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I.
iii'
DESCRIPTIONS OP CRANIA.
consisted of the trunk of a large oak, rouglily hewn, and split into two portions. The markings
seemed to indicate that it had been hollowed with chisels of flint; but the tree had been cut
down with a much larger tool, the marks being such as would be made by a stone hatchet. It
is seven and a half feet long, and three feet three inches broad. In the bottom is a hole
three inches in length. The lid was kept in place by the uneven fracture of the wood. The
Oak-tree Coffin from the Gristhorpe Tumulus.
bark was in good preservation, with its coating of lichens distinct. At the narrow end of the
lid, cut in the bark, was a sort of leaf-shaped knob, perhaps intended for a handle. In the coffin
was the skeleton of a very large and powerful man, of about seventy years of age, surrounded by
water, floating on which was a quantity of pulverulent adipocere. The well-preserved state of
the skeleton and its dark ebony colour were no doubt due to the tannin and gaUic acid of the
oak, the free access of water, and the nature of the enclosing clay cist, impervious to aii-. The
body had been laid on the right side, with the head to the south, and the face to the east. The
skeleton measured at least six feet two inches* ; and the interior of the coffin being only five feet
four inches in leV^h, the body had, of course, been laid with the legs drawn iip, in the ancient
British mode. It had been wrapped in the skin of some animal having soft hair like that of the
sheep or goat, fastened at the breast with a pin of bone, three inches long (Pig. 7). With the
decayed skin were a few phalangal bones, said to be those of a weasel, the skm of which, with
Objects of Flint, Bronze, Bone, Sfc., found in the Coffin.—Two-fifths actual size.
the feet attached, may have formed part of the dress. In the coffin were several small objects.
Pigs, 1, 2, 6 (three flakes of flint) show the rude form of the implements or weapons of the chase
The femur measures and the tibia 16^ inches.
52. (2)
ANCIENT BRITISH—GEISTHORPE, YORICSniRE.
of, it is probable, a chief of importance of the great Brigantian tribe ; the first has been slightly
chipped at the edge, but the others are as split oflF from the native flint: in this instance there
can be no question as to their adventitious presence. Pig. 5, a bronze blade, three and a half inches
long, much corroded,—the two rivets showing that the handle was of no great thickness. Pig. 4,
no doubt the top of such handle—a polished oval disk of bone, with perforations on each side for
the pins by which it was fastened. Pig. 8, a small implement of wood, with a rounded head, and
flattened on one side to about half its length. Pig. 3, the fragment of a ring of horn—a fastening
perhaps of the dress. On the lower part of the breast was an ornament of a very brittle material,
in the form of a rosette, with two loose ends. By the side was a shaUow basket, about six inches
in diameter, formed of bark, curiously stitched with the siaews of anunals : at the bottom \^ere
decomposed remains, perhaps of food. There was also a quantity of vegetable substance, mixed
with lanceolate foliage, supposed to be that of the mistletoe.
It has been proposed to refer this remarkable interment to the later Roman period; but
everything conspires to show its ancient British character. The objects of flint and bronze do
not differ from those so familar to us in the British barrows of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and
Wilts, which are no doubt for the most part of pre-Roman date. The dress of skins agrees with
what Csesar teUs us of the clothing of the natives in his time; but within the first half-century of
Roman domination, the British chiefs had adopted the Roman costume, including even the toga
It is of course impossible to fix a date for the interment, though it is probably not earlier than
two or three centuries before, or later than the first century of, our era. The wooden coffin is a
rare feature in ancient British sepulture, but not, as has been thought, without paraUel. In
three or four instances. Sir R. O.'&oare found the skeleton deposited in the "rude trunks" of
elms, or in "shaUow eases of wood, of boat-like form." Rude shells, like these, can hardly be
caUed coffins. A nearer approach to our Gristhorpe example was that from King-Barrow, at Stowborough,
Dorset,—described as an oak-trimk, rudely excavated, and measuring ten feet by four ;
the upper part and ends being much decayed, it is doubtful whether it was provided with a lid.
Within were the remains of a skeleton stained black, in an envelope of several deer-skins neatly
sewed together t- Other oaken cofiins, more or less rude, have been found at Beverley and
Driffield, but they are probably of a much later period. Those found at York and Selby arc
probably Christian and early Saxon. Though excavated out of solid trunks, they display a
considerable advance in the art of carpentry; but the resulting sarcophagus is by no means so
substantial or imposing in appearance as that made with tools of stone by the ancient Brigantian
craftsman. Similar coffins have also been found in Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Northumberland,
and in the Lewes Levels, Sussex; and lastly there are the two trunk coffins {querou cavata) dug
up at Glastonbury, A.D. H89, which, it was pretended, contained the remains of Arthur and his
Queen, but which were probably Anglo-Saxon.
This magnificent skuU is almost the largest we have had to figure. Its capacity is represented
by 84i ozs. of sand : the cranial parietes are no doubt of unusual thickness. It is remarkable both
for elevation and breadth, the latter bemg -85 of the lengtl i-a degree of brachycephalism only
exceeded in one out of the thirty-five ancient British skuUs figured in this work. It does not
appear to derive any peculiarity either from deformation produced during life, or from posthumous
distortion. The posterior edges of the parietals, it is true, slope off abruptly; but the
* Tac. Vit. Agric. c. xxi. A.D. 79.
t nutchins, " Dorset," ed. 1774, vol. i. p. 2.5. C. B. ante, Chap. V. pp. 75, 76, 77 ; Description, PI. 45. p. (2).