EARLY MAN 



also a small oval cavity suggestive of a wooden or wicker vessel long since 

 decayed. 



36. Throwley. In a barrow at Throwley Moor, opened by Mr. 

 Carrington in 1849, we re found fragments of a large but plain, globular 

 earthen vessel, perforated at the side with two small holes. 



37. At Stanshope, a hamlet in the parish of Alstonfield, a barrow at 

 Ram's Croft Field was opened, and in it were discovered several interments 

 and flint implements, bronze dagger, earthern drinking cup, &c., indicative 

 of the Bronze Age. 



38. Wetton, Thor's Cave. An interment of considerable importance was 

 opened here. Near the centre, about a foot below the surface, two curious 

 vessels were found ; one of rather globular form, 4 in. high, carved in sand- 

 stone, and ornamented by four grooves round the outside ; the other was a 

 bronze pan or kettle, 4 in. high and 6 in. across, and was furnished with a 

 slender iron bow like a bucket handle. It had been first cast and then 

 hammered, and was found in an inverted position. 



In addition to the above barrows, some important sepulchral deposits 

 were found at Warslow, Elkstone, Sheen, and Leek, and fuller details than 

 are here necessary may be found in Bateman's Ten Tears' Diggings. 



This important group of ancient burials in North Staffordshire, large 

 as it is, may really be considered as part of the group in the adjoining county 

 of Derby. The sepulchral pottery and other remains found in the course of 

 the explorations of Mr. Thomas Bateman, his son Mr. William Bateman, 

 F.S.A., and their antiquarian coadjutors, are now preserved as part of the 

 Bateman Collection in the Public Museum, Weston Park, Sheffield. 8 The 

 collection also comprises many antiquities of like character found under 

 similar circumstances in Derbyshire and in the North Riding of Yorkshire. 



Compared with the Derbyshire barrows, the Staffordshire interments 

 afford proportionately a larger number of drinking-cups, some examples of 

 which are figured in this article. 



These vessels, known as ' drinking-cups,' are of peculiar interest from 

 the fact that they usually occur with unburnt burials, and are sometimes 

 found in association with implements of flint and polished stone. There is 

 reason to believe that they represent the earliest type of pottery made by 

 Bronze Age man in this country. The name ' drinking-cup ' has been 

 applied not as an indication of the purpose of this class of pottery, but 

 simply to identify the form. Like ' incense-cup ' and ' food-vessel,' it has 

 been adopted as a convenient method of describing Bronze Age urns, &c., 

 without any intention of defining their purpose. Vessels of the drinking- 

 cup type occur throughout England, and particularly in Wiltshire, but 

 they are not found in Ireland. 



The methods of ornamentation are ingenious, consisting, as will be 

 noticed in the accompanying plates, of horizontal lines running round the 

 circumference of the vessels, and a series of zig-zags or cheveron-like mark- 

 ings, which appear in some cases to have been impressed in the moist clay 

 by means of an instrument having a series of tooth-like projections. The 

 result is a number of punctured marks, and this is particularly well 



' The writer wishes to record his thanks for the permission of the museum authorities to inspect and 

 photograph the objects found in Staffordshire. 



I 177 2 3 



