t f
:
DESCEIPTIONS OP CHANIA.
in a sitting postnre on the covering stone of a cist, which was on a level with the floor of the
tumulus. The longer diameter of this rudely made cist, lay pretty nearly north and south. Its
covering stone, of limestone, was rather longer than the cist itself, which measured 3 feet
10 inches, by 1 foot 6 inches, and 1 foot 3 inches in depth to the surface of the deposit Avhich it
contained. This was a skeleton, laid on its left side, in the contracted posture. In the northwest
corner were the fi'agments of a sepulchral vase, about 8 inches in height and 6 in
diameter across the mouth, of the usual " drinking-cup" kind. It is of reddish brown colouis
has a plain upright lip, is shghtly beUied out at one-thii-d its height, and is ornamented all over
with nineteen circular rows of oblique indentations, in the form of grains of barley, a twentieth
occupying the edge of the lip. The simplicity of the fox*m of this vase, and the neatness of its
ornamentation, malce it a pleasing object.
Heturning to the southern extremity of the trench, immediately beneath the spot where the
deposit of burnt bones and cinerary urn were discovered, and on a level with the floor of the
harrow, the fourth skeleton was found, to which the cranium here delineated belonged. It was ' ' o
laid on its left side, facing southwards, with the arms and legs gathered up like those of the
skeleton in the cist,—i. e. in the posture of the aborigines.
This account of Mr. Efoulkes's excavation of the Caedegai Barrow is derived almost whoUy
from that gentleman's own narrative, of which we have been permitted free use*, with an
examination of the fragments of the cinerary urn and small vase. Our thanks are also due to
the Council of the Koyal College of Siu^geons for permission to lithograph the craniumf.
* Archeeologia Cambrensis, 1851, vol. ii. p. 274, New Series,
t The observations of Mr. Wynne, M.P. for Merioneth, and
Mr. Ffonlkes among the Welsh cairns, &c. of the counties of
Denbigh, Merioneth, and Caernarvon, have been so extensive
as to render their opinions valuable. With respect to the
comparative frequency of the different sepulchral modes and
practices (under cairns, or earthen barrows; in cists, simple or
flagged, or on the surface of the ground; by cremation, or
simple interment; with, or vdthout urns or other vases, and
the particular class of these), they are all vaiieties which may
mark the customs of different tribes, and therefore be well
worth investigation. In these counties, especially in the
two latter, on the mountains overhanging the sea-coast, to
which the excavations of these gentlemen have been mostly
confined, cremation greatly prevails. Indeed the Caedegai
Barrow and another at Orsedd Wen, near Oswestry (Archseologia
Cambrensis, New Series, vol. ii. p. 9), are the only examples
in which simple inhumation has been met with. In this
latter tumulus the skeleton of the primary deposit was laid on
its back at full length. Even here there were indications of an
extensive funereal fire. In Merionethshire, the tumuli were
cairns, i. e. constructed of stones, or, according to the Welsh
term, "cameddau" ("earn," singular), raised on the natural
surface; and urns were never met with. These gentlemen say,
the invariable character of the deposit was cremated bones,
placed in a short cist, often covered with a very large capstone.
In one case, of a cist 2 ft. 4 in. long, by 1 ft. 8 in. wide, the
capstone was 6 ft. 3 in. long, by 3 ft. 3 in. wide, and in.
thick; in another, 3 ft. 1 in. long, by 2 ft. o^ in. wide; the
covering stone was 4 ft. 3^ in. long, by 3 ft. wide. In the
23.
same tract in which these cairns abound are many cromlechs.
I n two cairns of enormous length there is an interesting combination
of the cromlech, giant's chamber, and simple cist—
all clearly works of the same people. They are called
" Carneddau Hengwm," and are situated about 4^ miles from
Barmouth and about a mile to the east of the Harlech road
from that place. The northern one contains six kistvaens, or
stone cists, and one giant's chamber, or single chambered
tomb formed by dry walling supporting a large capstone; the
southern, two giant's chambers and a gigantic cromlech, on
supports about 6 feet high. In these cairns of Merionethshire,
cremation and cistic burial seem to have prevailed; but the ashes
were deposited in cists, without urns. On the contrary, in
Caernarvonshire, where the observations were likewise confined
to the sea-coast, and in Denbighshire, cinerary urns often
occur. In two discoveries of cinerary urns on a farm called
"Crug," which signifies a mound, situated on an eminence overlooking
the Menai Straits, near Caernarvon, they were accompanied
with the remains of bronze relics. The second discovery,
in March 1858, was made in the same garden as the first,
and revealed two urns inverted one over the other, the undermost
covering a quantity of cremated bones and a diminutive
cup, which latter contained a small round fragment of bronze
about an inch long. The deposit rested on a flat stone, entirely
without a cist. The " Bryn Bugailen Fawr" tumular cairn
yielded a cinerary urn with a flint weapon in it. On the Orm's
Head, the remainder of a " earn," which had once covered a
cromlech, produced cremated bones, and fragments of urns
and of some bronze weapon. " Bedd Taliesin," in Cardiganshire,
a tumulus formed of stones covered with soil about 45
(2)
Ji •
ANCIENT BRITISH—CAEDEGAI BAREOW, DENBIGHSHIRE.
In the opinion of Mr. Efoulkes, the interment in the cist, and the other three on a level
with its covering stone and the iioor of the barrow, were contemporaneous, the mound havin<.
been raised above them afterwards. He regards the former to have been the sepulchre of
a young cliieftain, at whose funereal rites three of liis favourite slaves were immolated, the skull
of one of whom is that here figured. We have warrant for the prevalence of this funereal
custom, common to many uncivilized nations of the old and new continents*, among the tribes
of Britain; and it is probable that the barrow of Caedegai may afford an example of it. The
elaborate cistic burial of one corse, accompanied with a vase carefully ornamented aU over its
sm-faee, under an mmiense tumulus, and the careless, unceremonious interment of the others,
confirm this idea. '
This skull is a relic of a man of about 40 years of age. The sutui-es are aU distinct; and even
of the mtermaxiUaxy there are traces. We need not hesitate to declare it to be a well-formed
cramum of good size. The interorbital prominence is distinct; the nasal bones are as usual short
and rise acutely from this point. The face is weU-formed; the cheek depressions considerable.
The lower jaw is remarkable for the prominence of its angles, which are both everted and stand
out from the base-line. The teeth, as usual among the ancient Britons, are considerably worn
The forehead is broad and capacious; the whole vault of the calvarium regular and fuU The
squamous bones are smaU, the parietals large; the semicii-cular line for the origin of the
temporal muscles i^. of moderate dimensions. The occipital region is weU developed. The
sMl may be i^egarded as tending to the platycephalic form, and as a favoui-able representative
of the Cymric Briton, of whom it bears legible traces.
jl
fl ' y
'ii
!
MEASUREMENTS.
Horizontal cireumference
Length
Frontal Region.—Length
Breadth
Height
Parietal Region.—Length
Breadth
Height
21-2 inches.
7'4 „
5 1 „
4-S „
4-7 „
4'9 „
5-5 „
4-0 ,.
Occipital Region.—Length . . . 5-0 inches.
Breadth . . 4,-4
Height . . . 4-4 „
Intermastoid arch 15-2
Internal capacity 73 ounces.
Eace.—Length ^ches.
Length of the Tibia 17.0
In this eramum of the Caedegai Barrow we possess the native unmodified form of head of
the ancien Cymi-ie Briton. Our Description of those from Juniper Green, Lesmui-die, and W
bigging Plates 15, 16. and 21) has made known an unusual and rather abrupt fl ttenin. I
the occipital region, which we consider to have been the work of art at an early periodTlil"
leet in diameter, coutained a cist iu the centre G feet long,
which had probably contained a body at full length when first
opened. Three or fonr cinerary urns, fonnd on " Bryn-yrorsedd"
in Denbighshire, had been placed in a cist. " Rhiwian"
m the same county, an oblong tumulus, about 96 feet
long, 7S in diameter and 12 high, gave many indications of
charcoal throughout its structure, and, when penetrated, the
moss and vegetation of the original surface still retained traces
23.
of their greeu colour. About twenty years ago, urns filled
with burnt bones, under cover stones, and a bronze dagger
were found iu this tumulus.
* It appears not to have been confined to savage nations
only ; the Egyptians and Chinese are considered to have jiractised
it at an early period, and to have employed "dummies"
or manufactured substitutes afterwards.—Birch's "Histoiy of
Ancient Pottery," 1858, vol. i. p. 9C.