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DESCRIPTIONS OF OEANIA. ANCIENT BRITISH—HITTER HILL, DERBYSHIRE.
with great nicety of manipulation and taste. By a continuanoc of the excavation it was found
that another cist, C, had been constructed so as to adjoin B, and to unite in the same plan.
This had contained a body in the usual posture, and a vase, some fragments of which, witli a
portion of a stone hammer, were alone recoverable.
Flan of the Excavations of Hitter Hill Barrow.
This section shows not only the progi-ess of the diggings, but also the position of the
different interments and relics which were brought to light, in a compendious manner. The
first trench on the eastern side of the barrow revealed remains of cremated bodies, and led to the
cist A, which was about 3 ft. 4 in. by 2 ft. 2 in., and contained the remains of a young person,
laid on the right side, in the flexed position, with a fine vase standing in front of the skeleton.
Hitter Hill. Cist A, as laid open. Hitter Hill. Vase from Cist A.
This vessel is much decorated with indented lines. Inside the lip are three rows of this
ornament. Two unequal rows of zigzag, interrupted by a horizontal rib, occupy the neck. The
lower part of the body bears a chain of diamond-shaped impressions, with their cusps placed
vertically, and each containing an inscribed lozenge. This is an unusual if not unique instance
of such a style, which closely approaches the classical.
The next trench was made on the opposite side of the tumulus, and penetrated to cist B,
near which was found a heap of burnt bones, E, with flakes of calcined flint. The dimensions of
cist B were about 4 ft. by 1 ft. 10 in. ; and it was occupied by the bones of an adult, laid in the
contracted position on the right side, intermingled with a profusion of the so-called " rats' bones "
and snaU-shells*. "In front of this skeleton also, and close to the hands," was another vase of
the kind used for the deposit of food. Like the preceding, it is of good form, and decorated
* These remains of the Water-vole occurred in immense p. (1) ; still it may be desirable to quote an interesting fact
quantities throughout the tumulus. It is not necessary to noticed by Linnfeus, which proves how much Rodents, although
confirm the view taken of them in the Description of Plate 13, they may be vegetable-eaters, are addicted to exercising their
53. (2)
Cists C and B, with central interment, E, at i
Hitter Hill Barrow.
higher level. Hitter Hill. Vase from Cist B.
The next trench was cut on the north-west side, and brought to light the cist D near the
centre of the barrow. This cist was placed upon the natural rock at the greatest depth of any
met with, was constructed, like the others, of flat stones set upon their edges, covered with a
very large flag, and was the most carefully and compactly executed of any of the series; hence
Skeletons seen in situ in Cist D and Grave H. Hitter Hill Barrow.
peculiar function even on animal remains. He is iu Lycksele
Laplaud, at the date June 1st, 1732, and is describing the
Kodda, or hut, of the Lapp, when he incidentally reverts to
what he witnessed, and says, " Everywhere around the huts I
observed horns of the Reindeer lying neglected ; and it is remarkable
that they were gnawed and sometimes half devoured
by Squirrels." (Tour in Lapland, by E. J . Smith, 1811, vol. i.
p. 127.) The Water-voles invade the sepulchres of the ancient
53.
Gauls. (Mem. de la Soc. des Autiq. de Normandie, 1831-33,
p. 282.) In this place the exploration of the colossal tumulus
of Fonteuay-le-Marmion, near Caen, in 1829, is described.
I n Sweden also the bones of these little creatures are found
abundantly in the megalithic tombs of the primitive inhabitants.
Some singular ones recently opened by Riksantiquary
Hildebrand and Prof, von Düben, in Vestergöthland, have exhibited
great numbers of the skeletons of the Arvicola amphihixis.
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