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ANCIENT BRITISH SKULL.
EROM BARROW ON ROUNDWAT HILL, NORTH WILTS.
(EEGION 01" THE BELG^, TEMP. PTOLESUDI, A.D. 120.)
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Barrow (No. 2.) on Rmmdway Hill.—Quarter-size.
A TOPOGUAPHIOAL description of Roundway TTi11 is given ia the account of the skuU figured in
Plate 43, from the barrow marked 3 in the Map given with that Description.
The barrow from which the skuU now to be described was taken is No. 2 on the Map. Its
elevation is very slight, not exceeding six inches, and its area ilL-defined, but extending over a
space of about eighteen yards in diameter. This was all the external indication aiforded of the
interesting interment beneath; and it is by no means surprising that the barrow had so long
escaped the notice of antiquaries*. It is probable that it was never completed as intended. On
removing the turf, there were traces of the ashes of wood, and of the peculiar mouldiness which
is so often observed in barrows. At from two to four feet, a considerable quantity of ashes
occm-red, mixed with the bones of birds and other small animals, numerous shells of Helix
nemoralis, a fragment of burned bone, a few bits of rude British pottery, and one or two flint
flakes. At about five and a haH feet, a skeleton was found in a flexed position, with its head
towards the north, and lying on its left side. The left arm was bent up, so that the hand was
close to the face; the other arm and hand were placed across the chest; and the knees were
bent upwards. The body had been deposited in an oblong oval cist of about five feet long and
* See the account of the opening of this barrow, by Mr. WilUam Cunnington, F.G.S., in the Wilts Archajological and
Natural History Magazine, vol. iii. p. 185.
42. (1)
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