Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/223

 DESCKIPTIOX OF AN ANCIENT TUMULAR CEMETERY. 12:3 cemented so strongly as to destroy all ordinary tools ; and all the remains thus discovered tend to corroborate local tradition that these buildings were raised by the Romans. Mr. I'arker reports that he has seen thousands of Roman coins found there, but two only which seemed Flemish. The foundations of the tower have been broken up, as far as practicable, and the excavation filled in : this building Mr. Parker considers to have stood on the southern side of the work, and to have been used for the purpose of observation. It must have commanded, if the structure were of considerable elevation, a great extent of country, as far as Cresar's camp and other distant stations. An ancient way passed near it, leading, probably, from London through Coin Brook, Feens in White ^^'altham, where Roman remains have been found, and towards Reading by Streetly. On the north side of the octagonal building appeared a break in the foundation wall, possibly where the access to the staircase from the castle had been formed. DESCRIPTION OF AN ANCIENT TUMULAR CEMETERY, PROBABLY OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD, AT LAMEL-HILL, NEAR YORK, BY JOHN THURNAM, M.D. ( Continued from page .39.) The sepulchral mound now described is of a very remark- able character, and does not, so far as I am aware, correspond with any of the numerous tumuli or other ancient cemeteries which have hitherto been examined. It differs from the ordinary tumuli of this country, of whatever period or people, in respect of the great number of persons who have been interred in it. It has, indeed, been a cemetery rather than a barrow, and we may perhaps properly speak of it as a tumular cemetery. Some may be disposed to question whether it had originally a tumular character at aU, The level, how- ever, at which the undisturbed skeletons were found, is raised about three feet above the surrounding fields ; and, from the greater slope of the ground in that direction, the skeletons on the south side have an elevation of seven or eio;ht feet. The presence of lime or otlier calcareous matter amongst the clay, gravel, and stones, below the entire skeletons, appears also to indicate that the base of the mound is artificial, and that the tumulus has not been formed merely by the removal of the surface of the surrounding fields and garden. Down to a very recent period, however, gravel has been obtained from these fields, and it is very possible that part of the existing elevation of Lamel-hill may be due to the abstraction of gravel and subsequent levelling round the base of the mound. Whether there were not originally two or more distinct tiers of interments, of which all but the lowest have