Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/279

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ICENIA.
251

able that a coin of that period should find its way into this country, at least in accordance with the generally received notion of the entire extinction of the Roman name in this island at that time. Pottery of various descriptions is also found here; a fragment of fine "Samian" ware, on which a hare hunt is represented, is in my possession; also a perfect urn, which was taken from a clay pit on the north-east of the church, half tilled with earth and bones: it was covered with a tile, and buried about two feet deep. On the same spot were discovered a large quantity of burnt wood, decayed wood, nails with wood adhering to them, and also a human jaw: the latter is partially fossilized; and the dryness of the soil, similar to that remaining in the urn, will account for its preservation. This may serve to exemplify the well-known fact of the occasional burial of the dead among the Romans, as well as cremation, which appears, however, to have been the more usual, although not the invariable practice.