Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/390

 A HISTORY OF KENT like form, celts mostly broken, swords, daggers, lance-heads, gouges, etc., and some rude ingots of copper. It is of interest to note that a flint arrow-head was found with the hoard. SiTTiNGBOURNE. This hoard ^ consisted of four socketed celts, one socketed gouge, and about 30 lb. of copper ; these were found in one urn. Another urn contained broken swords and rings. The above are the more important hoards of Kent, and although there are on record other discoveries of Bronze Age antiquities in differ- ent parts of the county, the hoards are specially valuable from the fact that they give us precisely the kind of information we require in attempting to understand what were the occupations, industries, and modes of life of the Bronze Age people of Kent. An analysis of their contents enables us at once to see that the general characteristics of the objects found point to a late rather than an early part of the Bronze Age, and it may be inferred, therefore, that Kent retained its neolithic influences and traditions until a comparatively late period, an inference which is in agreement with the importance of the neolithic race of Kent as shown by its megalithic structures, its camps, its dwellings, and its implements. Another point which seems to be fairly well established by the preponderance of implements of husbandry, etc., over those intended for fighting purposes, is that the inhabitants of Kent during the Bronze Age were artificers, craftsmen, and tillers of the soil rather than people of warlike character. Pottery of thfe Bronze Age was made by hand without the assistance of the potter's-wheel. It was of two kinds, the first being plainly and strongly made and evidently intended for culinary purposes, whilst the second was considerably enriched with ornament, and intended for sepulchral purposes. Kent has recently furnished two or three examples of this kind of pottery, known as ' drinking cups.' In a pit near Erith where gravel was being dug, a fall of earth from the side of the pit revealed sepulchral urns standing in small cavities 3 ft. below the surface and 5 ft. apart. The urns, which are tastefully and rather richly ornamented with parallel horizontal lines, relieved in the case of one pot by upright lines in three bands, are now in the possession of Mr. W. M. Newton, by whose courtesy the accom- panying photographs are published. Another urn of the Bronze Age, richly ornamented in a style which comprises more of the commoner zig-zag decoration, was found in 1900 close by the highway leading from Canterbury to Littlebourne, and is now in the possession of Mr. F. Bennett Goldney, F.S.A., by whom it was exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries. ° The sizes of the two urns found near Erith are — height 5^ in. and 5^ in. respectively, and in diameter of mouth 4 in. and 3I in. re- spectively. The Canterbury example is slightly smaller, being 4I in. high and 4^ in. across the mouth. The richness of its decoration indicates that it was sepulchral pottery. I Proc. Soc. Antiq. x. 29; Arch. Journ. ii. 81 ; Coll. i. loi. » Ptoc. Soc. Antiq. (ser. 2), xviii. 279. 324