Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/189

 PRE-HFSTORIO ARCILEOLOOY OF KAST DEVON. l-jT) ill tlicse tumuli ; and by noting the distinctive cliaracter of tlic'ir fashion, and ascertaining the uses to which these curious vessels were oi'iginally applied, wq may learn more of tho daily life of the people by whom they Yere held in common use. Many of these native fictile vessels, that were devoted to mortuary purposes, are so rude in form and workmanship as to alford no other sign of advancement in their constructoi's from a primitive state of barbarism, than such as is indicated by the piety which prompted a funeral pyre for the dead, and a hastily-fashioned vessel wherein their ashes might be in- terred ; whilst again other examples of sepulchral ^'d//m are lathe-made, and fashioned into regular shape, symmetrical, and even elegant in form. It may indeed be generally assumed that the ruder hand-made unbaked burial urn belongs to the earliest period relatively, whilst the examples of well-finished and elaborately ornamented potter}'^ may be referred to a period when artistic skill was at least partially developed, and when the workman had acquired a knowledge of the potter's wheel ; yet no chronological arrangement can be absolutely based upon the obvious distinctions thus pre- sented to us, for the rudest of pottery has been found asso- ciated in the same barrow with graceful and neatly orna- mented weapons of bronze. Setting aside then, for the present, the idea of a precise chronological arrangement, we may rest content Avith the general classification of burial- urns of the earlier period which was first suggested by Sir K. C. Iloare,^ and subsequently adopted by Bateman^ and other writers. All the vessels exhumed from round barrows were arranged by them in one of three classes : — 1. Cinerary, or Sepulchral Urns, such as contain human bones. 2. Incense-cups, or Thuribles, a name in familiar use, although the purpose to which these small vessels were appropriated is doubtful. They commonly occur with cal- cined bones, and are sometimes enclosed in urns of the former class. Mr. Bateman supposes that they do not accompany the earliest interments. 'Mv. Birch has suggested that they may have been used as lamps. 3. Food-vessels and drinking-cups, probably intended for ' Ancient Wilts, vol, i. p. 25. ' Ten Years' Diggings, p. 279.