VESSELS OF THE BARROWS NOT DOMESTIC. 105 



the vessel for such a use. I have suggested before that a covering- 

 of cloth or hide may have been placed over the mouth of the 

 vessel, and if that was the case, then the projecting rim afforded 

 a means of keeping such a covering more firmly in its place, 

 by passing a cord or thong round the vessel below such projecting 

 part. 



Enough has already been said in the account of the 'incense 

 cups' to show how ill adapted they are for any domestic purpose; 

 nor indeed has any one suggested an explanation of their every- 

 day use which bears the least appearance of probability. 



In considering the 'food vessels' as being originally intended 

 to serve as ordinary household utensils, the same objection may 

 be brought against them as has been brought against the cinerary 

 urns — that it is difficult to understand to what domestic use they 

 could have been ai)plied. Their shape, the small size of some of 

 them, the thickness of the walls, the inconvenient width of the 

 lip of the rim, would make them very imsuitable vessels in the 

 economy of daily life. We cannot regard them as having been 

 made to serve at table, for their form renders them almost useless 

 for such a purpose. They could not have been used in cooking, 

 for apart from the fact that none of them show signs of having 

 been placed upon a fire, they could not bear its action. Liquids 

 they cannot have held on account of their porousness. They 

 might indeed have contained some semi-fluid mess, like porridge, 

 but the narrowness of many of them, especially at the bottom, 

 makes such a supposition unlikely. 



It may be said that the perforated ears round the shoulder, 

 with which so many are provided, are inconsistent with their having 

 been made purely for burial uses, inasmuch as there would be 

 no occasion that vessels intended to be placed in the grave should 

 be constructed with the means of suspending them. This objection 

 to their being considered entirely as sepulchral vessels is certainly 

 a very strong one, nor do I pretend to answer it. At the same 

 time it appears to militate equally against their having been 

 intended for domestic use, for it is impossible to understand what 

 office in the household could have been served by the suspension 

 of such vessels. 



The last class, the ' drinking cup,' has by far the best claim 

 to be considered a domestic vessel in its primary intention; but, 

 on the whole, it can scarcely be regarded as having been one. 

 If it would hold water (and no douljfc many of them would do 



