By Maud E. Cmmington. 129 



the vessel, and sometimes rounded. They are of all sizes, from 

 little things a few inches in diameter holding perhaps a gill, to 

 large heavy vessels,the capacity of which might have been measured 

 in gallons. There are, however, comparatively few very small or 

 very large ; the majority of them being apparently from about 

 6in. to 8in. in diameter at the shoulder, and from 5in. to 7in. high. 

 Perhaps the smaller and medium sizes were used for eating out of 

 and for cooking purposes, while the larger ones would have served 

 well as receptacles for storing all kinds of food. Indeed many of 

 the pieces seem to show where they have been in contact with 

 fire ; and in many instances it is noticeable that the surface from 

 the rim to the shoulder is in a better state of preservation than 

 that of the lower part. In some cases there is quite a sharp line at the 

 shoulder where the colour and appearance of the ware differs dis- 

 tinctly. If these pots were used for cooking by placing them in, or 

 on,hot charcoal,some such difference might have resulted from a con- 

 stant repetition of a fiercer heat below. Much of the Italian cookery 

 is done even now in earthenware vessels which are placed in 

 charcoal, and pots of the shape so common at Oare seems peculiarly 

 well suited to the purpose. The quality of the paste of the bowls 

 varies considerably. Generally speaking the larger vessels are of 

 ' coarse, and the smaller and medium sizes of finer material. Some 

 i of the paste is mixed with a micaceous sand, and some with 

 pounded flint or quartz. The paste of some of the largest bowls 

 is very coarse, and is freely mixed with large grains of flint, pounded 

 ' brick, charcoal, and occasionally even with iron pyrites. 



Grey is the preponderating colour, in every shade from very 

 ■ pale to black ; other fragments are brown in shades varying from 

 , pale buff to chocolate, breaking out occasionally to a bright red. 

 A single fragment may show bright red, brown, and grey in its 

 different parts, and the greys and browns shade off into one another 

 in such a way that it is often difficult to know under which heading 

 they should be placed. It seems, therefore, that the colouring 

 is merely a matter of firing or of artificial colouring, and does not 

 necessarily show any difference in the material or place of origin 

 of the pottery. 



VOL. XXXVI. — NO. CXI. K 



