John Thurnam

“ South Long Barrow has suffered much at the hands of the cultivators of the soil. Whilst the "Farmer Green" of Stukeley's days seems to have removed nearly all the stones which bounded its base, two being all which remain standing, later tenants, even in the present century, have stripped it of its verdant turf, cut a waggon-road through its centre, and dug for flints and chalk rubble in its sides, by which its form and proportions have been much injured. ”

“ The form of the skull is a decidedly elongated and narrow oval, differing much from that usual in ancient British skulls from the circular barrows of Wilts and Dorset. All its characteristics are more marked; but it bears a singular resemblance, especially in the face, to skull No. 3; and, like that, presents no marks of violence. Lying over this skull was a small slab of sarsen stone, and beneath this two fragments of a fine and peculiar black pottery, (see wood-cut, fig. 8,) neatly marked with lattice lines, corresponding fragments of which were found in a distant part of the chamber. ”

“ In the open space around the body of the king, they bury one of his concubines, first killing her by strangling her, and also his cup-bearer, his cook, his groom, his lacquey, his messenger, some of his horses, firstlings of all his other possessions, and some golden cups, for they use neither silver nor brass. After this they set to work and raise a vast mound above the grave, all of them vying with each other, and seeking to make it as high as possible. ”

“ In the north-west angle of the chamber was the skeleton of a man of middle size, about the same age as the last. The legs were flexed against the north wall. The thigh-bone measured seventeen and three-quarter inches. The skull faced the west, and the lower jaw was found about a foot nearer to the centre of the chamber, as if it had fallen from the skull in the process of decay. ”

“ The entrance to the chamber is formed by two large uprights, that on the south, which projects most into the gallery, being nearly eight feet in height, whilst that on the north, being of less elevation, is made up at the top by two horizontal stones, somewhat overhanging the whole, forming with the large incumbent stone a perfect but narrow doorway. ”

“ To the east of these was a space, whence the cap-stones seemed to have been removed,—two or three, of large size, perhaps these very stones, lying on the mound at some distance. Nearer to the east the stones were scattered in a confused heap, but beneath them appeared the tops of two projecting uprights, separated by little more than a foot's space, and probably indicating the narrowest part of the gallery leading to the chamber. At the very end of the barrow, scarcely, if at all, raised above the natural level, was a large flat slab, nearly twelve feet square, partly buried in the turf. ”

“ At this level the flint flakes and implements and bones of animals were much more numerous than above. The bones were nearly all those of animals likely to have been used for food, the sheep or goat, ox of a large size, roebuck (of which there was part of a horn) , swine of various ages, including boars with tusks of large size. There were also some of the bones of a badger [19] , an animal still sometimes eaten by the peasantry.
Beneath the black stratum, the chalk rubble, of a dirty white colour, extended to a depth of two feet ”

“ The body of the dead king is laid in the grave prepared for it, stretched upon a mattress; spears are fixed in the ground on either side of the corpse, and rafters stretched across above it to form a roof, which is covered with a thatching of osier twigs. ”

“ Ten or twelve of a round form have been carefully chipped by repeated blows at the edges, by which means a serrated edge has been obtained; [23] more useful, perhaps, than a smooth edge for dividing the coarse and gristly fibres of the food. [24] The regularly serrated edge of one of the oblong flakes may be compared to that of a saw, very similar to one figured in the Proceedings of the Society; [25] the chief difference being that the teeth of the saw in our example are not so deep or defined. Only one of the flint implements had been ground at the edges ”

“ Stukeley gives it the name of South Long Barrow, from its situation in respect to Silbury Hill, and the circles of Avebury. He says: "It stands east and west, pointing to the dragon's head on Overton-hill. A very operose congeries of huge stones upon the east end, and upon part of its back or ridge, piled one upon another, with no little labour—doubtless in order to form a sufficient chamber for the remains of the person there buried—not easily to be disturbed. The whole tumulus is an excessively large mound of earth, 180 cubits long (i.e. 320 feet) , ridged up like a house. ”

“ In the various long barrows which were opened by these investigators, we find that, with very few exceptions, human skeletons were discovered on the floor of the barrow, at the broad, or east end, "lying in a confused and irregular manner, and generally covered with a pile of stones or flints." ”

“ This opens into a chamber of nearly quadrangular form, measuring about eight feet in length from east to west, and nine feet in breadth. It is about seven feet nine inches in clear height: the construction of its east and west ends has already been described. The north and south sides are each formed of one large upright slab, about nine feet in full height, and somewhat more than five feet wide. The angles between the uprights are completed above by flat overhanging blocks, below which the chalk rubble, of which the barrow consists, fills up the interspaces. ”