424 NORTHUMBERLAND. 



of the ground, with no visible remains of the body which it had 

 no doubt once accompanied. It has four unpierced ears at the 

 shoulder, and is 4J in. high, 5| in. wide at the mouth, and 2J in. at 

 the bottom. It is, with one exception, the most beautiful specimen 

 of its class, both in fabric and ornamentation, I have ever met with. 

 The style of decoration will be best understood by a reference to 

 the figure ; the markings appear to be due to different applications 

 of the same pointed instrument, which has sometimes been drawn 

 over the moist clay, at other times inserted directly into it, by 

 which means both lines and dots have been produced. It possesses 

 the unusual feature of being ornamented on the bottom, where is a 

 cross, formed by two transverse lines, with a series of dots along each 

 side of the limbs 1 . This rarely occurs on vessels of any kind ; the 

 class to which the name of ' incense cup ' has been given being 

 that where such ornamentation is most commonly applied ; a few 

 ' drinking cups 3 also possess this feature, as also do some cinerary 

 urns and ' food vessels.' Ten feet north-north-east of the second 

 cist was a third, constructed in the same way, lying west-north- 

 west and east-south-east, being 3ft. Sin. long, IJft. wide, and 

 the same in depth. The cover-stone had been displaced by the 

 plough at some former time. At the north corner was a ' food 

 vessel/ a rude representation in its form of fig. 71 ; it is 5 in. high, 

 nearly the same in width at the mouth, and 2J in. at the bottom, 

 and has four unpierced ears at the shoulder. It is ornamented 

 over the whole surface (including the inside of the lip) with a 

 rather carelessly-drawn herring-bone pattern composed of lines 

 made by a sharp-pointed tool. Eighteen feet north of the last was 

 a fourth cist, lying north and south, 3 ft. in length, 2 ft. wide, and 

 2Jft. deep, the cover-stone of which had also been removed. 

 There was nothing found in it. At a distance of 6J ft. north-west 

 from the cist first named, and placed on the natural surface, was a 

 'food vessel,' somewhat like fig. 71, but having no ears; it is 

 6J in. high, the same in width at the mouth, and 2f in. at the 



1 I possess a very small ' food vessel ' with four perforated ears, being only 1^ in. 

 high, 2| in. wide at the mouth, and 1-| in. at the bottom, on which is a cross of 

 twisted-thong impressions [fig. 79]. It was found near Hepple, in the valley of the 

 Coquet. Mr. Bateman records the finding of a similar vase at Newton-upon- 

 Rawcliffe, in the North Riding, with an unburnt body ; it is, he says, ' decorated at 

 the bottom in a very singular manner, by the intersection of two bands, each com- 

 posed of three rows of punctures at right angles, so as to form a cross a design 

 I have never seen on any other specimen of primaeval fictile art/ Ten Years' Diggings, 

 p. 212. Other instances will be found noticed in the Introduction. 



