A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



is as true of the Bronze Age as of later parts of prehistoric time. The 

 introduction of bronze into Britain was marked by an almost entire change in 

 the burial customs of the people. The neolithic burial-places consisted of 

 megalithic structures, and long or oval barrows sometimes containing 

 chambers built up of rough stones. The dead bodies were buried some- 

 times with and sometimes without previous burning or partial burning, and 

 also in some cases after the skeleton had been bereft of its flesh. The bronze- 

 using people, on the other hand, habitually burnt their dead and inclosed 

 the remains in either (i) a cist formed of comparatively small stones, (2) a 

 cinerary urn of rough pottery, inclosing also smaller sepulchral pottery, or 

 (3) in an excavated hole in the ground, which was then covered by a 

 mound. They reared low mounds, generally circular in plan, over the 

 remains, which usually consisted of the much charred or entirely calcined frag- 

 ments of bone accompanied by a few articles of either bronze or worked flint. 



Although burial by inhumation still continued to be practised during 

 the Bronze Age, cremation was adopted for the first time, and constitutes one 

 of the most characteristic features of Bronze-Age burial. The survival of the 

 practice of inhumation affords, as the late Mr. J. Romilly Allen has clearly 

 shown,^ an indication that the Bronze-Age race, or Goidels, amalgamated 

 with the neolithic aborigines rather than exterminated them. The unburnt 

 bodies were usually buried in a doubled-up position, and sometimes an urn 

 was placed near the dead body ; but with the burnt interments of the Bronze 

 Age ornamented pottery was generally deposited, and this affords ample 

 material for studying the art of the period. 



This pottery derived from round barrows, which can now be examined 

 in the more important museums of the kingdom, exhibits a remarkable variety 

 of forms, which for the purpose of definite classification have been divided 

 into the following classes : — 



1. Cinerary urns. 3. ' Drinking-cups.' 



2. ' Food-vessels.' 4. ' Incense-cups.' 



Of these terms, perhaps the first alone may be regarded as really 

 descriptive of the use to which that type of vessels was put. The cinerary 

 urn, which was used as a receptacle for the remains of burnt human 

 bones, stood from 6 in. to 3 ft. in height. It was sometimes placed upright, 

 and sometimes in an inverted position on a flat stone. Round the top of the 

 vessel was usually a thick rim the purpose of which was probably to impart 

 strength. 



' Food-vessels ' are urns with fairly wide open mouths. By some autho- 

 rities they are believed to have been used to contain food which was placed 

 near the human remains in unburnt Bronze-Age burials. 



' Drinking-cups ' are vessels of beaker-like form, the surfaces of which 

 are ornamented by interesting incised designs. They are hardly ever associated 

 with cremated burials, and are generally found placed near the shoulders of the 

 skeleton of the dead. 



' Incense-cups,' unlike the two types of pottery just referred to, are never 

 found in association with unburnt burials ; they invariably accompany crema- 



' CelHc Art, 23-4. 

 264 



