Fig. 85.—Cinerary urn, Cookstown,
Co. Tyrone.
The food-vessels, which are found both with unburnt and burnt interments, continued in use during the greater part of the Bronze Age, and the name food-vessel is hardly appropriate in Ireland, as in many cases these vessels have been found containing cremated bones, having apparently served the purpose of cinerary urns.
The so-called cinerary urns are large vessels which have been usually discovered containing human bones; they have often been found inverted over cremated remains. They can be conveniently divided into several types, of which the type with the overhanging rim may be mentioned first. In this type the vessel consists of two portions, a lower flower-pot-like cone, on which is placed a larger truncated cone, which forms the overhanging rim. This type is widely distributed in England, and in Ireland has been found in the Counties of Antrim, Down, and Tyrone. The cordoned or hooped type is developed from the preceding type by replacing the overhanging rim by a moulding, both types being contemporary. In the encrusted type the urn, which is of the flower-pot shape, is decorated with strips of clay in the form of chevrons and bosses, the ornamentation assuming a rope-like form. Urns of this type have been found at Greenhills, Tallaght, County Dublin; Gortnain, Broomhedge, County Antrim; Tullyweggin, Cookstown, County Tyrone; Closkett, Drumgooland, and Glanville, Newry, County Down.
Very small vessels, of usually about 2 to 2½ inches in height, are often found in interments associated with the large cinerary urns, and occasionally, when the latter are inverted, are found inside them. The exact use of these small vessels, which are called “incense-cups” or “pygmy-cups,” is a matter of speculation; several theories have been advanced to explain the purpose of placing them in graves, but none of them are altogether satisfactory.[52]
Like the other vessels, they can be divided into different types, of which some are peculiar to England, and even there confined to certain counties. In Ireland several of these small cups have perforated walls, while some have handles. One remarkable specimen found at Knocknacoura, Co. Carlow, is covered all over with ornament.
In the fine cist discovered at Greenhills, County Dublin, and now set up in the National Museum, a very remarkable little cup was found inside the large inverted cinerary urn (fig. [84]). The form of this small cup appears to be originally derived from a metal prototype, and exactly resembles pottery-vessels of Iron-Age date found in the cemetery at Marne.