A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK distances small masses of iron encrusted with sand and entirely rusted. A few days later these iron bolts were traced throughout the length of the trench, and found to belong to a timber framing. On either side there were six rows exactly corresponding, and indicating the ribs of a clinker-built boat (fig. 3) that had fallen into decay, those at the side being horizontal, and four or five rows at the bottom vertical, the boat being of the section shown in the diagram (fig. 4). The two ends of the boat were distinctly traced, and its original length, estimated at 46 ft. or 48 ft., the width amidships being about 10 ft. and height about 4 ft. The woodwork at the bottom, though quite rotten, showed clearly the method of construction, and the outline argued considerable skill and knowledge of „ ' ^ " ^ ship-buildine. As the ring, hair, and glass Fig. 4. — Lnois-sECTioN of boat in r o _ _ i -jji i- r Grave-mound, Snape were found precisely in the middle hne of the boat (according to one account at the end), there can be little question as to the approximate period of its construction and burial, though parallel instances, at least in this country, are not easily found. In July 1863 a further account of excavations on this site was furnished to the Archaeological Institute ' by Mr. F. Francis, who was indebted to an eye-witness for his facts and sketches. Stimulated by his success in 1862, Mr. Davidson had directed his field adjoining the road to be trenched from east to west i 2 yds. wide. By this means the whole circumference of the largest tumulus was included, and more than forty vases were exhumed, mostly in fragments. The majority of these were found in the level between the two large mounds, much outside the extreme base of either ; and as this wide interval, singularly bare of furze, was rather depressed than otherwise, it is unlikely that earth had ever been heaped over them. No urn was discovered at a greater distance north or south than about 10 yds., and most were within a short distance of the hedge on the south. All were found about i ft. below the surface, and in most instances were brought to light on the removal of the first sod. The mould was, as elsewhere, black and greasy, and in this many of the urns had altogether collapsed. An examination of some of the bones showed that the process of cremation was incomplete, and fragments were noticed that testified to more than ordinary stature. No arrangement could be traced in the deposit of the urns, some being at considerable intervals and others close together. They varied much in profile and decoration, as well as in the quality and thickness of the ware, but all contained incinerated bones. The only relics found were two small pieces of what was considered ivory in a serrated metal mount, with remains of a rivet in the centre ; part of a convex copper plate having the appearance of part of a helmet ; an oblong copper ring, evidently part of a buckle ; an iron spear-head 10 in. long, 'joined in the centre by a rivet'; a round bead of bone, and fragments of fused glass. All these items were from the smaller urns, the larger yielding nothing but bones. This then was doubtless the urn-field or cemetery of a community living on the bank of the Aide, who utilized a burying-place already a thousand years old, and raised a mound ' jircA. Joum. n, 373. 328
