The Story of the East Riding of YorkshireBrowne, Horace B. (Horace Baker)
History
The Story of the East Riding of Yorkshire
Browne, Horace B. (Horace Baker)
Yorkshire (England) -- History
The skeleton is that of a woman, and with it, you will notice, are two
objects. There is no need to say what has been the use of the bone
ornament lying behind the head, but the use of the flint implement
placed before the jaw is not so obvious. This is one of a class of
implements known to us as _scrapers_—roughly chipped pieces of flint
used by the women of a household in scraping the insides of animal skins
when preparing them for human wear, and in scraping the roots that went
into the ‘stock-pot’ with the flesh of the animals that provided also
garments and beds for the household.
[Illustration: HOW A BRITISH CHIEFTAIN’S WIFE WAS BURIED IN GARTON
SLACK.]
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_C.W. Mason_
British Gold Coin.
Found at Atwick by Mr. W. Morfitt (1/1).
]
In neither of these two barrows was there any sign of a bronze
implement. Weapons and implements of bronze are rare among those found
in the barrows of East Yorkshire, and the few discovered are dagger or
knife heads and prickers. The Brigantes were far behind the Britons of
the south in their knowledge of the use of metal; and at the time when
the latter were making use of bronze, the wild and savage tribes of the
north were content still to make use of greenstone and flint.
Personal ornaments, too, are rare, and were found accompanying only
fifty-seven out of eight hundred and ninety-three burials that Mr.
Mortimer excavated. They include dress-fastenings, such as rings and
links of jet, and buttons of amber, jet and bone. With only one British
interment was gold found, and of silver ornaments none were discovered
at all.
* * * * *
[Illustration: A BRITISH WAR CHARIOT.]
Especially interesting to a Yorkshireman are the discoveries of what are
called ‘chariot burials.’ The Britons were renowned for their
war-chariots, of which the chieftain Caswallon is recorded to have had
4000 when he fought against Julius Caesar. To the Briton himself his
chariot was known as an _essa_, a word which his Roman conquerors
latinised as _essedum_. An _essedum_ was drawn by two horses, and driven
by a charioteer who was very expert at running out along the pole
between the horses. The _essedarii_, or charioteers, were held in high
esteem among the tribal armies, and when they happened to be captured by
the Roman soldiers were great favourites among the spectators of the
gladiatorial shows.
On the death of a British chieftain who was a renowned chariot warrior,
it was the custom for him to be buried in his chariot together with his
horses and their trappings; and the East Riding has given more evidence
of this custom than any other part of our country of equal area. The
‘Yorkshireman’ even then, it seems, loved a horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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