Unfortunately, the tremendous weights of stone in the lowest stratum have broken or crushed to pieces all the terra-cottas; but all the splendid earthen vessels that I have been able to save bear witness of wealth and art, and it is easily seen at a first glance that they were made by a people quite distinct from the one to which the next stratum belongs (at the depth of from 7 to 10 meters, 23 to 33 feet). I must draw especial attention to the great similarity in the quality of the terra-cotta of the black Trojan vessels to that of the vessels found in the Etruscan tombs; but their forms and decorations are wholly different. In those found here the patterns have always been engraved upon the clay when it was still in a soft state. Most of the Trojan terra-cottas are indestructible by moisture; some of them, however, have become limp by damp, and I found, for instance, upon the primary soil at a depth of 15½ meters (51 feet), in a small private burial-ground, formed and protected by three stones 25½ inches long and 18 inches broad, two vessels of a very remarkable form with three long feet and filled with human ashes. The vessels had suffered so from moisture that in spite of every care and precaution I could not get them out without breaking them completely. I have, however, collected all the pieces of both vessels, and shall be able to restore them. In one of them I found among the human ashes the bones of an embryo of six months, a fact which I can only explain by the mother’s having died in pregnancy and having been burnt, while the bones of the embryo, being surrounded by the membrane which enclosed it, were protected and remained uninjured. Yet it seems wonderful that these small bones should have been preserved, for the bones of the mother are burnt to ashes and I found only small fragments of them. I have most carefully collected the bones of the Trojan embryo, and shall have the little skeleton restored by a skilful surgeon. The celebrated Doctor Aretaios, of Athens, has just written to me that the preservation of the bones of the embryo is only possible on the supposition that the mother had brought forth the child and then died, that her body was burnt and the unburnt embryo was put into the funereal urn with her ashes, where I found it.
