I!*'' Il
DESCRIPTIONS OF CRANIA.
the west side uppermost, the lower or eastern haTing been previously carted away, will serve
to explain the relative positions of the cists and the respective contents of each.
On the 16th of May, 1857, an opening was made in the middle of the barrow, and revealed
the remains of many individuals, of different ages, in disorder. To one skeleton, lying on its left
side in the centre, considered to be that of a woman, it was believed that several ilints, including
three thick arrow-points, and especially ten jet beads and a curious bone ornament with a hole
in it for suspension in a necklace, found near, belonged.
Jet beads and bone jiendant. Hay Top Barrow, Monsal Bale.
On the 23rd of May an excavation was made on the south side of the barrow (to the left on
the plan), when an oval cist was discovered sunk^Jhe rock and lined with a few flat stones.
It contained the skeleton of an aged man, lying on his right side, with the knees much drawn up,
accompanied with an ornamented vase and a perforated bone pin.
Food-vessel, .ij inches high. Hmj Top Barrow, Monsal Vale.
Perforated bone pin, 6 inches long. Hay Top Barrow, Monsal Dale.
On the north side (to the right in the section), and at a sUght depth, among fragmentary
human bones, a large iron spear-head, m t h the socket broken, and a blue glass bead with a spiral
thread of wliite running through it, were found. These objects are referable to a later Anglo-
Saxon interment. Deeper, and about four feet from the surface, the rock had been cut away for
a good space; and at the eastern corner of the excavation an imperfect cist was met with, containing
a skeleton much contracted, lying on its left side with the head to the south, accompanied
with a flint arrow-point. The skull from this skeleton, selected for our lithograph, we
will describe more particularly, as soon as the other discoveries have been notified.
Upon this northern depression in the rock, and on the western side of the cist in which the
skeleton just named was laid, there were carefuUy placed, side by side, two human calvaria,
60.
ANCIENT BRITISH—HAY TOP HILL, MONSAL DALE, DERBYSHIRE.
devoid of lower jaws, and without a remnant of any other part of the skeletons, which there is
no doubt had been disposed of elsewhere. Upon the top of one of them was " a neatly chipped
instrmnent of grey flint." These calvaria are given in our Table of Measurements II. b. Skulls
of JFomen, under the numbers XVI I I . and XIX. 181 T, a and h. They have belonged to young
women, who most probably sacrificed their lives at the funeral ceremonies. 181 T h presents an
extensive parieto-occipital flattening, inclined to the right side, and is exceedingly brachycephalic.
This appearance induced Mr. Bateman to regard the occiput as having been artificially flattened
during life *. Close to the western calvarium lay a drinking-cup; and a little further on in the
same direction was the skeleton of a small child, with one cylindrical jet bead.
Drinkinff-vessel, inches high. Hay Top Barrow, Monsal Dale.
On excavating the western side of the barrow a neat rectangular cist, formed of four limestone
slabs, was discovered, 2 feet long by 18 inches wide. This cist contained the skeleton of
a larger child in the same flexed position, and a neatly ornamented food-vessel.
. -J
\
i ; :
Food-vessel, 4f inches high. Hay Top Barrow, Monsal Vale.
After this detailed account, we now turn to the large cranium of the male skeleton, found
iu the cist at the north-eastern corner of the barrow. It has belonged to a man probably 60
years of age, and of considerable stature. The sutures are much advanced towards obliteration.
The sagittal, the central, and temporal portions of the coronal, the spheno-frontal, the sphenoparietal,
and also the nasal sutures cannot be traced. Yet all the teeth have been present and in
good condition, except one of the lower third molars.
* Ten Years' Diggings, p. 2/3.
60. (3)
I f '
iS;''
WI'
pi 'ili;