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.
Fig. 34.
Fig. 35.
Fig. 36.
Another form—which may be called the “boat shape”—of tree-coffin is here shown for the purpose of comparison.
CHAPTER IV.
Ancient British or Celtic Period—Sepulchral Chambers of stone—Cromlechs—Chambered Tumuli—New Grange and Dowth—The Channel Islands—Wieland Smith’s Cave, and others—Stone Circles—For what purpose formed—Formation of Grave-mounds—Varieties of Stone Circles—Examples of different kinds—Arbor Low, etc.