Ancient British or Celtic Period—Pottery—Mode of manufacture—Arrangement in classes—Cinerary or Sepulchral Urns—Food Vessels—Drinking Cups—Incense Cups—Probably Sepulchral Urns for Infants—Other examples of Pottery.

Having spoken of the principles of construction of the grave-mounds of the Celtic period, and described the various modes of interment which they exhibit, I now proceed to speak of the objects found in them. Before doing so, however, it is necessary to say, that in the course of examination of barrows of this period it not unfrequently happens that the spot where the funeral pyre has been lit can very clearly be perceived. In these instances the ground beneath is generally found to be burned to some considerable depth; sometimes, indeed, it is burned to a fine red colour, and approaches somewhat to brick. Where it was intended that the remains should be collected together, and placed in an urn for interment, I apprehend, from careful examination, that the urn, being formed of clay—most probably, judging from the delicacy of touch, and from the impress of fingers which occasionally remains, by the females of the tribes—and ornamented according to the taste of the manipulator, was placed in the funeral fire, and there baked, while the body of the deceased was being consumed. The remains of the calcined bones, the flints, etc, were then gathered up together, and placed in the urn; over which the mound was next raised. When it was not intended to use an urn, then the remains were collected together, piled up in a small heap, or occasionally enclosed in a skin or cloth, and covered to some little thickness with earth, and occasionally with small stones. Another fire was then lit on the top of this small mound, which had the effect of baking the earth, and enclosing the remains of calcined bones, etc., in a kind of crust, resembling in colour and hardness a partly baked brick. Over this, as usual, the mound was afterwards raised.

The most important feature in the construction of the grave-mounds of the Celtic period is, perhaps, the pottery, and to this, therefore, the present chapter will be devoted. The pottery of this period may be safely arranged in four classes;25 viz., 1. 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 cremation. 3. Drinking Cups, which are usually ornamented. 4. Incense Cups (erroneously so called for want of more knowledge of their use), which are very small vessels, found only with burnt bones, and usually containing them, in the large cinerary urns.

The pottery was, without doubt, made on, or near to, the spot where found. It was, there is every probability, the handiwork of the females of the tribe, and occasionally exhibits no little elegance of form, and no small degree of ornamentation. The urns, of whatever kind they may be, are formed of the coarse common clay of the district where made, occasionally mixed with small pebbles and gravel; they are entirely wrought by hand, without the assistance of the wheel, and are, the larger vessels especially, extremely thick.

From their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually called “sun-baked” or “sun-dried,” but this is a grave error, as any one conversant with examples cannot fail, on careful examination, to see. If the vessels were “sun-baked” only, their burial in the earth—in the tumuli wherein, some two thousand years ago, they were deposited, and where they have all that time remained—would soon soften them, and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old clayey consistency. As it is, the urns have remained of their original form, and although, from imperfect baking, they are sometimes found partially softened, they still retain their form, and soon regain their original hardness. They bear abundant evidence of the action of fire, and are, indeed, sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to have attained a red colour—a result which no “sun-baking” could produce. They are mostly of an earthy brown colour outside, and almost black in fracture, and many of the cinerary urns bear internal and unmistakable evidence of having been filled with the burnt bones and ashes of the deceased, while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. They were, most probably, fashioned by the females of the tribe, on the death of their relative, from the clay to be found nearest to the spot, and baked on or by the funeral pyre. The glowing ashes and bones were then, as I have already stated, collected together, and placed in the urn, and the flint implements, and occasionally other relics belonging to the deceased, deposited along with them.

The Cinerary, or Sepulchral, Urns vary very considerably in size, in form, in ornamentation, and in material—the latter, naturally, depending on the locality where the urns were made; and, as a general rule, they differ also in the different tribes. Those which are supposed to be the most ancient, from the fact of their frequently containing flint instruments along with the calcined bones, are of large size, ranging from nine or ten, to sixteen or eighteen inches in height. Those which are considered to belong to a somewhat later period, when cremation had again become general, are of a smaller size, and of a somewhat finer texture. With them objects of flint are rarely found, but articles of bronze are occasionally discovered. The general form of the cinerary urns will be best understood from the annexed engravings.

The principal characteristic of the cinerary urns found in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and in some other districts, is a deep overlapping border or rim, and their ornamentation, always produced by indenting or pressing twisted thongs into the soft clay, or by simple incisions, or by indentations produced by simple means, as will be more particularly named later on, is frequently very elaborate. It usually consists of diagonal lines (see fig. 85) arranged in a variety of ways, or of herring-bone or zigzag lines, or of reticulations, or of rows of punctures, etc., etc. This ornamentation is usually confined to the upper portion of the urn, including the over-lapping rim and the neck; and in many instances the upper edge and the inside of the rim were in like manner ornamented. Some of the more usual forms are the following.

Fig. 86, from a barrow at Monsal Dale, was found along with many other interesting relics. It is twelve inches in height, and has a deep overlapping border. When found, it was inverted over a deposit of calcined bones placed on some rough stones on the natural surface, and having among them a calcined bone pin. Near it was a large mass of limestone, and a celt-shaped instrument five inches long, with a cutting edge, formed from the lower jaw of some animal. Another excellent example is exhibited in the urn from Ballidon Moor (fig. 87). It is eleven and a half inches in height, and measured nine inches in diameter at the mouth. It is ornamented by patterns impressed in the soft clay from a twisted thong. It contained burnt bones; amongst them were a portion of an animal’s jaw, a fine bone pin, four inches long, rats’ bones, a fragment of pottery, and a flint arrow-head. The presence of partially burnt human bones in the sand, the discolouration of the latter, and the occurrence of calcined rats’ bones in the urns, demonstrated the fact of the corpse having been consumed upon the spot. The following engraving (fig. 88), exhibiting a section of the barrow, will show the position of the urn when found, and also of the other interments which it contained.26

Fig. 89, from Trentham, Staffordshire, is a remarkably fine urn of the same character as the preceding examples, and fig. 90, from Darwen, Lancashire, has a central band as well as the overlapping rim. Figs. 91 and 92 are of totally different form; their ornamentation consisting of incised lines and impressed thumb marks, etc.27 They are from Dorsetshire. The next example, from Darley Dale (fig. 93), is of a different type, as are also figs. 94, from Stone, Staffordshire, and 95 and 96, from Cleatham, in Lincolnshire. Other forms, again, are shown on fig. 97, from the Calais Wold-barrow, Yorkshire, discovered by Mr. Mortimer. It is eleven inches in height, and is ornamented with a number of small semi-punctures. A very fine urn was discovered by the Rev. Canon Greenwell in a barrow on Sutton Brow, near Thirsk, in the same county. It is sixteen inches in height, and eighteen in width, and is ornamented with lines produced by an impressed cord or thong, and by semi-punctures or indentations. The next example (fig. 98) is from Darley Dale, and is, as will be seen from the engraving, of a very different character from the other examples given. Around the upper portion are encircling lines, between which is the usual zigzag ornament. Around the central band, too, are encircling lines, between which are a series of vertical zigzag lines. The whole of the ornamentation has been produced by pressing twisted thongs into the pliant clay—some, however, being of much tighter twist than others. Inside, the rim is ornamented with encircling and diagonal lines. It has on its centre band four projecting handles or loops, which are pierced, as shown in the engraving. Another form, with small loops on its sides, is shown on fig. 99, which was found in one of the Cornish barrows, as was also fig. 100, which appears to have a kind of ear, or semi-handle, at its sides.

The Food Vessels, the next division, vary considerably, in form, in size, and in ornamentation, from the very rudest to the most elegant and elaborate. These vessels are generally wide at the mouth, and taper gradually downwards from the central band. They are found both where the interments have been by inhumation and by cremation, but much more frequently with the former. In these instances they are more usually placed near the head of the skeleton than in other positions, although they are occasionally found placed otherwise. Their average size is from four to six inches in height, and the ornamentation is produced in the same manner as has already been spoken of in reference to the cinerary urns, viz., by impressing twisted thongs or cords into the soft clay, by punctures, and by indentations produced in a variety of ways.

The “food vessels,” like the cinerary urns, have evidently been made from the clay of the district where the interment has taken place, and they have been “fired” to about an equal degree of hardness with them.

Their general form will be best understood from the following examples, chosen from different districts.

The first example (fig. 99), from Trentham, in Staffordshire, is, it will be seen, of very rude form and make, and its ornamentation of simple character. Fig. 102, from Fimber, in Yorkshire (5? inches in depth and 6½ inches wide at the mouth), is of a more usual form, and is more advanced in point of ornamentation. Fig. 103 is from Hitter Hill, Derbyshire, as is also fig. 104. They were found in the interments shown on figs. 10, 11, and 12.

The first of these urns is four and three quarter inches in height, and five and a half inches in diameter at the top. It is richly ornamented with the usual diagonal and herring-bone lines, formed by twisted thongs impressed into the soft clay, in its upper part. Around the body of the urn itself, however, is a pattern of lozenge form, very unusual on vessels of this period. The second urn is five and a quarter inches in height, and six and a quarter inches in diameter at the top. It is very richly ornamented with the characteristic patterns found on the Celtic urns of this district, and is one of the finest and most elaborately ornamented which has been exhumed.

On Wykeham Moor, Yorkshire, some urns of a different form, wide at the mouth, were discovered by that hard-working antiquary, the Rev. Canon Greenwell.

Fig. 105 is from Monsal Dale, Derbyshire, and fig. 106, from Fimber, Yorkshire, was found along with fig. 107. These, as will be at once seen, are of a different character from the preceding examples, in so far that on four sides they have in the central sunk band a kind of handle or raised stud, which in some instances is pierced in the same manner as the cinerary urn (figs. 98 and 99). They are among the most elaborate, in point of ornamentation, of any of these interesting vessels. Other forms, besides those indicated, are occasionally found.

The Drinking Cups are the most highly and elaborately ornamented of any of the varieties of Celtic fictile art found in barrows. They are found with the skeleton, and are usually placed behind the shoulder. In size they range from about six to nine inches in height. They are usually tall in form, contracted in the middle, globular in their lower half, and expanding at the mouth. Their ornamentation, always elaborate, usually covers the whole surface, and is composed of indented lines placed in a variety of ways, so as to form often intricate, but always beautiful, patterns, and by other indentations, etc. They are much more delicate in manipulation than the other varieties of urns.

Instances have been known in which a kind of incrustation has been very perceptible on their inner surface, thus showing that their use as vessels for holding liquor is certain, the incrustation being produced by the gradual drying up of the liquid with which they had been filled when placed with the dead body.

Fig. 107, from a barrow at Fimber, is an elegant and highly characteristic example of this kind of vessel. It stood close behind the shoulders of the skeleton of a strong-boned middle-aged man, which lay on its right side. The ornamentation is most elaborate and delicate, and it is, perhaps, one of the finest and best preserved examples in existence.

The next two engravings (figs. 108 and 109) show two excellent examples, the first from the Hay Top barrow and the second from a barrow at Grind-Low, of a slightly different form at the mouth. The next example (fig. 110), found in Derbyshire, is of different shape, and has the unusual feature of being ornamented in quite as elaborate a manner on its bottom as it is around its sides. The bottom is shown on fig. 111. The ornamentation throughout is produced by the indentations of twisted thongs into the soft clay. Figs. 112 and 113 are of a different form and character; the first of these is from Roundway Hill, Wiltshire (see fig. 8 for interment with which this interesting vessel was found), and the second from “Gospel Hillock,” in Derbyshire. Others of a similar form have been found also in Yorkshire and other counties.

Those which have been engraved are, perhaps, the most usual of the forms of the drinking cups, but other shapes are occasionally discovered.

The next division, the so-called “Incense Cups,” a name which ought to be discarded, consists of diminutive vessels which, when found at all (which is seldom) are found inside the sepulchral urns, placed on, or among, the calcined bones, and frequently themselves also filled with burnt bones. They range from an inch and a half to about three inches in height, and are sometimes highly ornamented, and at others plain.

The examples I here introduce (figs. 114 to 125) will give a good general idea of these curious little vessels, which I believe have not been “incense cups,” but small urns to receive the ashes of an infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother, so as to admit of being placed within the larger urn containing the remains of its parent. The contents of barrows give, as I have before stated, incontestable evidence of the practice of sacrificing not only horses, dogs, and oxen, but of human beings, at the graves of the Ancient Britons. Slaves were sacrificed at their masters’ graves; and wives, there can be no doubt, were sacrificed and buried with their husbands, to accompany them in the invisible world upon which they were entering. It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that infants were occasionally sacrificed on the death of their mothers, in the belief that they would thus partake of her care in the strange land to which, by death, she was removed. Whether from sacrifice, or whether from natural causes, the mother and her infant may have died together, it is only reasonable to infer from the situation in which these “incense cups” are found (either placed on the top of a heap of burnt bones, or inside the sepulchral urn containing them), and from their usually containing small calcined bones, that they were receptacles for the ashes of the infant, to be buried along with those of its mother.

The form will be seen to vary from the simplest salt-cellar-like cup to the more elaborately rimmed and ornamented vase. Some are pierced with holes, as if for suspension, and one or two examples have handles at the side. The best examples of this kind are those shown on figs. 120, 124, and 125.

Among the most curious vessels of this period may possibly be reckoned the singular one here engraved (fig. 126), of which form only two examples have been discovered. They are much in shape like the drinking cups before engraved, but have the addition of a handle at the side, which gives them the character of mugs. One of these is in the Ely museum, and the other in the Bateman museum.

Fig. 126.