'260 The Grave-mounds of Derbyshire, and their Contents. 



at their broadest part, where the handle has been attached, 

 from whence they taper gradually down to the point. They 

 are sometimes ribbed or fluted. In most instances, the 

 liandle has been attached by three rivets; in some cases, 

 however, only two have been used, and occasionally there 

 is evidence of the attachment being effected by thong or 

 other ligature. The handles were of horn or wood, and were 

 usually semi-lunar, where attached to the blade ; in one in- 

 stance, however, the blade has a "tang" or "shank" which 

 has fitted into the square-ended handle, to which it has been 

 fastened by a single peg. The blades occasionally present 

 • •ontestible evidence of long use, having been worn down by 

 repeated sharpenings. In the instance of the dagger found 

 at Stanshope, which had been fastened to the handle by a cou- 

 ple of rivets as well as by ligatures, evidence existed of its 

 having been enclosed in a sheath of leather, and this example 

 also presented the somewhat curious feature of impressions of 

 maggots, which had probably made their way from the decay- 

 ing body into the inside of the sheath, between it and the 

 blade, and had there remained, and thus gradually become 

 marked upon the corrugated surface of the bronze. 



It is worthy of careful remark, that in no Celtic barrow as 

 3 et opened in Derbyshire, of which any record is preserved, 

 has a single article of gold been found. A tore and one or two 

 articles of gold have been turned up by the plough, but none 

 have been exhumed in barrows. It is also worthy of particular 

 note that not a single ancient British coin has yet been known 

 10 have been found in the county. 



One of the principal features of the Celtic grave-mounds of 

 SJerbyshire is the potteey, and of this 1 will now proceed to 

 speak. The pottery of the ancient British period may be safely 

 arranged in four classes,* viz.; J . Cinerary Urns or Sepulchral 

 Urns, which have contained, or been inverted over, calcined 

 human bones. 2. Food Vessels (so called) which are supposed 

 to have contained an offering of food, and which are more usually 

 found with unburnt bodies than along with interments by crema- 

 rion. 3. Drinking Cups, which are usually highly ornamented. 

 i. Incense Cups (erroneously so called, for want of more know- 

 ledge of their use), which are very small vessels found only 

 ;h burnt bones (and usually containing them) within the large 

 cinerary urns. The pottery was, without doubt, made on, or 

 a ar to, the spot where found. It was, there is every proba- 

 ta ity, the handiwork of the females of the tribe and occasionally 

 . l>its no little elegancfi of form and no small degree of delicate 



*For articles upon this subject Bee the '-Reliquary, Quarterly Archaeological 

 ■nal and Review," vol. ii. pa^'cs 61 to 70 ; and Mr. Ruteman's " Ten Years' 

 i>i~-;ings." 



