130 



SEPULCHRAL POTTERY. 



amount of broken stone mixed with the clay, or sometimes 

 pounded shells, while the finer vessels, such as drinking cups are 

 made of clay tempered by the admixture of grit or sand, and some 

 of these which are often of a red colour, must have been more 

 carefully baked, possibly in a rudely made kiln of piled up 

 stones. 



The ornamentation of the urns and other vessels is so varied 

 that it is quite out of the question to attempt any detailed descrip- 

 tion here ; moreover it will be far more satisfactory for those who 

 are interested in the subject to study it for themselves. It has 

 been produced in diiferent ways ; the rudest designs are made by 

 simple indentations of a finger or thumb nail ; this is fairly 

 common in the Dorset specimens. Another method was to use a 

 pointed stick, or bone, and equally common is the ornament 

 produced by the impression of a twisted cord, or thong. We 

 have in the INIuseum two or three bone implements notched at the 

 end, leaving six or seven teeth which exactly correspond with 

 certain bands of ornament seen on some of the urns. If these 

 bone combs had been drawn steadily round the soft clay the 

 result must have been to produce the lines we now see. There 

 are two examples, in the IMusemii, of urns having holes through 

 the sides, with the object apparently of mending them ; the 

 texture of the clay is so rough that cracks must often have 

 appeared during manufacture or in the drying, and a simple tie 

 would no doubt have preserved the urn for its allotted purpose. 

 (Nos. 42, 53). The different shapes and sizes of the handles 

 should be noticed. Some urns have four large semi-circular 

 projections, others have knobs or bosses, either pierced or not 

 pierced, and others again have mere excrescences just sufficient 

 to hold a cord or thong from slipping, if it was intended to carry 

 the vessel by that means. 



There is one shape of urn which is more common in Dorset 

 than elsewhere. It has straight sides, the mouth being rather 

 larger than the base. Dr. Thurnam describes it as " flower pot " 

 shape. When the Deverel Barrow was opened, several of this 

 description Mcre found, and Sir R. C. Hoare stated that although 



