Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/246

228 above the rest, had made it an object of attraction, and doubtless it had been frequently ransacked. The human remains, pottery, and vessels, were discovered in the two long chambers, which form what has been termed the avenue to the main one. (Additional chambers would be more correct.) The third, or northern compartment, contained human remains of men, women, and children, with several vases, bone instruments, and a celt; but some of the pottery belonged to urns, of which portions had been found in other parts of the cromlech.

Great diversity of shape was here observed, as had been remarked at L'ancresse. Two of these urns are here represented—one apparently to hold liquid, the other food.

The cromlech represented at the head of this article is called "the Trepied," a name sufficiently modern to denote the loss of its original appellation. It is of an oblong figure and was covered by three or four capstones, the principal of which remains in its place, the others have fallen in. Jars, human bones, and flint arrow-heads, were found in the interior. The character of the pottery bore a strong resemblance to that discovered in several places in the island of Herm, the urns usually being tulip-shaped, with a few markings and borders of irregular patterns, evidently done by the hand. In comparing these ornamental designs with those found at Du Tus, Le Creux des Fées, and at Carnac in Brittany, it was interesting to observe the same ideas and the same mode of producing the pattern. The streaks are in these instances made with a similar instrument, and universally an interrupted and indented marking; its frequent occurrence in the pottery of this period, induces the opinion that it was better calculated for the purpose of receiving the encaustum used. The encaustic borders on vases discovered at Carnac are more frequently met with in Brittany than with us, but we perceive the same design on both,