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.
Fig. 107.
