337 



bank took place and exposed one of the vases, enclosed in a stone cyst : 

 the other large vase was discovered in a similar manner a few days 

 afterwards, but imbedded in earth, there being no stones under or around 

 it. When the labourers found these vessels contained only bones, they 

 amused themselves by throwing stones at them and breaking them into 

 fragments ; a few of the larger pieces, and of the bones, were preserved 

 and brought to Eichard A. Gray, Esq., County Surveyor, who kindly 

 placed them at my disposal ; I visited the locality, and got the particu- 

 lars of their discovery from the workmen, who likewise gathered for 

 me all the pieces they could collect of the broken vessels : in arranging 

 them I detected the third or smaller vase, upwards of half this vase 

 remaining in fragments, mixed with the pieces of the larger vessels : it 

 had not been noticed by the workmen, but probably fell down from the 

 side of the quarry when the other vessels became uncovered. 



The vase, Fig. 1, was found about five 

 feet nearer the river than the large one ; 

 sufficient of its fragments remain to enable 

 us to judge of its size and form by cement- 

 ing them together (for this purpose I em- 

 ployed a cement consisting of bees' wax, 

 Venice turpentine, and starch, which is 

 easily applied when warm, and adheres 

 with great firmness. I can recommend it 

 to those who wish to restore similar ob- 

 jects). It lay deposited in a rude quadri- 

 lateral excavation, placed mouth down- 

 wards upon a broad slab of stone, and sur- 

 rounded on three sides by flat flags, but 

 there was no stone discovered on its east 

 side : this primitive grave or cyst was covered in by two slabs of stone 

 lying in apposition, the chink where they joined being closed by a 

 third slab, thus constituting a rude roof over the chamber. The ex- 

 cavation in which it lay was hollowed out of the upper part of the 

 drift bed, the top of that formation being about level with the cover- 

 ing flags, and upon these rested eighteen inches of undisturbed vege- 

 table soil. 



The vessel is hand-made, of coarse baked earthenware, ornamented 

 by rude markings of parallel and vertical lines, with others impressed 

 obliquely, producing rough chevron or herring-bone pattern, of which 

 the engraving gives a good though greatly diminished representation ; 

 it measures ten inches in height, the mouth of the jar being, as already 

 stated, seven inches in diameter, and has the usual graceful form of 

 many similar articles of early pottery ; the interior of the jar is coated 

 on its bottom and along the sides with black carbonaceous matter, 

 forming a thin adhering crust. The fragments of bone that it con- 

 tained were dry, friable, and evidently of considerable age ; they were 

 of pure white colour ; but it would be impossible to assert with cer- 

 tainty they had been charred or burned, for boiled, or even buried 



