vases found in the Celtic barrows of North Britain and Ireland. There are parts only of one small vessel found in the chamber, respecting which it may be questioned whether it is strictly British and Celtic. These are the pieces found on the skull No. 4, corresponding fragments of which were met with in another part of the chamber (fig. 8): they were composed of a fine black paste, which has been imperfectly baked, and is easily cut with a knife, contrasting in this respect with the fragment of undoubted Roman pottery found on the outside of the chamber. The scored, lattice-like lines with which the exterior is ornamented are not parallel; but, on the other hand, are not in the prevailing British taste. Still, as somewhat obscure traces on the inner surface appear to show, the vessel itself was perhaps formed on the wheel ; and, on the whole, we think it must be referred to the Roman period. If this be admitted, the conclusion that the chamber had been opened during the same period, seems necessarily to follow. The piece of Roman pottery found to the west of the chamber is probably an indication of the same fact, and also that it had been entered from that end.[1] By whomsoever it was opened, its contents were but partially disturbed, as is proved by the condition and order of the skeletons, and by the defined character of the layer of black matter immediately above them.
It is worthy of remark that not a bit of burnt bone or other sign of cremation was met with; that there were no traces of metal, either bronze or iron; or of any arts for the practice of which a knowledge of metallurgy is essential.
It has been already suggested that some of the skeletons in the chamber, on the skulls of which marks of violence are evident, are those of slaves or dependants, immolated on the occasion of the burial of their chief. That this was the custom of the Celtic tribes at one period, cannot be doubted; as Cæsar tells us that, only a little before his time, the Gauls devoted to the funeral pile the favourite slaves and retainers of the dead. Mela even speaks of these immolations as being voluntarily performed, with the hope of joining the dead in a future life.[2] These remarks apply to cremation, the usual though perhaps not universal concomitant of burial among the Gauls in the times of Cæsar and Mela. There can, however, be little doubt that they are equally applicable to burial unaccompanied by combustion of the body. It may likewise be inferred that, as in the case of cremation the devoted persons would be burnt with the body of their dead lord, so, where burning was not practised, they would be simply slaughtered, and consigned with
