Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/272

254 lower rim of the bucket described below. At each of the four upper corners of the grave, was a small excavation in the chalk, which was filled with the skulls and bones of mice, with the remains of seed, &c., which had served them for food, mixed with a quantity of fine mould apparently the remains of some decomposed substance. From the condition of the bones and seed, they would appear to be much more modern than the original deposit, but it is a remarkable circumstance that the same articles are found in so many of the barrows here and on the Breach Downs. The grave itself was of large dimensions, being about fourteen feet long, between six and seven broad, and somewhat more than three in depth, independent of the superincumbent mound.

"The next barrow opened was a smaller one, adjacent to the former, of which the elevation was so small as to be scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding ground. The grave was filled, like No. 1, with the chalk which had been dug out of the original excavation. The body, which was perhaps that of a female, and the various articles which it had once contained, were entirely decomposed. A small mass of dark-coloured earth a little above the shoulder, apparently decomposed wood, seemed to be the remains of a small box. The bones were distinctly traced by the colour of the earth, a small fragment of the skull being all that remained entire, and from the quantity of black mould which occupied the place of the body, resembling that which in other places was found to have resulted from the decomposition of wood, we may be led to suppose that the body was placed in a wooden chest. Another large quantity of similar black mould lay together in an elongated form on the left side of the body towards the foot of the grave. In the corner to the right of the feet were found some fragments of small hoops imbedded in wood.

"This small barrow lay on the east side of the one first opened. The last barrow opened was a large one to the west of the first barrow. In the accompanying section, Nos. 1 and 2 are the first and third barrows. In this last barrow we again found the small holes at the corners of the grave, but they were turned towards the sides instead of being turned towards the ends; and they also contained bones of mice. This grave was nearly as long as the first, about a foot deeper, and rather broader in proportion to its length. The floor was very smoothly cut in the chalk, and was surrounded by a narrow gutter, which was not observed in the others. It was not filled with the chalky soil of the spot, but with fine mould brought from a distance, and this was probably the cause of the better preservation of the articles contained in it. The second figure, which is a plan of this grave, will shew the position in which these articles were found. At the foot of the grave, in the right-hand corner, had stood a bucket, of which the hoops (in perfect preservation) occupied their position one above another as if the wood had been there to