A HISTORY OF KENT 



like form, celts mostly broken, swords, daggers, lance-heads, gouges, etc., and some rude ingots 

 of copper. It is of interest to note that a flint arrow-head was found with the hoard. 



SiTTiNGBOURNE. This hoard ^ consisted of four socketed celts, one socketed gouge, and 

 about 30 lb. of copper ; these were found in one urn. Another urn contained broken swords 

 and rings. 



The above are the more important hoards of Kent, and although 

 there are on record other discoveries of Bronze Age antiquities in differ- 

 ent parts of the county, the hoards are specially valuable from the fact that 

 they give us precisely the kind of information we require in attempting 

 to understand what were the occupations, industries, and modes of life 

 of the Bronze Age people of Kent. An analysis of their contents enables 

 us at once to see that the general characteristics of the objects found 

 point to a late rather than an early part of the Bronze Age, and it may 

 be inferred, therefore, that Kent retained its neolithic influences and 

 traditions until a comparatively late period, an inference which is in 

 agreement with the importance of the neolithic race of Kent as shown 

 by its megalithic structures, its camps, its dwellings, and its implements. 



Another point which seems to be fairly well established by the 

 preponderance of implements of husbandry, etc., over those intended 

 for fighting purposes, is that the inhabitants of Kent during the Bronze 

 Age were artificers, craftsmen, and tillers of the soil rather than people 

 of warlike character. 



Pottery of thfe Bronze Age was made by hand without the assistance 

 of the potter's-wheel. It was of two kinds, the first being plainly and 

 strongly made and evidently intended for culinary purposes, whilst the 

 second was considerably enriched with ornament, and intended for 

 sepulchral purposes. Kent has recently furnished two or three examples 

 of this kind of pottery, known as ' drinking cups.' 



In a pit near Erith where gravel was being dug, a fall of earth 

 from the side of the pit revealed sepulchral urns standing in small 

 cavities 3 ft. below the surface and 5 ft. apart. The urns, which 

 are tastefully and rather richly ornamented with parallel horizontal lines, 

 relieved in the case of one pot by upright lines in three bands, are now 

 in the possession of Mr. W. M. Newton, by whose courtesy the accom- 

 panying photographs are published. 



Another urn of the Bronze Age, richly ornamented in a style 

 which comprises more of the commoner zig-zag decoration, was found 

 in 1900 close by the highway leading from Canterbury to Littlebourne, 

 and is now in the possession of Mr. F. Bennett Goldney, F.S.A., by 

 whom it was exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries. ° 



The sizes of the two urns found near Erith are — height 5^ in. and 

 5^ in. respectively, and in diameter of mouth 4 in. and 3I in. re- 

 spectively. 



The Canterbury example is slightly smaller, being 4I in. high 

 and 4^ in. across the mouth. The richness of its decoration indicates 

 that it was sepulchral pottery. 



I Proc. Soc. Antiq. x. 29; Arch. Journ. ii. 81 ; Coll. i. loi. 

 » Ptoc. Soc. Antiq. (ser. 2), xviii. 279. 



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