Cinerary Urn, Co. Cavan.
All sepulchral urns were hand-made and invariably unglazed. They have been found to contain portions of the bones of a human body, sometimes of more than one, in a highly calcined state; and there is reason to believe that occasionally some relics, also burnt, most notably those of the dog, had been inurned along with the remains of man. Arrow-heads and knives of flint, pins of bone or bronze, glass and stone beads, rings of jet, and in one case, at least, a beautiful knife or dagger of bronze, have formed, with the bones, portion of the contents of these vessels; charcoal and particles of half-consumed wood constitute the remainder. Sometimes the urn is found placed mouth downward, and, as at Drumnakilly, surmounting a cup-hollow; but in general it stands on its base, and is covered by a thin flat stone or slate. A unique and very beautiful example, preserved in the National Museum, is furnished with a veritable lid. Though generally presenting the appearance of a cinerary urn, this relic may have been a food-vessel.
Urns from Co. Down.
The vessels considered to have been receptacles for food are usually found associated with inhumation, and are supposed to have contained food for the spirits in their journey to the world of shades. Though they vary greatly in ornamentation, yet they are better made and more richly decorated than the British urns of a similar class. They are somewhat globular in form, and are well represented in the figure on next page, which shows a specimen discovered in connection with the cromlech-like tomb in the Phœnix Park, already described. This vessel, with some antiquities of the same ‘find,’ may be seen in the National Museum. One other example (p. 149), remarkable for the elaborate character of its ornamentation, is from Ballymote, County Sligo.
Food-Vessel from Cist in the Phœnix Park, Dublin.
Small Cinerary Urn, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow.