Grave-mounds and Their Contents / A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon Periods

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt

Fig.2.

1. Earth to the depth of three feet.
2. Chalk, two feet in depth.
3. Earth to the depth of three feet.
4. Loose rubble chalk, three feet in depth.
5. Earth, one foot in depth.
6. Chalk rubble, six inches in depth.
Cist, filled with chalk rubble and flints, two feet in depth.

Another example of a barrow of this period is shown in section on the [fig. 3]. There had originally been four small mounds, or barrows, formed in a group, on the natural surface of the ground (see the two dotted lines in the engraving). They were composed of tempered earth, approaching in tenacity almost to clay, and on these the general mound was raised to a height of about eighteen feet, and was composed of earth, intermixed with loose rubbly limestones. Nearly at the top, in the centre, a stone cist, enclosing an interment, was discovered. It was in form a perfect, though miniature, example of what are commonly called cromlechs.

Fig. 3.

It is not an unfrequent occurrence in barrows to find that interments have been made at different periods and by different races, as will be hereafter shown.

The two examples of mounds of earth already given will show the successive layers which have occurred in their formation. The simpler, and intact, mounds of earth, which are very common, require no illustration. They are simply immense circular heaps of earth raised over the interment, whether in cist or not.

Barrows, or mounds, of stone are of frequent occurrence. They are of very simple construction. The interment, whether by cremation or otherwise, having been made in a natural or artificial cist, or simply laid upon the natural surface of the ground, rough stones were placed in a large circle around it, and an immense quantity of stones were then piled up to a height of several feet. Some of these cairns are of very great size, and cover a large area of ground. Sections of two tumuli of this description are given in figs. [4] and [5]. The cairn of stone was, as will be seen, covered to some depth with earth; perhaps in some instances this might be a part of the original design, but in most cases the soil which now covers these stone barrows may be traced to the ordinary process of decay of vegetation in successive ages.