Stourhead Collection at Devizes. 819 
round it.” From this statement we see at once that this was not a 
sepulchral urn, properly so called. 
The general form is given by the illustration, and requires no 
further remark. 
On the overlapping edges of the vessel are two loops, pierced 
horizontally, one on each side, and at right angles to these are two 
angular hooks projecting a third of an inch. The use of the latter 
was, we may suggest, to facilitate the process of pouring out the 
contents of the vessel whilst hanging from the loops. 
It has no ornamentation on the surface, but is very smooth and 
unusually dense and heavy. The colour is reddish grey in patches 
but generally very dark, and much of the surface is black and shining 
___as if saturated with grease and smoke. 
" The dimensions are as follows: —The height is 4¢ inches. The 
greatest width, 54 inches. The depth, 33 inches. The thickness 
at bottom, § inch. The average thickness of rim, } inch. 
There can be little doubt that vessels of this kind were used for 
cooking or other domestic purposes. 
The general similarity between this and the Crendon urn is at 
onee apparent—see illustration. No such round-bottomed vessel is 
to be found in the collection of the British Museum, and no such 
form is known to the Curators of the Ashmolean, York, Exeter, or 
Dorchester Museums. 
Since the above was written I have received a letter from Mr. 
David Boyle, Curator of the Canadian Museum, Toronto, in which 
he says:—“ You remark that ancient round-bottomed vessels are 
rare i the old country; here they are almost the only type; that 
is in this latitude. We find them occasionally provided with loops 
_ * for suspension,’ but as a rule there is nothing of the kind. Further 
south, in the ‘Mound’ country, vessels are found not only flat. . 
bottomed, but sometimes having feet.” 
[In Du Chaillu’s Viking Age there are (vol. I., pp. 141—147) illustrations of 
_ several urns from Norway, Bornholm, &c., which bear some resemblance to those 
of the Stourhead collection. Fig. 217 has a double row of suspension loops like 
_ the Crendon urn, though its bottom is not round; on the other hand, Fig. 242 
with four suspension loops, and apparently a round bottom, as well as Figs. 239 - 
_ and 231, seem somewhat of the type of that from Kingston Deverill.—Ep.] 
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