Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/56

36 found together in groups, but singly, and on elevated ground. The primary interment in these was by simple inhumation, and, as no object of metal has been found in them, they are referred to the Stone Age. Of the round barrow, examples of each of the three modifications of form that I have mentioned are found in the neighbourhood of Honiton. With one exception, all the barrows on Broad Down and Gittisham Hill are bowl-shaped; the exception occurs in the southern- most member of the group at Broad Down, which is a good example of the form known as the disc-shaped barrow; it is about 120 ft. in diameter, 4 ft. in perpendicular height, flat on the top, and presents the appearance of an inverted shallow dish. At Buckerell Knapp, about three miles west of Honiton, are some striking examples of the bell-shaped barrow.

Of the group of barrows at Broad Down several have now undergone a careful investigation. The result of the excavation of three of them I have already described in detail. Upon the occasion of the meeting of the British Association in Exeter in 1869, an excursion was arranged to Gittisham Hill, when, by permission of R. Marker, Esq., two barrows, situate at the northern extremity of the group, were opened in the presence of the visitors. The first was, to all appearance, a large and perfect tumulus; it measured about 60 ft. in diameter, and 5 ft. in perpendicular height at the apex of the mound. We were, however, disappointed on ascertaining by digging that it had been previously disturbed, and that the interment, whatever it may have been, had been removed. We found only the fragments common to all spoliated barrows, namely, a few crumbling bits of burnt bones, some flakes of flint, one or two shards of coarse pottery, some round pebbles that had been probably used as sling-stones, pieces of hæmatite, fragments of charcoal, rough stones, such as are common on the surface of the uncultivated ground, and many of which had acquired a glazed appearance by the vitrifying of their surfaces, and otherwise bearing marks of the action of fire. A Queen Anne's shilling, probably cast in when the contents of the barrow were abstracted, was