16 THE WEDGWOODS. 



peculiar. Instead of being wide at the mouth, like the 

 Celtic urns, they are contracted, and have a kind of neck 

 instead of overhanging lip or rim. Their general form will 

 be best understood by reference to the accompanying en- 

 graving of two urns from Kingston. The pottery of this 

 period is usually of a dark-coloured clay, sometimes nearly 

 black ; at others dark brown, and occasionally of a slate or 

 greenish tint. The vessels appear to be hand-made (i.e. 

 without the use of the wheel), and are tolerably well baked. 

 The ornaments usually consist of encircling incised lines 

 in bands or otherwise, and vertical or zig-zag lines, arranged 

 in a variety of ways, and not unfrequently knobs or pro- 

 tuberances are to be seen around the urns. Sometimes also 

 they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman 

 egg-and-tongue ornament. The marked features of the 

 pottery of this period is the frequency of small punctured 

 ornaments introduced along with the lines and bands, with 

 very good effect. These ornaments were evidently produced 

 by the end of a stick cut and notched across in different 

 directions, so as to produce crosses and other patterns. 

 This novel and early mode of decorating pottery will be 

 best understood by the accompanying engraving, in which 

 I have endeavoured to show one of the notched stick 



" punches," such as I have reason to believe were used for 

 pressing into the pliant clay, and also one of the indented 

 patterns so produced. In some districts the vessels are 

 ornamented by small patterns painted on the surface in 

 white; but those of the midland counties, so far as my 

 knowledge goes, do not possess this peculiarity. 



Among the Anglo-Saxons the bowls were principally of 

 metal or wood (generally of ash), and the drinking- vessels of 



