A HISTORY OF SUSSEX times to the English people of the present day. Subsequent discoveries in the same district gave almost identical results. In September 1849 John Yonge Akerman excavated three barrows of the Anglo-Saxon period on the Downs between Firle Beacon and Litlington, and found a perfect skeleton in each. The first was that of a boy about fourteen years of age ; the second of a young man, and the third of a man of advanced age. The perfect condition of the teeth was noticeable, though those of the old man were much worn. The only objects discovered were two knives of the usual pattern and presumably of iron, placed with the second and third burials. Some years before the same investi- gator had obtained similar results in the same locality, and concluded that these were the graves of a population in quiet possession of the district and of very primitive habits, in striking contrast to the discoveries of many weapons and ornaments when Mailing Hill and others in the neighbourhood of Lewes were levelled,' The locality well illustrated the distinction between grave-mounds of the Anglo-Saxon and Bronze periods, the former being on the brow of the hill overlooking some hamlet evidently of Saxon origin, and the latter on the highest points of the range, often out of sight of the inhabitants of the valley. Dr. Davis described two skulls found on this occasion, not far from Firle Beacon. They belonged to male adults of different ages, but both exhibit the Anglo-Saxon characteristics in an eminent degree ; and it may be mentioned that the elder showed signs of decay in the teeth, a somewhat rare occurrence in skulls of this period. Like that described above, these were considered typical skulls, the particular oval form being regarded as an unquestionable indication of race. The absence of grave-furniture and the east-and-west position are both in favour of the view that all these were graves of Christian converts. They would in that case be later than the mission of Bishop Wilfrid (681-686) and before the transfer of burials to the churchyards about the middle of the eighth century. In 1896 Rev. J. O. Bevan exhibited to the Anthropological Institute' a knife found in January of that year with eight skeletons during the erection of some fences in the parish of Alfriston, near Berwick, Sussex. The discovery was made near the summit of a hill overlooking the village. There were seven skeletons in a row, about 4 ft. apart, lying east and west (presumably with the head to the west) and another about 21 ft. south-east of the easternmost. They lay in the chalk, the mould being about 6 or 8 inches thick, the stratum immediately on the bodies being a mixture of soil and stones known locally as challice. In addition there was discovered a small piece of jet or amber, with two holes drilled half through ; and a small piece of glass, the upper edge being smooth and rounded. The ground in the vicinity was tested, but no other remains were ascertain- ' Ptoc. Soc. Antiq. 1st ser. ii. 47 ; Crania Britannica, pt. ii. plates 39, 40, and illustration o{ iron knife in text. 2 Journal, vol. xxvi. p. i ; Proc. Soc. Antiq. xvi. 92.
