More information : [NZ 70950605] Tumulus [NR]
(1)
Excavated April-May 1955 by W.P. Baker (LEEDS UNIVERSITY) and members
of local history class, W.H. Lamplough (chairman Scarborough Arch.
Soc.) in charge.
Stoney cairn, 48 ft. wide from north to south and 46 ft. wide from
east to west. Kerb of massive stones mainly set on edge. Inner dia.
26ft by 27ft. Height 3 to 4ft. Cairn of large boulders on natural
rocky plateau, no apparent order in building, stones set on edge or
piled up at angles.
Finds:- 1. Primary burial cremation in food vessel (ABERC. type) with
four unpierced lugs, decorated by rows of comb? impressions (similar
to beaker decoration) found in clean sandy subsoil on shaley rock 3ft
N.E. of centre. Six inches away, part of tanged bronze knife (1"
long) and flint fabricator, (about 3" long) calcined, in hollow in
natural sand. 2. Cremation in collared urn of Elgees type D.
Fragments spread over large area 2-3ft below a plain pigmy cup of
biconical shape. Had been subject to intense heat. Sherd of another
pot in it and calcined flint chips nearby. No cremation in pigmy cup,
fragments of bone in soil nearby.
3. To the S.E of this, 2ft. down from top of cairn and scattered -
pieces of large overhanging rim urn of late type similar to an
example from WHITBY district in Anderson Coll. (LIVERPOOL MUS.)
Incised lines on rim and shoulder, very little of cremation bones
found, Red-buff ware sherd of small cup found 6ft. east of original
find site.
Cairn had been raised and kerb built over food vessel burial. Later
urns and pigmy cup inserted. No protection whatever in the way of
cist or slabs. Settlement of stones or work of burrowing animals had
ground the pots up and spread the sherds and cremations. Signs of
earlier delving in cairn but unlikely much was found. Coin of
George I, [1714-27] almost illegible, found near kerb but 2ft 6ins
under or between stones of cairn on S.E. side. Could have worked in
from surface, however. No record of Atkinson doing any excavation
here.
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Finds are in Whitby Museum
(3)
See photograph.
Published surrey (25") revised.
(4)
The Bronze Age barrow was also mapped as part of the North York Moors NMP project, visible as a denuded earthwork on air photographs and centred at NZ 7096 0606. The barrow is part of a larger Bronze Age landscape on Danby Rigg and is extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography.
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