PREHISTORIC INTERMENT AT TRETHIL. 137 



Through the kindness of Miss Eoberts, of Trethil, on whose 

 property it exists, I was invited to examine the spot. It was at 

 the top of a hill that overlooked the St. Germans river, and is 

 now occupied by ricks of corn. The kist was formed by four 

 side stones and a broad cover-stone. The bottom was formed 

 by the soil of the country, but the side and cover stones must 

 have been brought from some distance, inasmuch as they 

 consisted of thick slabs of unwrought slate, such as, I learn, 

 could not be found nearer than Whitsand Bay, a distance of 

 about five miles. 



My first care, after examining the spot, was to measure the 

 depth, width and length. I found it to be three feet three 

 inches long, three feet broad, and two feet nine inches deep : 

 and that it was about three feet beneath the surface of the soil. 

 My next care was to have the contents of the kist passed through 

 a sieve and carefully examined. I was in this way enabled to 

 obtain several pieces of human bone and some fragments of 

 coarse pottery. The bits of bone consisted of parts of the skull, 

 teeth, some portions of the legs, arms, &c., but all in a soft 

 and fragmentary condition. The pieces of pottery were thick and 

 only in small bits, one or two of which when placed together 

 enabled me to determine its diameter at the mouth, but of its 

 depth I had no means by which to draw any conclusion. It 

 was about four inches in diameter, and its surface was marked 

 with lines that were impressed by some twisted cord, prob- 

 ably made of strips of bark, the ends of which overlapped each 

 other. This small earthenware vase is, as far as I am aware, 

 . unique in the interments of this kind in Cornwall. Some few of 

 a similar description have been found in the burials in Derby- 

 shire, and are considered to be placed in the kists as food vessels 

 for the requirements of the occupants when they arrive at the 

 happy shore. 



The skull was situated in the east or south-east, in the corner 

 nearest towards the rising sun, and the knees were doubled up 

 to the chin, the arms being thrown over the legs in a position 

 approximating that in which it exists previous to birth. The 

 food pot has generally been found between the knees and the 

 chin. 



