ON RAINS CAVE, T.ONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 171 



vases, and as such must have accompanied one or two of the 

 interments. Those now to be described (Fig. i) furnish but 

 little to form an idea of the general shape of the perfect vessel, 

 beyond that it was about 8 in. in diameter, and had a boldly recurved 

 lip and shoulder, and that the sides immediately below the latter 

 did not take a rapid slope inwards towards the base ; but it is 

 quite hkely that, as in the next to be described, this slope rapidly 

 increased lower down. The shape and decoration of the upper 

 part of this vessel can be readily made out from the illustration. 

 The decoration consisted of horizontal incised lines, with inter- 

 vening bands of punctures, except on the neck. These punctures 

 are somewhat like a crescent in shape, and were evidently 

 produced by a split twig from which the pith had been 

 removed. The inside surface of the neck is slightly decorated 

 with horizontal and diagonal incised lines. The surface colour is 

 a dirty buff, and the paste is mixed with broken limestone. 



The other vessel was larger, and had a similar but bolder lip. 

 It was dusky brown in colour, and its paste was mixed with 

 copious broken (snails' ?) shells. So far as can be judged from 

 the fragments, the sides sloped gently inwards at first below the 

 shoulder, then bulged slightly outwards, and then took a rapid 

 slope inwards to a small base ; that is, the general shape was not 

 unlike that of a top, or to compare it with other vessels of the 

 same kind, those of Figs. 70 and 71 in Greenwell and RoUeston's 

 " British Barrows." The decoration consisted mainly of horizontal 

 lines of twisted-cord or thong impressions. There were several of 

 these inside the lip and on the shoulder, and below the latter they 

 were so close together as to form a sort of fine diaper. The bulge 

 and the edge of the lip were decorated with finger-nail impressions 

 not very regularly disposed. Below the bulge, the lines of twist 

 were resumed, only they were wide apart. 



Of the large number of potsherds of indeterminate relative age 

 which were found here and there in the lower diggings, only one 

 was sufficiently large to give an idea of the original vessel. It 

 was found on the Refuse Layer, in the right region. As may be 

 gathered from the illustration (Fig. 3), the vessel of which it 



