202 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



considerably smaller and not so well baked as the other two, and 

 had very much fallen to pieces from natural decay. This was 

 placed eight inches lower than the central urn. 



The northernmost was the same size as the central, though 

 differing from it in the contraction of the rim, and when dis- 

 covered was perfectly whole, but was unfortunately fractured by 

 being separated from a large furze root, which had completely 

 twined round the upper part. It, too, was placed on a lower 

 level, by four inches, than the central urn. The two extreme 

 urns were exactly five feet apart, and the interiors of them all 

 were blackened by the carbon from the charcoal, burnt earth, 

 and bones, which they contained. 



Looking at their rude forms and large size, their straight 

 sides, their wide mouths, the thickness, and the rough gritty 

 texture of the paste,* the absence of nearly all ornamentation, 

 and, with the exception, perhaps, of a slinging stone, of all 

 weapons, we shall not be wrong in dating them as long anterior 



* I certainly think that these urns were fired, though imperfectly. As 

 Mr. Bateman remarks, sun-baked specimens soon return to their original 

 clay. See Appendix to Ten Years' 1 Diggings, p. 280. 



These three urns, with all the other fragments of cinerary vessels 

 found in the Forest, I have placed in the British Museum, where they 

 have been restored. The artist has represented them exactly as they 

 appeared on the second day of digging. The fractures in the central urn 

 were caused by an unlucky blow from a pick-axe. The measurements are 

 as follows : 



The north-eastern urn Circumference at top . . 3 ft. 



bottom . 1 6 in. 



Total height. . . . 1 4 



The central urn The same. 



The south-western urn Circumference at top . . 2 9 ,. 



.> bottom . 1 : , 4 ,. 



Total height. . . . 1 H 



