Ancient British or Celtic Period--Pottery--Mode of
manufacture--Arrangement in classes--Cinerary or Sepulchral
Urns--Food Vessels--Drinking Cups--Incense Cups--Probably
Sepulchral Urns for Infants--Other examples of Pottery.
Having spoken of the principles of construction of the grave-mounds of
the Celtic period, and described the various modes of interment which
they exhibit, I now proceed to speak of the objects found in them.
Before doing so, however, it is necessary to say, that in the course
of examination of barrows of this period it not unfrequently happens
that the spot where the funeral pyre has been lit can very clearly be
perceived. In these instances the ground beneath is generally found to
be burned to some considerable depth; sometimes, indeed, it is burned
to a fine red colour, and approaches somewhat to brick. Where it was
intended that the remains should be collected together, and placed in
an urn for interment, I apprehend, from careful examination, that the
urn, being formed of clay--most probably, judging from the delicacy
of touch, and from the impress of fingers which occasionally remains,
by the females of the tribes--and ornamented according to the taste
of the manipulator, was placed in the funeral fire, and there baked,
while the body of the deceased was being consumed. The remains of the
calcined bones, the flints, etc, were then gathered up together, and
placed in the urn; over which the mound was next raised. When it was
not intended to use an urn, then the remains were collected together,
piled up in a small heap, or occasionally enclosed in a skin or cloth,
and covered to some little thickness with earth, and occasionally with
small stones. Another fire was then lit on the top of this small mound,
which had the effect of baking the earth, and enclosing the remains
of calcined bones, etc., in a kind of crust, resembling in colour and
hardness a partly baked brick. Over this, as usual, the mound was
afterwards raised.
The most important feature in the construction of the grave-mounds of
the Celtic period is, perhaps, the pottery, and to this, therefore,
the present chapter will be devoted. The pottery of this period may
be safely arranged in four classes;[25] viz., 1. _Sepulchral Urns_,
which have contained, or been inverted over, calcined human bones. 2.
_Food Vessels_ (so called), which are supposed to have contained an
offering of food, and which are more usually found with unburnt bodies
than along with interments by cremation. 3. _Drinking Cups_, which
are usually ornamented. 4. _Incense Cups_ (erroneously so called for
want of more knowledge of their use), which are very small vessels,
found only with burnt bones, and usually containing them, in the large
cinerary urns.
The pottery was, without doubt, made on, or near to, the spot where
found. It was, there is every probability, the handiwork of the females
of the tribe, and occasionally exhibits no little elegance of form, and
no small degree of ornamentation. The urns, of whatever kind they may
be, are formed of the coarse common clay of the district where made,
occasionally mixed with small pebbles and gravel; they are entirely
wrought by hand, without the assistance of the wheel, and are, the
larger vessels especially, extremely thick.
From their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually
called “sun-baked” or “sun-dried,” but this is a grave error, as any
one conversant with examples cannot fail, on careful examination,
to see. If the vessels were “sun-baked” only, their burial in the
earth--in the tumuli wherein, some two thousand years ago, they were
deposited, and where they have all that time remained--would soon
soften them, and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old
clayey consistency. As it is, the urns have remained of their original
form, and although, from imperfect baking, they are sometimes found
partially softened, they still retain their form, and soon regain their
original hardness. They bear abundant evidence of the action of fire,
and are, indeed, sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to have
attained a red colour--a result which no “sun-baking” could produce.
They are mostly of an earthy brown colour outside, and almost black in
fracture, and many of the cinerary urns bear internal and unmistakable
evidence of having been filled with the burnt bones and ashes of the
deceased, while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. They
were, most probably, fashioned by the females of the tribe, on the
death of their relative, from the clay to be found nearest to the spot,
and baked on or by the funeral pyre. The glowing ashes and bones were
then, as I have already stated, collected together, and placed in the
urn, and the flint implements, and occasionally other relics belonging
to the deceased, deposited along with them.
The _Cinerary_, or _Sepulchral, Urns_ vary very considerably in size,
in form, in ornamentation, and in material--the latter, naturally,
depending on the locality where the urns were made; and, as a general
rule, they differ also in the different tribes. Those which are
supposed to be the most ancient, from the fact of their frequently
containing flint instruments along with the calcined bones, are of
large size, ranging from nine or ten, to sixteen or eighteen inches
in height. Those which are considered to belong to a somewhat later
period, when cremation had again become general, are of a smaller size,
and of a somewhat finer texture. With them objects of flint are rarely
found, but articles of bronze are occasionally discovered. The general
form of the cinerary urns will be best understood from the annexed
engravings.
The principal characteristic of the cinerary urns found in Derbyshire
and Staffordshire, and in some other districts, is a deep overlapping
border or rim, and their ornamentation, always produced by indenting or
pressing twisted thongs into the soft clay, or by simple incisions, or
by indentations produced by simple means, as will be more particularly
named later on, is frequently very elaborate. It usually consists
of diagonal lines (see fig. 85) arranged in a variety of ways, or
of herring-bone or zigzag lines, or of reticulations, or of rows of
punctures, etc., etc. This ornamentation is usually confined to the
upper portion of the urn, including the over-lapping rim and the neck;
and in many instances the upper edge and the inside of the rim were in
like manner ornamented. Some of the more usual forms are the following.
[Illustration: Fig. 85.]
[Illustration: Fig. 86.]
Fig. 86, from a barrow at Monsal Dale, was found along with many
other interesting relics. It is twelve inches in height, and has a
deep overlapping border. When found, it was inverted over a deposit
of calcined bones placed on some rough stones on the natural surface,
and having among them a calcined bone pin. Near it was a large mass
of limestone, and a celt-shaped instrument five inches long, with
a cutting edge, formed from the lower jaw of some animal. Another
excellent example is exhibited in the urn from Ballidon Moor (fig. 87).
It is eleven and a half inches in height, and measured nine inches
in diameter at the mouth. It is ornamented by patterns impressed in
the soft clay from a twisted thong. It contained burnt bones; amongst
them were a portion of an animal’s jaw, a fine bone pin, four inches
long, rats’ bones, a fragment of pottery, and a flint arrow-head. The
presence of partially burnt human bones in the sand, the discolouration
of the latter, and the occurrence of calcined rats’ bones in the urns,
demonstrated the fact of the corpse having been consumed upon the spot.
The following engraving (fig. 88), exhibiting a section of the barrow,
will show the position of the urn when found, and also of the other
interments which it contained.[26]
[Illustration: Fig. 87.]
[Illustration: Fig. 88.]
[Illustration: Fig. 89.]
[Illustration: Fig. 90.]
[Illustration: Fig. 91.]
[Illustration: Fig. 92.]
Fig. 89, from Trentham, Staffordshire, is a remarkably fine urn of the
same character as the preceding examples, and fig. 90, from Darwen,
Lancashire, has a central band as well as the overlapping rim. Figs.
91 and 92 are of totally different form; their ornamentation consisting
of incised lines and impressed thumb marks, etc.[27] They are from
Dorsetshire. The next example, from Darley Dale (fig. 93), is of a
different type, as are also figs. 94, from Stone, Staffordshire, and
95 and 96, from Cleatham, in Lincolnshire. Other forms, again, are
shown on fig. 97, from the Calais Wold-barrow, Yorkshire, discovered
by Mr. Mortimer. It is eleven inches in height, and is ornamented
with a number of small semi-punctures. A very fine urn was discovered
by the Rev. Canon Greenwell in a barrow on Sutton Brow, near Thirsk,
in the same county. It is sixteen inches in height, and eighteen in
width, and is ornamented with lines produced by an impressed cord or
thong, and by semi-punctures or indentations. The next example (fig.
98) is from Darley Dale, and is, as will be seen from the engraving,
of a very different character from the other examples given. Around
the upper portion are encircling lines, between which is the usual
zigzag ornament. Around the central band, too, are encircling lines,
between which are a series of vertical zigzag lines. The whole of the
ornamentation has been produced by pressing twisted thongs into the
pliant clay--some, however, being of much tighter twist than others.
Inside, the rim is ornamented with encircling and diagonal lines. It
has on its centre band four projecting handles or loops, which are
pierced, as shown in the engraving. Another form, with small loops on
its sides, is shown on fig. 99, which was found in one of the Cornish
barrows, as was also fig. 100, which appears to have a kind of ear, or
semi-handle, at its sides.
[Illustration: Fig. 93.]
[Illustration: Fig. 94.]
[Illustration: Fig. 95.]
[Illustration: Fig. 96.]
[Illustration: Fig. 97.]
[Illustration: Fig. 98.]
[Illustration: Fig. 99.]
[Illustration: Fig. 100.]
The _Food Vessels_, the next division, vary considerably, in form, in
size, and in ornamentation, from the very rudest to the most elegant
and elaborate. These vessels are generally wide at the mouth, and
taper gradually downwards from the central band. They are found both
where the interments have been by inhumation and by cremation, but
much more frequently with the former. In these instances they are more
usually placed near the head of the skeleton than in other positions,
although they are occasionally found placed otherwise. Their average
size is from four to six inches in height, and the ornamentation is
produced in the same manner as has already been spoken of in reference
to the cinerary urns, viz., by impressing twisted thongs or cords into
the soft clay, by punctures, and by indentations produced in a variety
of ways.
The “food vessels,” like the cinerary urns, have evidently been made
from the clay of the district where the interment has taken place, and
they have been “fired” to about an equal degree of hardness with them.
Their general form will be best understood from the following examples,
chosen from different districts.
[Illustration: Fig. 101.]
[Illustration: Fig. 102.]
[Illustration: Fig. 103.]
The first example (fig. 99), from Trentham, in Staffordshire, is, it
will be seen, of very rude form and make, and its ornamentation of
simple character. Fig. 102, from Fimber, in Yorkshire (5⅝ inches in
depth and 6½ inches wide at the mouth), is of a more usual form, and is
more advanced in point of ornamentation. Fig. 103 is from Hitter Hill,
Derbyshire, as is also fig. 104. They were found in the interments
shown on figs. 10, 11, and 12.
[Illustration: Fig. 104.]
The first of these urns is four and three quarter inches in height, and
five and a half inches in diameter at the top. It is richly ornamented
with the usual diagonal and herring-bone lines, formed by twisted
thongs impressed into the soft clay, in its upper part. Around the body
of the urn itself, however, is a pattern of lozenge form, very unusual
on vessels of this period. The second urn is five and a quarter inches
in height, and six and a quarter inches in diameter at the top. It
is very richly ornamented with the characteristic patterns found on
the Celtic urns of this district, and is one of the finest and most
elaborately ornamented which has been exhumed.
On Wykeham Moor, Yorkshire, some urns of a different form, wide at the
mouth, were discovered by that hard-working antiquary, the Rev. Canon
Greenwell.
[Illustration: Fig. 105.]
[Illustration: Fig. 106.]
Fig. 105 is from Monsal Dale, Derbyshire, and fig. 106, from Fimber,
Yorkshire, was found along with fig. 107. These, as will be at once
seen, are of a different character from the preceding examples, in
so far that on four sides they have in the central sunk band a kind
of handle or raised stud, which in some instances is pierced in the
same manner as the cinerary urn (figs. 98 and 99). They are among the
most elaborate, in point of ornamentation, of any of these interesting
vessels. Other forms, besides those indicated, are occasionally found.
The _Drinking Cups_ are the most highly and elaborately ornamented
of any of the varieties of Celtic fictile art found in barrows.
They are found with the skeleton, and are usually placed behind the
shoulder. In size they range from about six to nine inches in height.
They are usually tall in form, contracted in the middle, globular in
their lower half, and expanding at the mouth. Their ornamentation,
always elaborate, usually covers the whole surface, and is composed
of indented lines placed in a variety of ways, so as to form often
intricate, but always beautiful, patterns, and by other indentations,
etc. They are much more delicate in manipulation than the other
varieties of urns.
Instances have been known in which a kind of incrustation has been very
perceptible on their inner surface, thus showing that their use as
vessels for holding liquor is certain, the incrustation being produced
by the gradual drying up of the liquid with which they had been filled
when placed with the dead body.
Fig. 107, from a barrow at Fimber, is an elegant and highly
characteristic example of this kind of vessel. It stood close behind
the shoulders of the skeleton of a strong-boned middle-aged man,
which lay on its right side. The ornamentation is most elaborate and
delicate, and it is, perhaps, one of the finest and best preserved
examples in existence.
The next two engravings (figs. 108 and 109) show two excellent
examples, the first from the Hay Top barrow and the second from a
barrow at Grind-Low, of a slightly different form at the mouth. The
next example (fig. 110), found in Derbyshire, is of different shape,
and has the unusual feature of being ornamented in quite as elaborate a
manner on its bottom as it is around its sides. The bottom is shown on
fig. 111. The ornamentation throughout is produced by the indentations
of twisted thongs into the soft clay. Figs. 112 and 113 are of a
different form and character; the first of these is from Roundway Hill,
Wiltshire (see fig. 8 for interment with which this interesting
vessel was found), and the second from “Gospel Hillock,” in Derbyshire.
Others of a similar form have been found also in Yorkshire and other
counties.
[Illustration: Fig. 107.]
[Illustration: Fig. 108.]
[Illustration: Fig. 109.]
[Illustration: Fig. 110.]
Those which have been engraved are, perhaps, the most usual of
the forms of the drinking cups, but other shapes are occasionally
discovered.
[Illustration: Fig. 111.]
[Illustration: Fig. 112.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113.]
The next division, the so-called “_Incense Cups_,” a name which ought
to be discarded, consists of diminutive vessels which, when found at
all (which is seldom) are found _inside_ the sepulchral urns, placed
on, or among, the calcined bones, and frequently themselves also filled
with burnt bones. They range from an inch and a half to about three
inches in height, and are sometimes highly ornamented, and at others
plain.
The examples I here introduce (figs. 114 to 125) will give a good
general idea of these curious little vessels, which I believe have
not been “incense cups,” but small urns to receive the ashes of an
infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother, so as to
admit of being placed within the larger urn containing the remains of
its parent. The contents of barrows give, as I have before stated,
incontestable evidence of the practice of sacrificing not only horses,
dogs, and oxen, but of human beings, at the graves of the Ancient
Britons. Slaves were sacrificed at their masters’ graves; and wives,
there can be no doubt, were sacrificed and buried with their husbands,
to accompany them in the invisible world upon which they were entering.
It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that infants were occasionally
sacrificed on the death of their mothers, in the belief that they would
thus partake of her care in the strange land to which, by death, she
was removed. Whether from sacrifice, or whether from natural causes,
the mother and her infant may have died together, it is only reasonable
to infer from the situation in which these “incense cups” are found
(either placed on the top of a heap of burnt bones, or inside the
sepulchral urn containing them), and from their usually containing
small calcined bones, that they were receptacles for the ashes of the
infant, to be buried along with those of its mother.
[Illustration: Fig. 114.]
[Illustration: Fig. 115.]
[Illustration: Fig. 116.]
[Illustration: Fig. 117.]
[Illustration: Fig. 118.]
[Illustration: Fig. 119.]
[Illustration: Fig. 120.]
[Illustration: Fig. 121.]
[Illustration: Fig. 122.]
[Illustration: Fig. 123.]
[Illustration: Fig. 124.]
[Illustration: Fig. 125.]
The form will be seen to vary from the simplest salt-cellar-like cup to
the more elaborately rimmed and ornamented vase. Some are pierced with
holes, as if for suspension, and one or two examples have handles at
the side. The best examples of this kind are those shown on figs. 120,
124, and 125.
Among the most curious vessels of this period may possibly be reckoned
the singular one here engraved (fig. 126), of which form only two
examples have been discovered. They are much in shape like the drinking
cups before engraved, but have the addition of a handle at the side,
which gives them the character of mugs. One of these is in the Ely
museum, and the other in the Bateman museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 126.]