The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-16 00:00:00

The Yorkehire Wold Tumuli.

1 The ardsaologists who accompany Rev. Cannon
Greenwell, of Durham, in his researches among the
' graves of the Ancient Britons, have concluded
their diggings on the North Wold Range, and have
obtained highly satisfactory results. The openings
L have been made on the Gan ton and Potter Bromp-
. ton estates of Sir Charles Legard. The tumuli
opened since the last notice have yielded both
cremated and inhumed burials, the latter greatly
predominating, and in every instance showing the
curious practice of doubling up the body into the
least possible space, the heels being up to the sacrum,
and the knees to the elbows in most cases. Many of
the tumuli were much ploughed down, and cultivation
would soon have erased them altogether ; as indeed
it had already destroyed some of the shallow and
secondary burials. The practice of barrow opening
which many antiquaries have adopted during the
last half century upon the Yorkshire wolds and
Yorkshire moors—the digging of a funnel-shaped
hole in the middle in search of a central interment
only—has been shown to be very unsatisfactory and
positively destructive. Canon Greenwell's investi-
gations have shown that not only in the centre but
in various other parts of the barrow, in deep graves,
as well as on the surface, burials are to be found,
some of the barrows yielding as many as 12, and in
an odd case or two over 20 burials. The weapons
found have been exclusively of stone and flint. A
second battleaxe of stone has been found with a burnt
interment, and with some of the others flint arrow-
heads of various types, a splendid flint javelin-head,
and several very fine flint knives, with various other
flints, have been discovered. The urns have been of
a good class also, generally enriched in line, herring-
bone, or triangular marking, with impressions of
twisted thong, made when the clay was wet. Among
the finds of the past week have been the so-called
" saws"—flint flakes, with regularly dented edges,
which could not have been accidentally produced.
In one instance a mother and three children had all
been interred together, and in others primary inter-
ments had been cut through to form deeper graves for
later burials. The finding of " disturbed burials" of
this sort has been much questioned, but the recent
diggings have indisputably settled the point. The first
tumulus, on Potter Brompton Wold, was of pecu-
liar shape, being irregularly oval, the diameters
being 90ft. and 50ft. The plough had had some-
thing to do with the malformation of the mound.
The height was only lft. At 9ft. S.E. of the pre-
: sent centre a portion of a skull was found, evidently
the remains of a body disturbed by the plough. At
the centre, in a shallow grave, 6f t. by sft., and Gin.
deer, formed N.W. and S. E., a body was found laid
on the light side, with the heal to the S.W. Thu
hands were up to the head and th._l knees up. To ire-.
ter this body another and previous burial had been
disturbed, the legsof which re.nained. The disturbed
burial had been on the right side, and the head must
have been to the S.W., and the introduced or
secondary interment was placed just west of the
primary one. With the original burial had been
deposited a large cinerary urn, ornamented on the
upper part of the rim with zigzag lines, and all the
rest of the surface with loosely formed diamond
patterns, all of thong impressions in the wet clay.
'Phis urn was broken, and the head of the introduced
body lay on parts of it. Large ilintstones were
arranged over the grave. Just to the east was
another very shallow grave, containing a skeleton
on the right side, with the head to the N.W., the
contracted skeleton having the left hand up to the
face and the right hand on the hip. Flint imple-
ments of various sorts were in the material
of the hone, among them a splendid flint javelin
head, delicately worked, and the point yet as
sharp as a needle. The next tumulus was cir-
cular, of 70ft. diameter, and lift. high, formed of
earth and chalk. Fourteen feet east of the centre
was a body on the left side, the left hand on th e
thigh, and the right hand before the face. The
head was to the S.S. W. Behind the head was the
head of a very young child, to the S.W., and
behind the child's skull was a bone pin. Numerous
pieces of charcoal surrounded the body. In the
materials of the hone were numerous chippings of
flint, and parts of. urns, and a very peculiar arrow-
point of flint, a triangular shape, and very rare.
Singularly, there was nothing whatever in the
centre of this barrow—and this is not the first
divergence from the usual custom which has been
observed in the series of Yorkshire diggings. The
third barrow was of 40ft. diameter, and 2ft. high,
made of chalk rubble, and rested on a flint
floor, the earth having been taken away till the
natural chalk flint was bared. The barrow was
just upon the verge of a hill, and therefore the con-
stant ploughing had shifted the mound from its first
position and had given it a false centre. At what
had doubtless been the original centre, but now
considerably out of it to the east, was a burnt body,
and on the west of it an urn on its side, with
the mouth towards the bones. The urn was orna-
mented on the rim with four horizontal lines of
thong impressions. Upon the burnt bone (those
of a child) was the head of another child.
Touching this skull were the feet of a second
unburnt body, but of a large and strongly-built
limn, laid on his left side, the head to the west. The
heel just touched the urn. There were no other
bones belonging to the unburnt child's head. This
was a curious group. The fourth barrow, com-
pleting the series on Sir Charles Legard's estates,
was 54ft. in diameter, and lift. high. Peculiarly
carefullyarea. Amongwit h
these large
it
thlt slabs,
were several implements, viz., a stone axe, two flint
was
built
covering upon
a base
the whole paved
knives, two flint scrapers, and several flint
flakes ; and in the materials of the hone were
several potsherds. Much burnt earth and whin
charcoal was over the bottom and 6ft. west of the
centre. In the centre a cover or arch of large flints,
three ft. deep, was found, and below it was a burnt
burial placed about the level of the natural surface,
and below this burial was an empty grave, contain-
ing at least only charcoal and burnt earth, among
which stray flints turned up. This is the second
stone axe found with a burnt interment during the
Yorkshire Wold diggings. A few days will bring
the investigations to a close for the present winter
on the lands of Lord Londesborough and Sir
Tatton Sykes.

Tho Return of the Royal Naval Reserve force up
to the close of last month showed that in all 26,556
applications have been received and 23,033 Volun-
teers actually enrolled. Of this total number 512
have joined the Royal Navy, 1,190 have been dis-
charged, 1,723 have died, and 4,557 not applied to
be enrolled, leaving the present strength of the Re-
serve 15,051. Of this number 99 possess certificates
of competency as masters, 899 certificates of com-
petency as mates, eight certificates of service as
masters, while 2,997 other members of the Reserve
rank as petty officers in the merchant service.