Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/382

352 and protected by stones. And over the whole, at a later period, the barrow itself was probably formed. My reason for this opinion is, first, that all these deposits, including, as they do, the skeletons of three or four infants, could scarcely have been made at the same time. And in the second place there was not the slightest appearance (with one exception) of displacement of the stones or flints in any way. As these circumstances then would suggest that the interments were formed at various periods, so the general appearance leaves no doubt as to the superstructure of flints, and surface or form of the barrow itself having been made at the same time and not piecemeal.

"I have met with no instance of a British barrow containing any appearance of a wall having surrounded the interments. Pausanias, in speaking of a monument of Auge, the daughter of Aleus king of Arcadia, in Pergamus, which is above the river Caicus, says, 'this tomb is a heap of earth surrounded with a wall of stone.' And in the Saxon poem, 'Beowulf,' mention is made of a similar wall as surrounding the tomb of a warrior."

Some vestiges of Roman occupation, and apparently of a burial-place in Roman times, have been noticed by Mr. Austen about three quarters of a mile from Badbury camp, adjoining to the Roman road which passes through Badbury to Dorchester. He had recently found fragments of Roman pottery, and a bronze fibula at that spot, and was induced to suppose that the rude comb of bone, above mentioned, which' had been dug up near the same locality, might be of Roman rather than British origin.

We are enabled by the kindness of Mr. W. H. Gomonde, of Cheltenham, to give a representation of a very curious object, found on the skull of a skeleton, exhumed on Leckhampton hill, in the autumn of 1844, near to the site of a Roman camp. Mr. Gomonde writes as follows. "I beg to send a rough, though accurate, sketch of the curious skull-cap; the fact of its having been found near a Roman burying-ground makes it very interesting. The top is like the umbo of a shield similar to those found in Saxon tumuli." This singular relic is now in the possession of Captain Henry Bell; it is formed of bronze, the metal being pliable and thin, ill suited for the purpose of affording any protection against the stroke of a weapon. A portion of the chain remains, which passed under the chin, this when first found was perfect. Sir Samuel Meyrick considers this remarkable head-piece to be the British "Penffestyn." A discovery of similar character was made in 1844 at Souldern, Oxfordshire, near the line of the Portway. The skeleton lay extended W. by S. and E. by N., the head being to the former. Sir Henry