ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 39 



of individuals. All these jaws, so far as can be seen, are, with the 

 exception of one, of very square build when viewed laterally, the 

 ascending rami being short and broad, the above exception being an 

 ancient jaw with a long slender ascending ramus and the angle 

 obtuse. 



The pottery must next claim our attention. Fragments of four 

 vessels were found. Of these, a few fragments belonged to a thick, 

 blackish, and hand-made vessel of unknown shape, and ornamented 

 with parallel impressions of a twisted rush or thong. (Plate II., 

 Fig. 4.) The paste is coarse and friable, and has all the characteris- 

 tics of the hand-made, imperfectly- fired sepulchral pottery of the 

 pre-Saxon barrows, of whicli there is so magnificent an array in the 

 Bateman collection at Sheffield. There were also two small frag- 

 ments of another blackish vessel, of fine paste and smaller size. It 

 seems to have had a contracted neck, and the swell of the body had 

 several slight projections. Neck plain ; but the body had a lattice- 

 work of burnished lines, recalling the ornamentation of some of the 

 Roman black ware ; but, unlike the latter, the fragments have all the 

 friability of the so-called Keltic ware. The largest number of frag- 

 ments belonged to a vessel which the writer has been able to restore 

 to a sufficient extent to make the shape, size, and use fairly evident. 

 A sketch of it (Plate II., Fig. 3) as restored will give a good idea 

 of its shape. Diameter about 8J inches ; paste, coarse, and reddish ; 

 hand-made ; variable in thickness, but generally thicker at the 

 bottom than elsewhere. From the obvious discolouration of the 

 lower parts externally and traces of smoke, little room is left for 

 doubt that it was used as a stew-pot. The shape is admirably 

 adapted for this purpose. When placed in the embers of a fire, 

 its rounded shape would prevent fracture, and in this respect it 

 is an anticipation of the flasks and dishes of the chemists. The 

 paste of these hand- made vessels was mixed with crushed calc-spar, 

 from which, being so common in the district, and scarce elsewhere, 

 we may infer that they were made in the locality. Two fragments of 

 a rough wheel-made small vessel were also found, and contrasted 

 much with the above in the smoothness and hardness of its red paste. 



Domestic vessels of the same age and character as the hand made 



