Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/270

190 190 PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF churches throughout Flanders. The slab at Playden contains many remains of corallines, and of the stems of encrinites, characteristic fossils of the carboniferous formations ; and the slab at Hastings contains corallines of the same species. Mr. Gheville J. Chester communicated the following notice of British remains discovered in Norfolk : — On Roughton Heath, near Cromer, Nor- folk, are several tumuli, all of which have been considerably diminished in height, from the circumstance of the heath and earth adhering to the roots being from time to time pared off for fuel. On the 28th and 30th of last July, I caused three of these mounds to be opened. I first had a trench cut from east to west, in a tumulus called " Kowhow Hill;" and about two feet below the surface there appeared a deposit of wood-ashes and charcoal, fragments of which continually occurred, until the workmen arrived at the level of the natural soil, about five feet from the top of the mound. Hero, resting on the natural ground, we came upon a mass of burnt human bones carefully pounded. On breaking up this mass with the fingers, we found imbedded in it four jet beads. Two of these are long and thin, but larger at the middle than at the extremities ; the other two resemble barrels in form. We then tried a small tumulus near the Cromer and Norwich road. In this a few ashes and bits of charcoal were all that turned up. On the 30th, I again resumed operations on a large tumulus situate on the corner of the heath, near Roughton Mill. This mound, round which traces of a ditch are observable, is about sixty-one paces in circumference, and, like the others, commands a beautiful and extensive view. Through this I had a wide trench dug from north to south, and, as in the former instance, small pieces of chari-ed wood began occasionally to occur about two feet from the surface. About a foot below this, in the centre of the mound, we discovered a large round stone, much resembling a stone cannon-shot ; and a foot below wc brought to light another large deposit of charred wood, extending nearly five feet in a Avcsterly direction. This deposit was about three feet across, and seemed to taper off to a point at either end. This lay on the natural soil ; where also, at the southern extremity of the mound, and about six feet from the top of the barrow, we came upon a large mass of burnt bones, pounded like those found in the mound first explored. We got this mass out entire, and with great difficulty separated it with repeated blows of a spade. It was about three feet in circumference, and contained no beads or other articles. The tumuli were all composed of sand, in which very few stones, and those only of small size, had been allowed to remain. No large ones, indeed, appeared, except the stone ball above mentioned, and another, also of a rounded form. Both of these were in the tumulus last explored. The ball might have been left there accidentally ; l)ut its position immediately above the deposit of charcoal makes that supposition appear unlikely. Might it not have been used as a sling-stone or offensive weapon ? — a use for which it would be well adapted by its rounded shape. In having a cross trench dug, two smaller deposits of charred wood appeared, — one at the north, and the other at the cast side of the mound ; where also a small fragment of pottery was discovered. It was only about an inch and a half in length, and was the only piece found during the excavations. It is a curious fact that beads, of precisely similar form, material, and workmanship to those above described as being discovered among the burnt hones, have been lately found, with some other jet ornaments, with a human skeleton, in