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Notice of some Roman Urns recenthj discovered near Berwiclc-upon-Tweed. 



By Dr Johnston. 



The urns, of whicli figures arc annexed, were lately discovered at 

 Murton, in the northern part of the county of Durham, and about 

 four miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed. They were buried, at no great 

 depth, in a light sandy soil raised into a sort of low mound, and were 

 covered or intermixed with stones disposed without order. The small 

 one was perfect, the two larger were broken into many pieces, but, by 

 fitting these together, a perfectly correct idea of their shape and 

 sculpture was obtained. The small one exactly resembled an old- 

 fashioned salt-cellar ; the diameter of its mouth was nearly 2| inches, 

 the greatest circumference 10, and the height 2 inches. The height 

 of the second was 6, the diameter of its mouth 5i, and the greatest 

 circumference 20 inches. The third was a size larger; and fragments, 

 evidently belonging to still larger urns, and of different patterns, were 

 also procured from the same place. All of them were made of the 

 coarsest clay, such as is still found near the spot where they were 

 buried, and were so brittle, although half an inch thick, that it was 

 found impossible to remove them uninjured from the soil. They had 

 not been burned, but merely dried in the sun or in an oven, and from 

 the blackness of their interior, even this does not seem to have been 

 done perfectly. The sculpture on the exterior was of the rudest and 

 simplest kind, and executed probably with the trowel or a knife. They 

 were filled with a fine black dust or ash, and in some of them frag- 

 ments of bone were detected, which mouldered away on exposure to 

 the air. The small urn might be destined to hold the ashes of the 

 heart. To none of them was there a lid or cover. 



