190 ON THE BRITISH ANTIQUITIES OP WARWICKSHIRE. 



fragments have been since reunited. No other discovery was made 

 though the excavation was continued till the natural soil became 

 visible at the depth of about ten feet below the surface^ on coming 

 to which the work was discontinued. 



The urn and drinking-cup last discovered exhibited, in their 

 fashion and make, the usual characteristics of ancient British vases ; 

 they were each of a truncated cone-like shape, with a wide mouth, 

 that of the urn slightly inclining inwards; and they were each 

 more or less ornamented with scored lines and small punctured holes, 

 and bore a striking similarity to the urns discovered in tumuli 

 in different parts of this country. The position in which all the 

 urns were deposited, namely, with their mouths downwards or in- 

 verted, was the position in which British urns are commonly found, 

 those discovered with the mouth upwards being rather exceptions to 

 the general rule. 



It is probable, from the number of interments, that this was a 

 sepulchre pertaining to some Celtic chieftain and his family, not of 

 the aboriginal Britons, but of a period subsequent to the introduc- 

 tion into this county, by the Phoenician traders, of their brazen 

 wares, as is evidenced by the dagger of brass ; for the primeval in- 

 habitants, not understanding the art of working metals, used only 

 weapons of bone or flint. The interment near the surface, accom- 

 panied by articles of iron, indicates that, at a period subsequent to 

 the Roman invasion, this barrow was opened for the reception of 

 some Romanized Briton who, through the Romans, had become 

 acquainted with the use of iron. I say some Romanized Briton, 

 for the Romans were not accustomed either to bury their dead in 

 tumuli or with arms, but adopted a mode of burial very different, 

 in many respects, to that which prevailed amongst the Britons. 



Many sepulchral urns of the Roman era, so distinguished from 

 those of earlier times by their globular-like form, by being turned 

 in a lathe instead of merely fashioned by the hand, and by being 

 well and thoroughly burnt, have been dug up in different parts of 

 this county. At Alcester, which was a Roman station, urns have 

 been found in a field called the Black Lands. At Sawbridge, iiear 

 Willoughby, a number of urns are related, by Dr. Thomas, the 

 continuator of Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, to have been 

 discovered, upwards of a century ago, in a well or cist, and one of 

 these, plain and unornamented, is still preserved.* 



• It is now in the Warwickshire collection of William Staunton, Esq., of 

 Longlmdge. 



