ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



except for a few poor and late examples in Malta. 

 The best vases were of fairly purified clay, moder- 

 ately well fired, and having a polished surface, 

 usually of a darkish colour. On this surface were 

 often incised ornamental designs, varying both 

 in type and in the skill with which they were 

 engraved. As a rule the schemes were rectilinear, 

 more rarely they were carried out in curves. 

 Sardinia furnishes some fine examples of rectilinear 

 work, while the best of the curved designs are 

 found in Malta, where elaborate conventional 

 and even naturalistic patterns are traced out with 

 wonderful freedom and steadiness of hand. 



The pottery of the megalithic area is not all alike; 

 it would be surprising if it were. Even supposing 

 that the invaders brought with them a single 

 definite style of pottery-making this would 

 rapidly become modified by local conditions and 

 by the already existing pottery industry of the 

 country, often, no doubt, superior to that of the 

 new-comers. Nevertheless, there are a few points 

 of similarity between the pottery of various parts 

 of the megalithic area. The most remarkable 

 example is the bell-shaped cup, which occurs in 

 Denmark, England, France, Spain, Sardinia, and 

 possibly Malta (the specimen is too broken for 

 certainty). Outside the area it is found in Bohemia, 

 Hungary, and North Italy. Here, as in the case 

 of the conical button, we cannot argue that the 

 form was actually introduced by the megalithic 



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