A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK illustrations are borrowed. The country traversed by the road from Snape to Aldeburgh, a distance of about 5 miles, is mostly covered with whin and bracken, and rises from the River Aide, which flows at the distance of half a mile or a mile from the road. About midway, or rather nearer to Snape, it passes between six large barrows, the highest being 5 J ft. from the ground level, and three standing on either side in lines parallel to the road. Other mounds are scattered irregularly over the common, and all seem to have been of conical form 4 ft. to 5 ft. high and of various sizes, some being as much as 72 ft. in diameter, but others 6 ft. to 7 ft. The chief group had been excavated about 1840 and again for the Ordnance Survey ; but, the result being unknown except that a wagon-load of vases and other objects was removed on the first occasion, operations were resumed by Mr. Davidson in the autumn of 1862 on the north side of the road in a mound 4J ft. high and 60 ft. to 70 ft. in diameter. They resulted in the discovery of a large cinerary urn ' of the Anglo-Saxon period, con- taining charred bones in a compact mass. The ware was dark and lustrous, and the ornamen- tation consisted of incised triangles and rectangles alternately, which inclosed stamped patterns compared to ermine spots. A few days later the smallest of the group, at the east end, was opened ; and as there were signs of previous excavation at the centre of all three, the work proceeded from the centre outwards. Fig. I.— Cinerary Urn, Snape On removing the surfacc soil of peaty sand, traces of large fires with layers of soft unctuous matter were noticed, while in some places the earth was black and caked, apparently where human bodies had been burnt. These hard brick-like patches sometimes adjoined a cinerary urn, but occurred irregularly in all parts of the mound. The larger barrow, towards the west, had been cut into for the road, but contained a fine Anglo-Saxon urn, in perfect condition, ornamented with incised lines, vertical bosses, and a device that may have been a swastika.' It contained calcined bones and resembled specimens found by Lord Braybrooke at Linton and Wilbraham, in the adjoining county of Cambridge. Another vessel, entirely crushed, lay near it, and large quantities of broken flint were found in and around these barrows, though flint does not naturally occur in the locality. By driving a wide trench through the centre of the principal mound, Mr. Davidson found a cinerary urn of the Bronze Age (p. 267) empty and inverted, quite unlike the Anglo-Saxon specimens ; and one or more iron spear-heads, found in association with this and numerous fragments of other urns, may have been contemporary, as a spear-head has been found within a Bronze-Age cinerary urn at Colchester. No cremated bones were noticed on this occasion, and so far there had been found only remains of different periods deposited in all parts of the mound at depths varying between one foot and three feet. The next proceeding was to reach the undisturbed soil on which the mound had been raised. Below the black strata already ' Fig. I in the Fif/J account. • Fig. 3 in the Fieii account shows a swastika on this urn. Cf. Redgrave urn, pi. IV. 326
