Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/102

68 zigzag corded line both externally and within the lip, impressed upon the surface, as shown in the representations. (See Woodcuts, half orig. size.)

No discovery of any British urns or interments upon the Malvern Hills, had, as Mr. Allies observed, been previously made. The conspicuous position of the site where this deposit was found, being the highest point of the range in the part adjoining Great Malvern, seems to indicate that it was the resting-place of some chieftain or person noted at an early period of our history. The jewelled ornament of gold found, about 1650, in the parish of Colwall, and the more recent occurrence of a vase containing Roman coins, as related by Mr. Allies in this Journal, are the chief discoveries on record as made upon the Malvern range.

The communicated notices of recent discoveries, indicative of ancient metallurgical operations in North Wales. About eighteen years since, an old working was broken into at the copper mines at Llandudno, near the Great Ormes Head, Caernarvonshire, north of Conway. A broken stag's-horn, and part of two mining implements, or picks, of bronze, were found, one about three inches in length, which was in the possession of Mr. Worthington, of Whitford, who at that period was lessee of the mines. The smaller, about one inch in length, was sent by Mr. Stanley for exhibition. About the month of October last, the miners broke into another ancient working of considerable extent. The roof and sides were encrusted with beautiful stalactites, to which the mineral had given beautiful hues of blue and green. The workmen, unfortunately, broke the whole in pieces, and destroyed the effect, which was described as very brilliant when torch-light was first introduced. On the ground were found a number of stone mauls, of various sizes, described as weighing from about 2 lb. to 40 lb., and rudely fashioned, having been all, as their appearance suggested, used for breaking, pounding, or detaching the ore from the rock. These primitive implements are similar to the water-worn stones or boulders found on the sea-beach at Penmaen Mawr, from which, very probably, those most suitable for the purpose might have been selected. Great quantities of bones of animals were also found, and some of them, as the miners conjectured, had been used for working out the softer parts of the metallic veins. This, however, on further examination, appeared improbable. These reliquiæ have been submitted to Mr. Quekett, Curator of the Museum of Comparative Anatomy at the College of Surgeons, who pronounces them to be wholly remains of animals serving for the food of man. He found amongst them bones of the ox, of a species of deer, larger than the fallow deer (possibly the red deer), of goats, and of a small breed of swine. It had been imagined also, that the bones had been taken into the cavern by wolves or foxes, but Mr. Quekett distinctly refuted this notion, no trace of gnawing being found. They were evidently the vestiges of the food of the old miners, and were in many instances coloured by the copper, which gave a bright green tinge both to the bones and the stone hammers, above described. A semi-globular object of bronze was found, about 1$1⁄4$ in. diameter, having on the concave side the stump of a shank or spike, as it appeared, by which it might have been attached to some other object. This relic, with a stone maul, had come into the possession of Lady Erskine; they were kindly sent by her for examination. On another stone hammer appeared marks which had been conjectured to be rude characters. These simple but effective implements seem to have been employed generally by the miners