On the opening and examination of a barrow of the British period at Warkshaugh, North Tyneside / by Geo. Rome Hall.

  • Hall, George Rome.
Date:
[1865?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the opening and examination of a barrow of the British period at Warkshaugh, North Tyneside / by Geo. Rome Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    those animals. Part of the jaxv and one of the cranial hones of a fish were also found. These may all he supposed to have been brought there by human agency, or to have inhabited the cavern at the same time as man. But there were likewise many hones of small wild birds as well as of barn-door foAvls, some of them with feathers still attached, and all evidently of quite recent origin. For these the fox must doubtless be held responsible. It will be seen that none of these remains necessarily indicate great antiquity. Even as belonging to the historical era they would scarcely appear to date many centuries back. Had the human bones and shells not been present, the rest of the remains could easily have been accounted for by our looking upon the cave as an old fox-hole. AVe conclude, hoAvever, that the cave must, at some time or other, have been used by man as a place of resort—as is indicated by the burnt wood and remains of edible shell-fish—and afterwards, either by intention or accident, as a place of burial. AYe have evidence of the presence of not less than seven human beings, five of whom seem to have been males, one a female, and one a child. AYhy so many of our felloA\' creatures should have left their remains there, at a period which cannot but have been comparatively recent, is difiicult to under- stand; nor can we even venture to hazard a conjecture as regards this part of the subject. XAk— On the Opening and Examination of a Barrow of the British Period at WarJeshaugh, North Tgnedale. By the Rev. Geo. Rome Hall. (Plate XV.) Among the numerous vestiges of the pre-histoi’ie vale-dweUers of the North Tyne, yet remaining, ai’e several tumuli or ban’ows. At High Shield Green a group of such burial mounds takes the form of an ancient ccmeteiy. They are clustered around a great central cairn on a lofty eminence, not far from several ancient British camps. In the autumn of last year (1864), six or seven of these baiTows were carefully examined, including