Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1866 V10 Pages 85-103
Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1866 V10 Pages 85-103 is in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1866 V10.
Notes on Barrow-Diggings in the Parish of Collingbourne Ducis [Map]. By the Rev. W. C. Lukis (age 48).
A group of thirteen barrows may be seen on the western side of the turnpike road leading from the parish of Collingbourne Ducis to North Tidworth. Two of them in a plantation are of large size, and occupy a central position of the group. The remaining eleven are of various dimensions, and three or four are only a few inches in elevation, and require a practised eye to discover them. They form an interesting collection of mounds, because exclusive of their contents, they present a somewhat irregular line running nearly east and west, and exhibit a variety of forms which may perhaps assist us in elucidating what has always been a difficult problem,—viz. the mode of their construction.
It is remarkable, and I venture to add very fortunate, that these mounds escaped the scrutiny of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who, with the most praiseworthy aim, unwittingly did as much as any man ® could to prevent archaeologists from knowing, to the full extent, what his vast researches and extensive experience should have taught them respecting Wiltshire Barrows, and to mislead barrow diggers of a later day. What a mass of most deeply interesting information relating to the construction of Barrows, and how many articles of antiquity of great value have been overlooked and lost through the mode in which he prosecuted his researches. If he had himself handled the spade, or been continually present with his labourers, and if he had given more time to the examination of each barrow, we should not now have to lament the unscientific opening of innumerable barrows, and the loss which the history of S early human occupation of the County has sustained. An aged "shepherd of Salisbury Plain," now deceased, who himself belonged to Sir Richard’s gang of labourers, told me how the work was carried on when he was lad. "Sir Richard stopped at the great House, and instructed his men to dig down from the top until they got nearly to the level of the natural soil, when they were to send or wait for him. On his arrival the search was continued, and the cist, if any, examined in his presence." This was his usual mode of procedure, and this will account for the frequency with which he was disappointed in not finding a cist or interment. Had his example been followed in the examination of the group, which I am about to describe, the largest barrow would have been an enigma, and I should have wondered why so vast a cenotaph had been raised. The fact is that the principal interment does not always occupy the centre. If Sir Richard had adopted a different mode from the first, he would have acquired that very knowledge which would have saved him from the error of classifying Wiltshire barrows in the way he devised; he would have been able to teach us of the present day much that we have been acquiring with lengthened toil and observation; and would have helped us to compare with greater exactness and interest, the barrows of Wilts with those of Dorset and other Counties.
Reverend William Collins Lukis: On 08 Apr 1817 he was born to Frederick Collings Lukis. On 07 Dec 1892 he died.
We are certainly most deeply indebted to this indefatigable antiquary and his able and intelligent co-adjutors for much that is highly interesting and instructive, and I trust I may not be considered presumptuous and arrogant in thus freely expressing my opinion of their mode of operation, and of the result of their labours. But any one who reads "Ancient Wiltshire" with the hope of learning how Wiltshire barrows were erected, and why their forms and dimensions are so diversified, will be disappointed. The investigation was apparently not pursued with this object in view. In many cases we have a difficulty in ascertaining the material of their construction; the site of the interment within the barrow is frequently only implied, instead of being accurately noted; the position of the skeleton, whether on its back, right or left side, is often not mentioned; and we are led to the conclusion that the chief, if not sole, object in the investigation was the possession of the articles which had been deposited with the dead. In proof of this we have only to remark the following passages from that costly work: "the first of these is a long barrow, situated between the angle of the cross roads, which we did not open, being so well satisfied with the history of this species of tumuli." (Ancient Wilts, p. 121.) Again, "I have often been asked if the largest barrows were not found, on opening, to be the most productive in their contents. The question is very natural, and I have rather wished to second that supposition; but as yet I have not a sufficient basis for that hypothesis." (Ibid, p. 128.)
Sir Richard was well satisfied with his own mode of investigation, for on one occasion, coming to a barrow which had been unsuccessfully opened by Dr. Stukeley, he remarks: " our experience having given us repeated proofs that the system of opening barrows was but imperfectly understood in former days, we determined to try our luck." (Ibid, p. 200.) It was his own system, however, which brought him to acknowledge: ‘I cannot help remarking the singularity of having found so many empty cists:— a singularity which has scarcely ever occurred during our researches in other parts of the County." (Ibid, p. 186.) This admission of want of success was induced by the failure he experienced in the parishes of Collingbourne Ducis and Everleigh. He describes his own mode of exploration thus: "on adopting our usual maxim of in medio tutissimus, we attacked its centre, but did not succeed, for the interment of buried bones was deposited at some distance from the middle of the barrow." (Ibid, p. 195.) Again, "the next barrow we attempted was one little inferior in size and beauty to the former,—but though our section was very large from the summit to the floor, yet our researches were not crowned with the wished for success." (Ibid, p. 194.)
Having pointed out what I conceive to be the insufficient results of the labours of this patriarch of barrow-diggers, I will now proceed to give an account of the examination of this group. One of them was opened in the year 1805 by Sir R. C. Hoare, ten in the year 1855 by myself, and two by the Rev. James Turner, Rector of North Tidworth and myself in 1861.
The small barrow No. 7 [Map] in the annexed plan, opened in 1805, of which there is no published record, so far as I know, is said traditionally in the parish to have produced "a small saucer." I reopened it in September, 1855, and found an empty cist. It is a small mound in the centre of a circular enclosure which is surrounded by a fosse and vallum. This is not an unfrequent form of grave mound on the Wiltshire Downs, to which I shall refer later.
No. 4 [Map], was examined in 1855, and a trench was dug on the east side towards the centre. At a depth of seven feet, and in the centre of the mound, in a cist dug out of the chalk, was a skeleton on its right side, with the legs drawn up, lying N.W. and S.E., the head. being in the direction of the former point. The individual must have been about 5 feet 10 inches in height, as ascertained from the length of the skeleton as it lay. The bones were in excellent preservation, and although they were carefully uncovered, no right arm, and no hands were found. There was no jar or relic of any kind, but only a small fragment of coarse pottery, rudely marked, near the head. When the body was interred, it appears te have been walled about and covered over with large flints, and then the vegetable mould was heaped up, and constituted the original gravemound with a diameter of about 70 feet. At subsequent periods other interments followed, producing an enlargement of the barrow; the present diameter being about 96 feet. It was not until the year 1861 that a further examination of this mound was made by the Rector of North Tidworth and myself. The experience we had derived in the examination of other barrows having led to discoveries of an interesting nature, we resolved to apply the process to this barrow. It may be as well to state here the mode which was adopted by us. We first dug a wide trench from the south point to the centre, and in some cases beyond the centre, and next we carried trenches east and west from the south side, at a few feet from the base of the mound. The advantages gained by this method were these. It gave us a section of the barrow, a matter of considerable importance; it enabled us to meet with the original interment, when, as in many cases, it was eccentric; and it brought to light a series of interments in positions where they have not been commonly observed in Wilts. In addition to this, it revealed a certain degree of orientation in these secondary interments, in relation to the primary one, which was quite constant. After digging for a distance of about 13 feet from a point a little to the west of south in a direction eastwards, at a few feet from the base of the mound, meeting occasionally with fragments of pottery and a portion of a grinding trough, we found an interment of burnt bones at the spot marked 1. At 2, we came to a large urn inverted, (plate iii. fig. 1) containing the burnt bones of a large man.1 The urn was placed on a mass of pounded chalk, and a dry walling of large flints was built round it to serve as a protection. The bottom of this vessel was about one foot below the surface. Not far from it, at 5, was a considerable quantity of burnt bones. At 7, was an urn smaller than that at 2, also containing burnt bones, on its side, with the mouth pointing up the mound, within three inches of the surface, and surrounded with flints, as in the other case. At 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, were discovered separate interments, in each case the burnt bones being contained within a circle of flints. Two flint mullers or rubbers were found in this barrow.
Note 1. The ornamentation on this urn consists of a projecting band of clay, in which circular depressions have been made with the top of the finger; the cast of the nail is seen in some of them. Similar markings have lately been observed on some other Wiltshire urns. [Eds. ]
The next barrow examined was one of small elevation, numbered 3 on the plan [Map], which has been so frequently ploughed over as to be rendered scarcely perceptible. At a depth of about seven inches from the surface in the centre of the mound, we discovered a skeleton, quite perfect, on its right side, knees bent, lying east and west, with its head to the west. The deceased must have been an aged man, for the spine and thigh bones were much curved, and the sutures of the skull were entirely obliterated. The teeth were also greatly worn down with use. The hands met in front of the abdomen, and close to them was an iron knife much corroded. The plough had torn up the pottery and scattered it in fragments about the barrow. It was of a thick coarse description and of a dark colour; and the lip of one of the vessels had rude indentations by way of ornament; and a band of similar character encircled the waist, two projections on opposite sides of the band serving for handles.
Barrow No. 2 [Map], which had been similarly maltreated by the plough and nearly obliterated, produced nothing at all.
Barrow No. 1 [Map], appears to have been a double one, and to have been disturbed at an early date. Fragments of urns that could not have been reached by the plough, were scattered in all directions in the large portion of the mound; and one or two pieces belonged to vessels made of fine clay, well baked, and minutely ornamented with delicate indentations. There were also traces of fire and ashes. In the small portion of the mound were only pieces of charcoal.
Barrow No. 12 [Map], a low one, was next attacked, and contained the skeleton of a child, on its right side, in a cist two feet long, north-west and south-east, the head being towards the former point. Near the breast was found a bead of Kimmeridge coal, and on the south side of the head near the face, was a small jar or cup with one handle, inverted, and nearly entire. A small piece was wanting to complete the vessel, but as the edges of the fracture were worn, it is probable that it was deposited in the grave in a broken state.
Barrow No. 10 [Map], a low one, of four feet six inches elevation, contained a burnt body at a depth of about one foot from the apex, surrounded by large flints, and at intervals child about eighteen inches beneath each other, three more interments. Each collection of burnt bones was encircled with flints. The bones were reduced by fire to very small fragments; and there was no trace of pottery, or relic of any kind, in any part of the mound.
Barrow No. 11 [Map], a low one, slightly elongated in form, contained burnt bones about one foot from the apex, in this case not surrounded by flints.‘The bones had been carefully laid in a heap on mould 18 inches above the level of the ground, and appeared to be the only interment. A fragment of a bone implement was found but no pottery.
Barrow No. 8 [Map]. Portions of a thick ornamented jar were found scattered about at various depths, and also one fragment of another vessel of a thinner description of ware. About three feet from the apex was a collection of burnt bones, and seven small beads, two of jet and five of amber, or of some other material, the surface of which has undergone decomposition. At a depth of five feet from the top of the mound we found the bones of the pelvis, two thigh bones and three ribs of a man, with here and there a small fragment of burnt human bone. About six inches beneath these bones were traces of a short wooden plank, six inches wide, one inch thick, and three feet long. The barrow appeared to have been disturbed at an early period. A few days later we continued our investigations, and at a depth of 18 inches beneath the wooden plank, found a cist dug out of the chalk, containing an undisturbed interns of burnt bones.
Barrow No. 9 [Map], was imperfectly examined by us, and it was our intention to explore it again on some future occasion.
In the small low barrow No. 13 [Map], we found an empty cist only.
Barrow No. 6 [Map]. About the year 1840, several cart-loads of earth were taken from the south side for the purpose of levelling the yard annexed to a field-barn close by. In doing this the labourers found a skeleton, burnt bones, and as many as five urns, at a distance of six or eight feet from the base of the barrow, and from two to three feet below the surface. One of the men employed in this work told me that the urns were entire when found, and that only two were taken up whole. I have not been able to ascertain with any certainty what has become of them. He also described the posture of the skeleton, as lying on its right side with the legs bent.
The excavation which was then made, invited me in 1856 to commence operations on the same side of the mound, but the labour was so great that the work was discontinued at the end of two days, after making little progress. On 3rd May, 1861, the work was resumed with the aid of the Rector of North Tidworth, the Rev. W. H. Cave Browne, Arthur Stallard, Esq., and two labouring men. With this strong force we dug a wide trench to the centre, carefully preserving the surface level. Flint chippings and small fragments of coarse pottery were occasionally met with. At a depth of three feet eight inches from the summit of the barrow, we found two layers, six inches apart, of wood ashes and burnt straw, in a kind of basin seven feet in diameter, as if beacon fires had been ignited there. The upper layer was the larger one, and the thickness of ashes was two inches. At a depth of ten feet from the surface and at a distance of twelve feet from the centre, was a layer of pounded chalk, eight inches thick, resting upon what we at first supposed was the original surface mould. But on piercing this mould, which was four inches thick, we came to a cist or grave dug in the chalk, four feet six inches long, two feet six inches wide, and one foot six inches deep. In it was the skeleton of a young person, with two urns of different sizes, at its feet. The larger urn, which is of a coarse description of ware, (plate iii. fig. 2) rudely ornamented, contained burnt human bones; and the smaller urn,(plate iii. fig. 3) which is about five and a half inches high, of a finer ware, and more elaborately ornamented with dotted lines, and of that character which has been usually designated a drinking cup, was empty; and both were on their sides. The skeleton1 was probably that of a female child of about 6 years of age, 4 feet high, and was lying on its right side, with its head to the west, and the knees bent. The burnt bones also belonged to a young person, as was evident from the fragments of the skull bones, and smallness of the joints. In the course of these excavations we found the base of a horn of the fallow deer, a fragment of a bone implement, and a piece of thick coarse pottery, similar in pattern to the fragment found in barrow No. 4.
Note 1. We are indebted to Dr. Thurnam for the following remarks on the cranium of this skeleton. [Eds.]
"The skull, which wants the facial bones, is that of a child of about three or four years of age. It has a cubic capacity of about 66 cubic inches, or 1081 cubic centimetres, The circumference measures 18,2, the greatest length 6.3, the greatest breadth 5.1, and the height 4.9 inches. If the length of the skull is taken as 100, the breadth will be found to be in the proportion of nearly.81 to the length. This brings it within the brachycephalous or rounded type, such as is generally met with in the round barrows of this part of England. The parietal tubers are very prominent. There is considerable flatness of the lower part of the occiput, perhaps resulting from the pressure of a cradle board, the use of which is known to produce this effect in certain tribes of North American Indians, Inspection however suffices to show that the brachycephalic type in this skull is strictly innate, and that the actual form can only in a very secondary degree be due to flattening of the occiput."
No. 6 [Map] is the largest of the group, being 110 feet in diameter, and 12 feet in height; and like some of the other larger barrows with a fosse nearly obliterated. As in the case of Nos. 4 and 5, it was originally composed of vegetable mould, and was subsequently increased in dimensions by the addition of a coating of chalk. In order to satisfy ourselves that there was no central interment, we carried on our trench twelve feet beyond the centre; and next proceeded to examine the sides near the base. This we did by cutting a trench about twelve feet wide, in directions east and west from the south trench. The result was the discovery of separate interments 18 in number, in each case surrounded by flints, and portions of about 40 different urns of all forms and qualities: none being ornamented. Unfortunately the sides of the barrow had been trenched for planting, and the urns were so near the surface that they did not escape the spade. In several instances the bases and in others the rims of the urns occupied their original positions, the spade having cut off the upper portions and scattered them. If we suppose that two interments only were disturbed in 1840, the total number in this barrow must have reached 21 at the least, and consisted of persons of all ages. In addition to these, which with the exception of the skeleton in the cist, consisted of burnt bones, we found at (a) an unburnt fragment of an upper jaw, a few bones, and a small bronze coin so corroded as to be undecipherable.
Barrow No. 5 [Map]. Although our experience would have directed us to operate upon the south side, we were induced to commence our first trench from the base at the east point. The first interment was met with at a distance of 13 feet from the base, and at a depth of 18 inches from the surface, and consisted of a heap of calcined human bones, without any pottery or implements of any kind. The bones had been placed on the slope of the original barrow, and chalk thrown over them whereby the mound had become enlarged. As we penetrated the mould of the original barrow we met with fragments of vessels, most of them being apparently portions of richly ornamented drinking cups, animal bones and teeth. At about 10 feet from the centre there was a stratum 4 inches thick, of dark mould, overlying the original surface chalk, in which were innumerable fragments of ornamented urns, charred animal bones, and flint chippings. This stratum extended over an area of about 20 feet diameter. Allusion is made to discoveries of a similar kind in Mr. Bateman’s "Ten years diggings," and an extract is there given from a communication by the President of the Antiquarian Society of Zurich to Sir H. Ellis: "in almost all the accounts of the opening of Pagan sepulchres and Tumuli, mention is made of the discovery of fragments of pottery strewn in the soil, which appear to be portions of vessels similar to such as are often found by the side of the human remains interred in these tombs, and consist of earthenware, not baked in a kiln but imperfectly hardened by a fire. These potsherds are found in sepulchres where there are no urns, and are almost always fragments of different vessels. Archaeologists have considered them to be the relics of the Lyke-wake held at the funeral. Kleeman observes that it was customary to bring the corpse to the place of interment clad in festive garments, and show it to the friends; a banquet then commenced and a share was offered to the deceased." The vessels used on these occasions are then supposed to have been destroyed, for some symbolical reason. and the fragments strewn about.
On reaching the centre of the barrow we found one of the most interesting graves hitherto discovered in Wiltshire. It was a cist dug in the chalk three feet ten inches long north and south, fifteen inches wide and one foot deep, and at a depth of eight feet ten inches from the apex of the mound. The peculiarity of its construction was this. The grave was cylindrical and had been lined with a plaster of pounded chalk about one and a half inch in thickness. The plaster had received the impression of the bark of a tree, and indicated that the bones of the deceased had been placed in a hollowed trunk which was deposited in the grave while the plaster was still moist. A thin layer of decayed wood was distinctly traceable through the entire length of the cist. Another interesting fact was also observed. It was found that the coffin was only partially beneath the surface level, and that it had been covered over with a similar coating of pounded chalk, which when it dried retained an arched form over the grave after the wood had decayed. With the bones, which were calcined and were those of a young person, was a horn hammer head about four inches long and one and a half inch wide (plate iii. fig. 4). This implement or weapon, or whatever it was, is abraded at the smaller end, and shows no traces of having been placed on the funeral pyre with the body of its owner. I am not aware that an implement of this kind has been found in this country before. Sir R. Hoare discovered hammer heads made out of small pieces of stags horns, but they are of a totally different character. No pottery accompanied this interment.
In digging a trench from the south point towards the centre we found two interments of burnt bones marked 3 and 4. In these eases the bones were not surrounded with flints; the fragments of skull bones at 8 showed the sutures distinctly; and skull bones at 4 were thinner. At a distance of about twelve feet further north we met with several flint chippings, potsherds of a similar character to those found in the eastern trench, and a granite muller or instrument for pounding. At 5 was another collection of burnt ones; at 6 was a large urn mouth downwards filled with the burnt bones of a full grown person; at 7 was a smaller urn empty, unornamented, resting on a mass of burnt bones. At 8 were the burnt bones of an old individual; and at 9 the burnt bones of a middle-aged person. No pottery accompanied them. In the western trench nothing was discovered, and in the northern there was no trace of an interment, but we found an unburnt finger bone and two or three fragments of pottery.
This closes the account of the exploration of this group in the order in which the barrows were examined.
Before I describe the discoveries in detached barrows existing in the same parish, I must exhibit the mode of construction in the Cases of barrows No. 4, 5, and 6; and a section of No. 5 will suffice to explain the other two. A is the centre of the barrow, where the wooden coffin was placed which formed the primary interment. Over these remains, a heap of mould was piled to a height of eight feet six inches, with a diameter of sixty feet. From the base of this mound to the edge of the fosse, a distance of ten feet, there 5 Was a mass of very compact pounded chalk, B, which encircled the mound. This appears to have been placed there for the purpose "of forming a footing to the chalk rubble, C, in which the secondary interments were found. The greatest thickness of this rubble at its junction with the compact footing was two feet six inches; and it was observed that all the interments were in the thickest part as at D; in most instances placed on the surface slope of the original barrow; and in no instance whatever was the slightest trace of bone or of pottery found in the pounded chalk. I have sometimes thought that many of the large Wiltshire barrows obtained their vast proportions by means of secondary interments and it would appear as if this had been so in these three cases. There is no good reason to suppose that the interments on the south side of the barrow No. 6, were the remains of twenty slaves, sacrificed on the death of their lord and buried on his tomb. There is more reason in the supposition that these interments took place at various times, as the deaths of the individuals occurred, and that they were here interred because it was a family buriai. place. We have no certain knowledge of the customs of that early period, and there is very little foundation, if any at all, for the statement made by some authors that it was a custom at that time to slay the slaves of the deceased at his tomb, as a part of the funeral ceremony. If this had been so, we should have found traces of it in every barrow of any size. It should be borne in mind that the primary mounds are so large that they must have taken a long time to erect with the simple and imperfect appliances of those days. There is very little mould covering the chalk downs of Wiltshire in the present day, and there must have been less 2000 or 3000 years ago; so that the barrow builders must have had great difficulty, and must have laboured for a considerable time in amassing and heaping up such enormous mounds. On the supposition therefore that the custom prevailed of immolating dependants on the death of the chieftain, those who entertain this opinion should tell us what was done with the victims all the while that the mound was forming.
I have thought, and I throw out the suggestion for the consideration of others, that the history of many of these large mounds in Wiltshire is as follows. A space of ground was first of all set apart for a family burial place, and enclosed with a fosse and vallum. An unoccupied enclosure of this kind may be seen between North Tidworth and Amesbury. On the first death occurring, a cist was dug in the chalk, generally in the centre of the enclosed area, and a mound was raised over the mortal remains, sometimes of large and sometimes of small dimensions. No. 15 of the Collingbourne group is an example of the latter, and other examples exist on Wilsford Down where are four, and two on Lake Down, amidst groups of barrows of all sizes. It is to be noted however that the first interment occupied sometimes a position at some distance from the centre. There is an instance of this on the Amesbury Downs, where a small mound is so situated within a fossed enclosure. On a second death occurring in the family, the remains were placed on one side of the first grave, and a second small mound erected. An instance of this may be seen in No. 18, one of a group on the Everley Down, a few hundred yards from the group I have been describing. Three other examples may be seen in the group of barrows near Woodyates in the extreme south of the county. On the occasion of another death, the remains were placed either on the summit, as in barrows Nos. 8 and 10 at Collingbourne,1 or on one side of the central mound, (on Wilsford Down three small mounds occupy the area, and a similar example is met with near Woodyates,)2 and earth heaped over the whole. In course of time, by this process, the mound filled the greater part of the entire area, and attained a considerable elevation.
Note 1. Thus numbered in the plan given in " Ancient Wiltshire," by Sir R. C. Hoare.
Note 2. On Winterbourne Stoke Down, I believe, an instance occurs of four little mounds within the fosse.
A construction, bearing upon this theory, was observed by the late Mr. Thomas Bateman in a barrow, called "Gib hill," upon Middleton Moor, in Derbyshire, where the area was found to contain four small mounds, over the whole of which a large mound, fifteen feet high, had been subsequently raised, in which was a stone cist. In the four mounds, it is true, no deposit of human remains was found when examined in 1848; the only objects then met with being flint chippings, charcoal, animal bones and potsherds; but it must be remembered that this tumulus was par- tially explored in 1812, and again in 1824, on which occasions a stone celt, a flint arrow-point, and in the upper part of the huge mound, as belonging to a secondary interment, an iron fibula, were found. There is therefore good reason to suppose that there had been interments in them, although Mr. Bateman inclined to a contrary opinion. I am disposed to look upon these tumular structures as family burial places, and used as such for a long period, perhaps even down to Roman times, to which the small brass coin found in No. 6 may bear witness.
Another point, connected with barrows Nos. 4, 5, and 6, to be observed, is the orientation of the secondary interments in relation to the primary one. They are all on the south, south-west and south-east sides; and in one instance only, viz., in No. 5, was an interment found due east of the central one. In no instance did we meet with an interment due west, and none was found on the north side.
Before quitting this group of barrows, we must notice that the custom which prevailed with regard to the disposal of the dead was by cremation, and that the exception to the practice occurred very seldom. In two cases, viz., in barrows Nos. 4 and 6, the primary interments appear to have been of the bodies entire, but no argument can be based, as to the priority of the mode of burial, upon this fact, for in the latter instance there was an accompanying and co-eval interment after cremation; and if the tradition relating to the discoveries in 1840 has any foundation, and I see no reason to doubt its truth, a skeleton, laid on its right side, was found far from, and to the south of, the centre. It must also be noted that the five skeletons, which were found in this group, were all laid upon their right sides, and that of the four found by me three had their heads to the west and one to the N.W. I have wished to draw especial attention to this mode of depositing the dead, because it may be found to have been a tribal custom. It is a curious circumstance that in the north of England, in the counties of Leicester, Stafford, Derby, and York, Mr. M.S. Bateman observed that out of 149 skeletons found in barrows, 101 were on their left side, 25 on their right, and 23 on the back, and that in almost every instance iron implements were associated with the last, while with only one exception, flint and stone weapons accompanied the two others. Meeting with iron in a barrow called "‘ Sharp Low," near Fissington, he remarks "we do not remember having previously met with an instance of an interment of the iron period otherwise than at full length.’ (Ten Year’s Diggings, p. 27.)
It may be a matter of interest to record here the orientation of some of the skeletons, according to Mr. Bateman’s notes. He has unfortunately not stated it in all cases.
With this table we may compare the following orientations collected from Sir Richard Hoare’s Ancient Wilts. Number of instances.
rupd1c3AThis indefatigable barrow explorer has not stated on which side the skeletons lay—although he has mentioned that in very many instances the legs were doubled up, and has led his readers to sup- pose that in all of them the knees were bent. Without giving the orientations, he has mentioned two more skeletons as having been laid on their left side, and two on their back. With regard to these various burial customs he has remarked that the early custom was to place the head to the north, and that at a later period (the iron age) when the body was laid at full length, the heads were placed at random in a variety of directions. Upon meeting with an instance of the latter kind he says: ‘here we find an interment of a later era, of the same period as that before described on Rodmead down, when the custom of gathering up the legs had ceased, and when the use of iron was more generally adopted: for in the early tumuli, none of that metal has ever been found." (Ancient Wilts, p. 174.) We are not to understand from this remark that with the introduction of iron the custom of gathering up the legs actually ceased, for we have an instance to the contrary in one of the interments belonging to the group (barrow No. 3) I have been describing, and we know that it continued to be in use in the early Anglo-Saxon period.
Eastward of this group of barrows, across the road leading from Collingbourne to Salisbury, in the direction of Windmill hill, there are two small barrows [Collingbourne Ducis Barrow 14 [Map] and Collingbourne Ducis Barrow 15 [Map]] which were examined in November, 1861. At about one foot from the apex of one, were found a small Roman coin, much corroded, a piece of slate in which a hole had been begun to be drilled, and a fragment of Samian pottery. A few fragments of coarse dark pottery were scattered about the mound, indicating a previous disturbance. Near to this barrow is a second, part of which has been removed in making a roadway. A large number of flints lay close under the turf, and among them were many fragments of two large urns (mouths downwards) of dark, coarse, and thick ware, which originally contained human bones. The urns rested on a layer, one foot thick, of large flints, and under tnem, in the centre of the barrow, was a circular hole dug in the chalk, two feet wide and two feet deep, containing a mass of charcoal and incinerated human bones. The bottom and sides of the hole were red and discoloured by fire.
On the slope of the hill, on the left of the road leading from Everley to Ludgershall, soon after you have crossed the Collingbourne and Tidworth road, you may perceive three small low barrows [Collingbourne Ducis Barrow 16 [Map], Collingbourne Ducis Barrow 17 [Map] and Collingbourne Ducis Barrow 18 [Map]] near to each other, and in a line running nearly east and west. They have been greatly reduced in elevation by the plough, and were examined by me in December, 1857. In the westernmost one, at a depth of one foot from the apex, I found a thick layer of wood ashes and charcoal, in which were a few burnt human bones, covering a space of about four feet in diameter. Under this layer was a circular hole dug in the chalk, fourteen inches in diameter and one foot deep, containing burnt human bones and charcoal. In the middle barrow was a similar layer of charcoal, covering a hole two feet in diameter and two feet deep, filled with burnt human bones and charcoal.
In the third barrow there was no cist or hole, but at a depth of six inches from the apex was a heap of burnt human bones and charcoal, and among a: a perfect bone pin, pierced at the larger end. There was no trace of pottery in these barrows, but there were a few animal bones reduced to small fragments, and in the last, portions of the skull and the curved bony cores of the horns of what was probably a small Bos dongifrons.