. Near the upper skeleton was another heap of burnt bones and another food vessel. With one of the skeletons, that of a female, was found a splendid necklace of jet, and a drinking cup of elaborate design. These are all engraved in the present volume.

Burials in tree-coffins, of various periods, have been occasionally met with in grave-mounds, and a few words concerning them may here be introduced. One of the most interesting was found recently by that indefatigable antiquary, the Rev. Canon Greenwell, at Scale House, in Yorkshire.15 The barrow was about thirty feet in diameter, and five feet in height, and was surrounded by a circle of soil at the base. It was entirely composed of soil, interspersed here and there with fragments of charcoal, firmly compacted. On the top, for a space of about six or seven feet in diameter, a covering of flattish stones was laid just below the surface. On digging down at this spot it was found that a hollow had been made in the natural surface, that had been filled up with soil, upon which had been placed a few stones and then a coffin, constructed of the trunk of a small oak tree. This primitive coffin was laid north and south, the thicker end, which no doubt contained the head of the corpse, towards the south; which was also the case in the Gristhorpe barrow. The oaken trunk, or tree-coffin, was seven feet three inches in length, and one foot eleven inches in diameter, at the spot in which it was measured. The Gristhorpe coffin “is seven feet and a half long, and three feet three inches broad.” Above the coffin the soil was finer, and upon this finer stratum was situated a layer of dark matter a good deal burned, and containing pieces of charcoal. Over the whole was a covering of the ordinary compacted soil of which the barrow was composed. The body inhumed in this tree-coffin, and not burned, had gone totally to decay, leaving only a whitish unctuous matter behind. This substance was no doubt adipocire, the production of which is to be accounted for by the extreme wetness of the barrow. Before interment the corpse had been clothed, or wrapped, from head to foot in a woollen fabric,16 a specimen of which is represented in the following figure:—

There were no flint chippings discovered in the soil of which the barrow was composed, or other object, and nothing else was contained in the tree-coffin, save the body in its wrappings. Some pieces of a bright black substance like pitch, which appeared to have been placed on the inside of the coffin, on examination are found to be composed of carbon and oxide of iron.

It is most unfortunate that this curious and interesting barrow had been previously opened at the top. By this proceeding the tree-coffin had been broken through, and its contents disturbed about the middle. And it is also much to be regretted that the barrow was saturated with moisture, which had percolated into the coffin, carrying the soil with it. By this means all the contents of the barrow, save the adipocire of the body itself, including both the tree-coffin and the woollen garment, had acquired a rottenness which precluded the recovery of anything more than mere fragments. Those of the woollen dress were so filled with particles of soil, and at the same time so tender, as to admit of being reclaimed only in a very imperfect manner. The woollen cloth, which went from head to foot, there is no doubt had been loosely wrapped round the body, in the manner of a shroud, not swathed like an Egyptian mummy, so that “the fabric filled the whole of the inside of the coffin from end to end.” Hence, as is confirmed by the barrows opened in Jutland, there is every reason to infer that it was the ordinary woollen dress of the individual interred in the tumulus, who must have held such a position in society as to ensure these great attentions to his remains.

“In many ancient British barrows marks of the garments of the deceased have been discovered, in which the body appears to have been wrapped before interment. Indications of skin dresses are seen early, and after these, in the bronze and iron periods, where the rust of weapons has retained impressions of such grave-clothes, tissues of linen and woollen appear. Mr. Bateman met with signs of such textures, and in the case of the Tosson cists, in Northumberland, from one of which the skull of plate 54 of the Crania Britannica was derived, an iron spear-head was found in one of them, and there were signs of two fabrics of cloth impressed upon the oxidized surface of this relic.

“Again, British barrows have been opened containing tree-coffins, in which the remains have been inhearsed. The celebrated Gristhorpe barrow, the skeleton from which is preserved in the Scarborough Museum, and of the skull of which there is a fine engraving, plate 52, and a careful description by Dr. Thurnam, in the work just named, offers an instance of a tree-coffin formed of a split oak of small girth. In this case, the body had been wrapped in the skin of some animal having soft hair. The interment had belonged to the ancient British late stone or the bronze period. The coffin contained three flakes, or rude implements of flint, as well as objects made of bronze and bone. In the course of the description alluded to, there are references to many other examples of coffins hollowed out of solid trunks, oaken and tree-coffins. These appear to belong to very different periods, extending from the ancient British to early Saxon, and perhaps Christian times. That called the “King Barrow,” at Stowborough, in Dorsetshire, contained an oaken tree-coffin with the body in an envelope of deer-skins. It is said, that more recently a barrow opened in the wolds of Yorkshire offered fragments of an oaken coffin, together with the remains of a British urn. Also, at Wath, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in an oaken coffin an urn was found of the later British type, the whole being enclosed in a barrow.”

The Gristhorpe coffin, shown on figs. 32 and 33, consisted of the trunk of a large oak, roughly hewn, and split into two portions. The markings seemed to indicate that it had been hollowed with chisels of flint; but that the tree had been cut down with a much larger tool, the marks being such as would be made by a stone hatchet. It is seven and a half feet long and three feet three inches broad. In the bottom is a hole three inches in length. The lid was kept in place by the uneven fracture of the wood. The back was in good preservation, with its coatings of lichens distinct. At the narrow end of the lid, cut in the bark, was a sort of leaf-shaped knob, perhaps intended for a handle. The objects found in the coffin alluded to above are shown on figs. 34 and 35. In these engravings, Nos. 1, 2, and 6 are flakes of flint. The first has been slightly chipped at the edge, but the others are simply split off from the native flint. No. 5 is a bronze dagger, three and a half inches long, but much corroded—the two rivets showing that the handle was not of much thickness. No. 4, no doubt the top of such handle, is a disc of bone, polished, and of oval shape with perforations on either side for the pins by which it was fastened. No. 8 is a small implement of wood, with a rounded head, and flattened on one side to about half its length. No. 3 is the fragment of a ring of horn—a fastening, perhaps, of the dress. On the lower part of the breast was an ornament of very brittle material, in the form of a rosette, with two loose ends. By the side was a shallow basket, about six inches in diameter, formed of bark, curiously stitched with the sinews of animals; at the bottom were decomposed remains, perhaps of food. There was also a quantity of vegetable substance, mixed with lanceolate foliage supposed to be that of the mistletoe.

Another form—which may be called the “boat shape”—of tree-coffin is here shown for the purpose of comparison.