196 RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES I35T CORNWALL. 



Other urns have since been disclosed. A detailed account 

 of some of these I will now give : — 



Nanstallon-Down Urn. 



A crematory urn very similar to those already mentioned was 

 discovered early in April, 1883, in a tumulus or barrow called a 

 " Shepherd's House," situate on New Down, beside the ancient 

 trackway leading from Ruthern-bridge, via, Nanstallon, to 

 Bodmin. Mr. B. F. Edyvean kindly acquainted me with its 

 discovery, and referred me to Mr. Fowler who farmed the 

 ground. They, with the actual finder of the relic, facilitated my 

 acquiring as many of the fragments as we jointly were able to 

 collect, and fortunately these suffice to indicate the size and 

 whole design of the urn. The finder, John Northcott, labourer, 

 informed me that his master, not suspecting that the mound 

 contained anything of interest, directed him to "rip it up, and 

 spread it over the field." He proceeded to do so, and found the 

 sepulchral deposit, not in the centre but towards the western 

 side of the barrow. The urn stood "mouth upward, on a 

 beautifully clean floor," but not on a slab. " Spar-stones of 

 handy size had been placed in, closely around it, to fill up the 

 space about it." He did not at first recognize what it was, as 

 earth or mould encumbered it, but when a fracture of it revealed 

 some appearance of yellow clay or pottery, he cleared off the earth 

 from the fragments. The urn had been somewhat crushed, he 

 considered, before he smashed it. Its contents were black and 

 oily with bits of white bone projecting. The mass, permeated 

 with roots and fibres, had become so hard and tough that he 

 could scarcely force his pick or shovel through it. 



On visiting the site, on May 2nd, 12th, and 16th, in conse- 

 quence of the discovery made, I gathered as many fragments of 

 the urn as I could find. The whole area of the tumulus had then 

 been levelled and reduced to fine earth, surounding which was a 

 considerable ring of piled-up stones, chiefly quartz or spar, 

 which had composed the cairn. Amongst the rough stones 

 Northcott found half of a smooth, water-worn pebble. The 

 piece is 3 inches long, 3-in. wide at the fracture, and lf-in. 

 thick. On one face are transverse scratches as if it had been 

 used for striking a light. 



