Fig. 10.
Fig. 11.
The next morning we dug a trench four feet wide, on the west side towards the centre, as shown at B on the plan ([fig. 10]), and the day’s labours had an equally satisfactory result. At about the same distance as on the previous day we came to the side of a cist, immediately in front of which, at F on the plan, lay a heap of burnt bones, and a few flakes of burnt flint. Having cleared away the surrounding stones and earth, and removed the large flat covering stones, which showed above the surface of the mound, we found the cist to be composed on one side by the natural rock, and on the other by flat stones set up on edge. Its dimensions were about one foot ten inches by four feet, and it contained a large quantity of rats’ bones and snails’ shells. In this cist was an interment of an adult, much crushed by one of the large covering stones having fallen upon it. Thanks to this circumstance, however, a food vessel, which we discovered, owed its preservation. The body lay in the usual contracted position, on its right side, as shown on the ground-plan at B, and in front and close to the hands was the food vessel, which, like the other, was taken out entire. It is five and a quarter inches in height, and six and a quarter inches in diameter at the top, and is richly ornamented.
Continuing the excavations to the south, we found that another cist C adjoined the one just described, and was, like it, formed of flat stones set up edgewise; in fact, it was like one long cist divided across the middle. In this second cist, besides the usual accompaniment of rats’ bones, was the remains of an interment, sufficiently in situ to show that the skeleton had, like the others, been deposited in a contracted position. A small fragment of pottery was also found, but owing to the cist being so near the surface the stones had been partially crushed in, and thus both the deposit and the urn had become destroyed. A portion of a stone hammer was also found.
The two cists are here shown ([fig. 12]), which also shows the central interment at a higher level, to be hereafter described.
On the following Monday we resumed our operations by making an opening on the north-west side, as shown at D on the plan. Here, again, at a few feet from the outer edge, we came upon an interment H, without a cist, accompanied by an unusual quantity of rats’ bones. Continuing the excavation, we were again rewarded by the discovery of a fine cist, but at a greater depth than those before described. Above this cist we found some large bones of the ox, and on the covering stone was a deposit of burnt bones and ashes, with innumerable quantities of rats’ bones.
Fig. 12.