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DESCRIPTIONS OP CEANIA.
Dr. Guest has shown that a great part of the north-east of the latter, equal perhaps to a third of its
actual area, was included probably in the territory of the Belgse *. This corresponds with the
fact that in this part of Dorsetshire, as at Woodyates and Bere Regis, barrows are met with of
elaborate external form, which have yielded rich objects of bronze. The name of Durotriges
seems to signify dioellers hy the water-, from the British dwr, water, and trigo, to dwellt- It
appears identical in signification with those of the Morini and Armorici of the coast of Gaul;
though there is no authority for the statement of the pseudo-Richard, that the Durotriges of
Britain were sometimes caUed Morini. It is clear from Ptolemy that they were a smaU tribe in
his day; and it is probable they were confined to a narrow strip of territory near the coast.
Everything appears to concur in showing that they were among those tribes of our island who
by native tradition were regarded as autochthonic t- The exact limits of the conquests of the
Belgse towards the west and south of Dorset have not been defined; but we must conclude that
they did not extend to the peninsula of Pm-beck. This forest-" isle," as it is called, protected by
its high chalk range, and probably by a stronghold at Oorfe, may have afforded shelter to the
retreating and half-conquered Durotriges, who would be separated from the more powerful
Belgse by the valley of the Erome, near the mouth of which river, at Wareham, they seem to have
had an oppidtm, the earthen vaUum of which still remains. Purbeck is described by Camden
as " for the most part a heath or thicket, full of stags and deer." It was a favourite huntingground
of the Saxon kings, and continued to be such down to the time of the Stuarts and the
civil wars, having retained much of its secluded character to the present time §. The results
Mtherto obtained, by researches in its barrows, justify the conclusion that it had the same
character in the pre-Roman period, and appear to indicate that its inhabitants were both a ruder
and a poorer people than their neighbours to the north and east.
Towards the end of the last century, several barrows near the western limits of Purbeck
were examined by Mr. Milner : they are described as yielding entire skeletons, or urns with
burnt bones, but no ornaments or other objects of interest ||. One barrow at Stowborough near
Wareham, in part levelled in 1767, disclosed a remarkable interment. In the rudely excavated
trunk of an oak were the remains of a skeleton wrapped in a covering of deer-skina neatly sewn
together, with which were some pieces of gold-wire: at one end was a curious little wooden cup,
ornamented with hatched lines We owe a better acquaintance with the barrows of Purbeck
to the researches of the Rev. J. H. Austen, who, in 1850 and 1855, opened three barrows near
Afflington and St. Aldhelm's Head**, and in 1856, 1857, and 1861 explored seven others, on the
chalk range which stretches from east to west, at Creech, Knowle, Ulwell, and BaUard Downtt.
In one of those near Afflington, the primary interment consisted of bm-nt bones, in an urn
inverted; and in one at Knowle, of a simple deposit of bm-nt bones and ashes; but in all the
* " On the Belgic Ditches," &c., Arch. Journ. viii. 145-151.
t Mr.Barnes (Notes on Ancient Britain, 1858, pp. 132,135)
makes the first syllable of Durotriges the British dwrin, or
little sea, and derives the name from their residence near the
.land-locked sea, now Poole Harbour. See De Belloguet, Gloss.
Gaul. p. 210, for a totally different etymology.
t B. G. lib. V. c. 12.
^ The best account of the topography of Purbeck is that by
the Rev. J. H. Austen, M.A., Purbeck Society's Papers,
1855, pp. 21-23.
II Gent. Mag. 1795, quoted in Gough's "Camden" and
Hutchins's " Dorset."
45.
% Hutchins, vol. i. p. 38. The cup is figured in Gough's
" Camden," vol. i. p. 70, pi. 2.
** Arch. Journ. vol. vii. p. 385. Purbeck Society's Papers,
p. 33. We are indebted to Mr. Albert Way for the loan of
the wood-cut No. 1 on the opposite page, and to Mr. Austen
for that of No. 2, and for the concluding vignette,
t t Purbeck Papers, pp. .110, 157. Two barrows at Holm
Heath and another at Grange, also in Purbeck, explored or
described by Mr. Austen, yielded interments after cremation
enclosed in urns.—Ibid, pp. 233, 238. Arch. Journ. vol. xv.
p. 151.
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P '
ANCIENT BRITISH—BALLARD DOWN, DORSET.
rest, of one or more skeletons in a flexed position and usually in a cist. In four instances there
were vases of rude British pottery, one of which from UlweU, of a common porringer-like form, had
the unusual appendage of a handle. Another smaU vase had a row of projecting knobs a little
below the rim ; but no drinking-cups were found, covered with scored and impressed ornaments,
1. Earthen Vase from Barrow near St. Aldhelm's Head—Height alout 6 inches.
such as are common in the Wiltshire barrows. The only other contemporaneous relics consisted
of numerous flakes and one or two weU-formed arrow-heads of flint, a whetstone perforated at
one end, some stags' horns, one bead of glass, one of bone, and a hand-made ring of Kimmeridge
2. Ring of Kimmeridge Shale from Barrow at Afflington.—Actual size.
shale. ^ A small penannular ring of bronze was the only metallic object discovered *. Near the
summit of one of the bai-rows near Afflington, was a series of seven graves containing nine
skeletons, stretched at length, and probably of the Anglo-Saxon period.
^ Of the seven barrows on the chalk-range, six contained a skeleton doubled up, generally in
a cist of considerable depth, and, above the cist, and about or somewhat above the natural level,
another skeleton or skeletons, some in the extended and others in the flexed posture f. Eour of
* We do not enumerate above the Roman coins of the 1st,
2nd, and 3rd centuries, the fragments of Samian ware and of
Kimmeridge-coal armillte, and the small metal clasp and ring
found in two of the barrows, near the summit, as they clearly
belong to a later time and people, viz. the Romans, who had
their manufactories of ornaments of Kimmeridge shale in Purbeck—
Purbeck Papers, vol. i. pp. 82, 221. Comp. Proc.
Soc. Ant. vol. iv. p. 169.
t When a barrow contains one principal central deposit,
especially if iu a deep cist, with others on the higher level, there
may be two or three explanations of these last interments.
45.
Sometimes, no doubt, they are strictly secondary, and belong
to another race,—there being distinct proof that some are of
Anglo-Saxons, who at times resorted to barrows of the British
period for the burial of their dead. That the Romanized Britons
did the same seems equally certain. In other cases, all the
interments are more or less clearly contemporary—the chief or
head of the family occupying the central cist, whilst the other
members of his house have from time to time been interred
at a higher level, or in the skirts of the barrow. In a third
class, however, these subordinate interments may be those of
slaves or dependents, who, even in Gaul down nearly to the
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