DO INTRODUCTION. 



state of civilisation, and is such as could most easily be produced by 

 the simple tools they possessed. It bears a strong resemblance to 

 the patterns found upon some of the bronze axes and on the gold 

 articles belonging to the same period, and with which it probably 

 had a kindred origin. The decorations upon the iron knives &c. 

 of some of the tribes of Central Africa, and upon the clubs and 

 paddles of the islanders of the South Seas, have much in common 

 with the ornamental patterns upon the British pottery; and it 

 would seem as if, in certain stages of progress, the human mind 

 without any objective influence manifests in different individuals 

 and communities results very similar in their developement. 



The sepulchral pottery, as has already been stated, may be divided 

 into Cinerary Urns, ' Incense Cups/ ' Food Vessels,' and ' Drink- 

 ing Cups.' 



These different vessels have been found in the wold barrows in 

 the following numbers. ' Food vessels ' are by far the most fre- 

 quent. In this class I include all those vessels which are associated 

 with unburnt bodies, except ' drinking cups ;' and those which ac- 

 company burnt bodies, except ' cinerary urns ;' and f incense cups,' 

 whatever the form may be. Of these 73 have been met with, 57 

 with unburnt and 16 with burnt bodies. ' Drinking cups ' are the 

 next most numerous, and 24 have occurred; 22 being associated 

 with unburnt bodies, and 2 with burnt ones. Nine cinerary 

 urns have been found, enclosing the deposit of burnt bones ; and 

 12 vessels of the type of the cinerary urn were associated with 

 interments, 2 with unburnt bodies, and 10 with burnt ones, but not 

 containing any of the bones : these, however, are included amongst 

 the 73 ' food vessels ' noticed above. The rarest class is the * incense 

 cup,' of which only 6 were discovered in the barrows I have exa- 

 mined on the wolds. The exact converse of this appears, from Sir 

 R. Colt Hoare's account of the barrows, to have been the case in 

 Wiltshire, where the order is reversed, 'incense cups' being the 

 most common vessel, and 'food vessels' the rarest. The Dorset- 

 shire barrows also seem to contain very few e food vessels ;' and 

 * drinking cups ' and ' incense cups ' are also very uncommon. 



These classes differ very much from each other, as also do the 

 vessels of each class amongst themselves. It is therefore desirable 

 to give a more minute description of them than has hitherto been 

 attempted. 



The Cinerary Urns, those vessels which contain a deposit of 

 burnt bones, are of different sizes, and vary to some extent in 



