The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon : a history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent research / by Thomas Wright ; with numerous engravings on wood.
- Thomas Wright
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon : a history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent research / by Thomas Wright ; with numerous engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ance of the exterior of a rude vault. On Monday, the 16th [of April], the stones in the centre were cleared away, and within them appeared a mass of much finer mould than the rest of the mould. This mould also was cleared away to the level of the cutting ; but as yet no indications of a sepulchral inter- ment presented themselves, although the workmen were still of opinion that they were on the original hard surface of the * ground. But of the accuracy of this opinion I now became very doubtful, and on the following morning I directed the men to sink a pit on the spot which had been covered by the vault of stones. They had not proceeded far before they came to a mass of ashes, mixed with pieces of charcoal and fragments of burnt human bones, which was found to be about a foot and a half thick, and was apparently about nine or ten feet in diameter. A piece of thigh bone, part of the bone of the pelvis, and a fragment of the shoulder-blade, were picked up here ; and it appeared evi- dent that the whole of the ashes of the funeral pile had been placed on the ground at this spot, and that a small mound of tine earth had been raised over them, upon which had been built a rude roof or vault of large rough stones. No traces of urns, or of any other manufactured article, were met with. Having been thus successful in discovering the central deposit, our attention was now'turned to the first mound of stones, and it was determined to clear those away and dig below our level there also; and the result was the discovery of another inter- ment of ashes, also mixed with human bones in a half-burnt state. This last operation was performed on the morning of Wednesday, the 18th of April; after which the excavations were discontinued. > ‘ The accompanying diagram, giving a section of the mouna in the direction of our cutting (which is shown in the shaded part), will give the best notion of the position of the two deposits ife a l Section of the Tumulus at St Weonard’s. at e and/, which represent the twro pits dug through the ashes, (represented by the black lines), to a small depth belotv, One 0. the most interesting circumstances connected with the cutting n](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24870808_0113.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
