Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/253

Rh rampart. They were both buried lying on the right side; and this skeleton had both hands lying behind it, in such a position that they might have been tied. Moreover, there were at least four other coins of the same period in adjacent parts of the silting of the ditch, two of them within the limits of the grave, but far above the bodies'; so that they may all have been dropped in by accident in filling up the ditch and the grave. The other cases, however, may be taken to be undoubtedly instances of coins having been given to the corpse to pay the fare of the dead into the other world, the classic toll of Charon.

Nor is this all. Pottery, both whole and broken, was deposited with three of the bodies in the square enclosure. The skeleton of a man was found with the fragments of a small bowl, or tazza, of cream-coloured ware at its feet. The skeleton of a young person of doubtful sex had fragments of a similar vessel, but of a somewhat more elegant shape and of imitation Samian ware, at its right foot, and under its left leg a fragment of New Forest cream-coloured ware. In neither of these cases was it found possible to piece together an entire vessel out of the fragments; probably, therefore, the bowls were broken when buried. This points, of course, to the belief that it was necessary to break the vessel, so that its soul might accompany the soul of the dead into the spirit-world. On the other hand, a small pitcher, 6.8 inches high, was found entire in an adult female's grave. The lady had been buried in an unusually strong coffin, or covered bier; and the pitcher was placed either upon or beside the coffin, not inside it. It is, however, well known that it is by no