Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/398

 A HISTORY OF KENT basket-work, the forms and ornaments of which are reproduced with certain modifications and additions. It is to this older class that, as already observed, some of the pottery in the outlying graves of the Aylesford cemetery is to be referred ; but. ., the great bulk of the vases discovered on this site belong to quite another category. In their form, fabric, and colour alike, they betray an altogether different pedi- gree, and the influence of more classical prototypes. The clay of which these vessels are composed is of finer quality than that of the typical Ancient British pottery. They are mostly free from the grit and cretaceous particles that form so conspicuous a feature in the older class of earthenware from the same site ; minute grains of quartz and apparently mica are, however, occasionally in the walls of the pots. They are better baked and occasionally present a uniform pale brick colour, resembling that of some Roman vases. This appearance is however rare, and the internal substance of the pottery is usually of a light brown colour. The difference in the surface is even more marked. This appears in almost all cases to have been originally coated with a black lustrous pigment, formed probably, like that on some contemporary Gaulish vases, of finely pounded charcoal, and when this has worn away the exterior surface is still of a dark brown colour. ' There can be no doubt that the great majority of these vessels are wheel-turned. In some instances concentric circles appear on the bottom of the pot, and in one case the centre of the base shows a hemispherical concavity like the kick of a bottle.' ' The bronze objects discovered at Aylesford have been shown by Dr. Evans' able researches to be of even greater importance than the pottery. The bronze-plated situla or pail is ornamented with an upper band of bronze ornamented with repousse work reliefs of fantastic animals and scrolls. The latter, which are of Greek origin, may be compared with forms found in La Tene sheaths, whilst the former are related to animals figured on Gaulish coins. The handle attachments are ornamented with human heads, and from their form it is evident that they are an ornamental outgrowth and survival of a form of attachment usual in the case of a class of early two-handled situla. Two other bronze vessels were found with the pail at Aylesford : one was a jug, or oenochae With a curious ornament with terminal cross near the point where the handle was attached to the body of the vessel. The other was a beautifully made long-handled pan or patella. Both may be regarded as pre-Roman importations from beyond the Alps. Inside the bronze pail two bronze Jibulce were discovered, which were probably of the late La Tene period. Another bronze vessel, which had been discovered at Aylesford and placed in the British Museum before the other objects enumerated were found, was a bronze plated tankard, the model of which was perhaps the tankards or drinking cups of native woodwork rather than the clas- sical or continental forms upon which the other objects were based. 1 Arch. lii. 328. 328