A HISTORY OF KENT 



basket-work, the forms and ornaments of which are reproduced with 

 certain modifications and additions. It is to this older class that, as 

 already observed, some of the pottery in the outlying graves of the 

 Aylesford cemetery is to be referred ; but . . , the great bulk of the 

 vases discovered on this site belong to quite another category. In their 

 form, fabric, and colour alike, they betray an altogether different pedi- 

 gree, and the influence of more classical prototypes. The clay of 

 which these vessels are composed is of finer quality than that of the 

 typical Ancient British pottery. They are mostly free from the grit 

 and cretaceous particles that form so conspicuous a feature in the older 

 class of earthenware from the same site ; minute grains of quartz and 

 apparently mica are, however, occasionally in the walls of the pots. 

 They are better baked and occasionally present a uniform pale brick 

 colour, resembling that of some Roman vases. This appearance is 

 however rare, and the internal substance of the pottery is usually of a 

 light brown colour. The difference in the surface is even more marked. 

 This appears in almost all cases to have been originally coated with a 

 black lustrous pigment, formed probably, like that on some contemporary 

 Gaulish vases, of finely pounded charcoal, and when this has worn away 

 the exterior surface is still of a dark brown colour. 



' There can be no doubt that the great majority of these vessels 

 are wheel-turned. In some instances concentric circles appear on the 

 bottom of the pot, and in one case the centre of the base shows a 

 hemispherical concavity like the kick of a bottle.' ' 



The bronze objects discovered at Aylesford have been shown by 

 Dr. Evans' able researches to be of even greater importance than the 

 pottery. The bronze-plated situla or pail is ornamented with an upper 

 band of bronze ornamented with repousse work reliefs of fantastic 

 animals and scrolls. The latter, which are of Greek origin, may be 

 compared with forms found in La Tene sheaths, whilst the former are 

 related to animals figured on Gaulish coins. The handle attachments 

 are ornamented with human heads, and from their form it is evident 

 that they are an ornamental outgrowth and survival of a form of 

 attachment usual in the case of a class of early two-handled situla. 



Two other bronze vessels were found with the pail at Aylesford : 

 one was a jug, or oenochae With a curious ornament with terminal cross 

 near the point where the handle was attached to the body of the vessel. 

 The other was a beautifully made long-handled pan or patella. Both 

 may be regarded as pre-Roman importations from beyond the Alps. 



Inside the bronze pail two bronze Jibulce were discovered, which 

 were probably of the late La Tene period. 



Another bronze vessel, which had been discovered at Aylesford 

 and placed in the British Museum before the other objects enumerated 

 were found, was a bronze plated tankard, the model of which was perhaps 

 the tankards or drinking cups of native woodwork rather than the clas- 

 sical or continental forms upon which the other objects were based. 



1 Arch. lii. 328. 

 328 



