Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/190

 mo rRE-iiiSTonc archaeology of east devon. food, occiiriing both with burnt and unburnt bones, but never containing tlieni. Tlie example of the ceramic art before us is, as I have said, to be leferred to the second chiss of these mortuary vases. It is of a dingy brown colour, carefully formed by hand, of fine clay tempered with a little sharp sand, and well baked ; the walls, as is usual with vessels of this class, are relatively thick, and average about i^ths of an inch in tliickness. It measures lij inches in height, and 2.V inches in diameter, is perfectly circular, and is decorated on the entire exterior surface, and also on the interior of the lip, by an elaborate pattern of lines closely incised with a fine- pointed instrument, and forming a series of herring-bone and chevrony bands and markings. Two lateral perfora- tions (shewn in the accompanying woodcut) also occur, as is common with vessels of this class, and which character- ised the example of a similar type found at Broad Down.' The original contents of this vase, whatever they may have been, have been converted into a coarse-grained snull- coloured dust. Altogether the example before us exhibits in symmetrical proportions and suitable material the evidences of experi- enced workmanship, and when viewed in connection with the fact that one side is perforated, and that the under surface is ornamented, it seems no improbable inference that it was destined for suspension above the level of the eye. The woodcut (fig. 4) may be considered a fiiirl}' accurate repre- sentation of the form, proportions, and character of this little mortuary vessel. Fig. 5 represents a portion of the rude ornanunt on the imder surface. These cuj)S have also occurred in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, York.shire, Derbyshire, and in Scotland ; they vary remark- abl}- in form, in the character of their ornamentation, and in the number and jtosition of the lateral perforation." Continuing our investigations of the a.shes and burnt bones that have been mentioned as occurring within the central cist of baked or sun-(lrie(l clay, we observed a grain of carbonised wheat lying in the ({chris of liie heap. It ' It Im fij(iirwl in thin Jonnml. vol. Wftrno'ii d-ltic Ttmiuli, pi. 2 ; lUtt-mauH XXV. ji. .'J07, fiiiil in tlwTniiJui'ljunm'f tlio Ti-n Vi-nrH* Difjj^'iiiKt, jxtmm ; WilMon'H L)<^v. •116.