Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/214

 A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE shown on the vessel, 7 in. high, found in a barrow at Stanshope. Here the horizontal lines, as well as the rather roughly executed zigzags, have been produced with the same instrument. Another interesting ' drinking-cup,' of even larger size, measuring 8| in. in height, found in a barrow at Castern, is represented beside the Stanshope specimen. The ornamentation, which is of the same general character, has been executed with far more care. In the Mouse Low and Top Low examples the body of each urn is covered with a species of lozenge ornament produced by ingenious varia- tions of the cheveron form. The four urns figured on this plate afford what, perhaps, may be taken as a chronological sequence in the appearance and development of the rim. In the Stanshope urn it is entirely wanting ; it appears in the Castern cup as a bevel on the upper part sloping inwards ; and in the two other specimens we find two stages of the appearance of a raised rib, and the development of breadth of rim. The four vessels figured in the second plate furnish examples of types quite distinct from the ' drinking-cup ' form. The Throwley ' incense-cup ' is figured full-size, namely 2j in. high. Its ornamentation consists of both horizontal lines and roughly -executed cheverons. The lip is well developed and projecting, and the outline has a character which suggests a somewhat late date. Just below the middle ridge of the body there are shown two holes pierced through the clay. Perforations of this kind, but proportion- ately larger and more numerous, are usually found in * incense-cups,' and afford one of the reasons why this term was applied to them. This kind of small vessel is always found in association with burnt burials, and their geographical distribution corresponds with that of cinerary urns. The three other urns figured belong to a type usually called ' food- vessels,' the predominant forms of which will be seen from the illustrations. The three specimens given are arranged, as far as may be, in order according to development, especially with regard to their outline, and the growth of hollows or grooves round the body. The decoration of the Mare Hill urn has obviously been produced by means of a sharp flat instrument, possibly a flake of flint, or a fragment of stone rubbed down for the purpose. The other urns are decorated with less care but in a similar manner. The occurrence of fragments of bone, the remains of a cremation, in the Narrow- dale Hill urn enables us to classify it with the grave furniture of a burnt burial, and it may therefore be regarded as a small cinerary urn made possibly to contain only a portion of the remains of the body. These interesting pieces of pottery, apart from their antiquity and the information they give as to ancient interments, have a special value from the fact that they represent probably the very earliest efforts in the direction of the artistic decoration of pottery. Amongst the antiquities of unquestionable Bronze Age character found in the county there are some of very great importance, although the finds cannot be considered remarkable numerically. One of the more important discoveries was the hoard of bronze weapons found in the year 1824 at Shenstone. It comprised, according to the brief account published in Arcbaeologiaf ' two swords, some spear-heads, celts, and I 7 8
 * Arch, xxi, 548-9.