It was raised conspicuously above the ground. The rim of raised earth was about 3 ft. wide, and the diameter of the whole circle was 30 yards. After the digging had been going on a short time, burnt soil and charcoal were met with, and the top of an urn was exposed to view; so the diggers went to work in earnest, but with the greatest care possible. Very soon a beautiful urn was laid bare, exactly in the centre of the ring. This urn was embedded in charcoal and calcined bones. It was about 10 ins. high, and 9 ins. wide at the top, tapering to 4 ins. wide at the bottom. There was a rim or collar in the upper part of the urn, about 3 ins. deep, and standing out about 1 inch in relief from the lower part of it. This collar was ornamented probably by a pointed stick in the herring-bone pattern. The other part of the urn was plain. In clearing away the débris from this urn, another one was discovered, different in pattern and smaller in size, but in a very perfect state of preservation.

"About 2 ft. from this, on the opposite side of the central urn, another urn was discovered and laid bare by carefully digging round it with a trowel. This urn was also in a good state of preservation, and about the size of the second one, but differently ornamented.

"These two smaller urns were of the same shape as the large central one, but the ornamentations were not so fine, and they were made of inferior clay. On the south side of the circle, about 2 ft. from the centre, another urn was discovered, but it appeared to have been insufficiently baked when manufactured, and had decomposed and crumbled into dust. From the inside of this urn a large quantity of calcined human bones and charcoal was dug up, but the bones were very fragmentary, and the sex of the persons to whom the bones belonged could not be determined. Several portions of cranium, rib bones, and lower and upper limb bones were found among the débris.

"Within a few inches of this urn, two so-called small incense cups were found. One of them was very perfect, and in an excellent state of preservation, and was beautifully ornamented all over. These cups were about 3 ins. in height and 3t ins. in diameter, but tapered a little at the bottom. Indications of three other urns were believed to occur, but were so far decomposed that little or nothing could be made out about them.

"They seemed to be arranged around the large central urn, and about 2 ft. apart. When the earth had been cleared away from the three perfect urns, and before they had been removed, several photographs were taken of them in situ. One of the smaller urns leaned a little to the south.

"To whatever tribe or race of beings the human remains deposited in these urns may belong, one thing is certain that they were in the habit of cremating the bodies of the dead; also, that they belonged to a class of people who knew little or nothing about the use of metals, and who fashioned their tools and weapons out of flint or other hard stones. Several pieces of flint and chert were dug out near the urns, and thousands of flint implements and instruments have been found previous to this discovery on the moorlands around Todmorden. It is the opinion of Mr. Tattersall Wilkinson and myself, who have had great experience in these matters, that these remains are prehistoric and pre-Roman." Thus wrote Mr. Law immediately on the discovery being made.

The three urns and two incense cups were taken up and put into baskets, conveyed to Todmorden, where they were again photographed, and then deposited in the Free Library, to await the opening out of their contents, which took place on Wednesday afternoon, July 13th, in one of the rooms at the Free Library at Todmorden.

The following interesting account of the opening of the urns shows that first impressions had to be modified by subsequent discoveries :"The examination of the contents of the urns took place at the Co-operative Hall, Dale Street, Todmorden, which had been kindly lent for the occasion.

"On the proposition of Mr. T. Wilkinson, and in the absence of the Mayor of Todmorden, Mr. F. Grant, president of the Burnley Literary and Scientific Society, presided.

"The Chairman said it was an unexpected honour to be called upon to preside on such an occasion, when cinerary urns found near their own homes were to be opened, for these were the relics of a people living many centuries ago. About twelve years ago some of them were present at Swinden when an urn was opened, which had been discovered by their friend, Mr. Tattersall Wilkinson, a gentleman whose name would long be associated with archæological discoveries in the neighbourhood of Burnley and Todmorden. That was a proud day for him, and for many of his friends, who had scoured the surrounding moors for years in the hope of discovering some remains of ancient burial-places.

"Mr. Tattersall Wilkinson, who spoke in an enthusiastic strain, said that was what he called a red-letter day in his life. He entered into his apprenticeship in searching for urns of this character in 1842. He was present at the top of Worsethorne Moor, where he was brought up a shepherd, when three urns were unearthed; and it had always been his pride to search for these grand relics of antiquity. The contents of the urns now before them, if their forms could appear to them as they were in the days that they existed, would be strange indeed. History threw no light whatsoever upon them, and tradition had not even a whisper. It was only on the tops of high mountains, where the hand of man had not disturbed the land for cultivation, that they had an opportunity of seeing the marks by which they could trace them. He was very anxiously awaiting the contents of the centre urn on the table before him; it was found on the top of the hill they could see from the room where they were now met, within an earthcircle thirty yards in diameter. He divided these burial-places into three different epochs of time: the most early was the barrow, a round mound; the next was the earth-circle; and the latest was the circle of seven stones. In the year 1886 he found, within a circle of seven stones, on the moors near to where he lived, one of those cinerary urns; it contained a bronze pin, which threw a flood of light upon its history, showing that it belonged to the Bronze Age. In every instance where he had an opportunity of examining these urns he had found the remains of two persons a young one and an old one; and when he considered the customs of savage races of to-day he could only come to the conclusion that the child must have been sacrificed, as an object of love, to accompany the adult person to his ideal heaven. These urns carried them far back into antiquity; he often heard people trying to give dates, but it was all speculation. The men of those days, at any rate, were very low in civilisation, for they seemed to have no idea of metal whatsoever, but took a rude stone, or a rude piece of flint, as their only method of offence or defence. His friend Mr. Law, who had been a large collector of flint implements, had invariably found them under the peat, although in some instances the peat would be 9 ft. or 10 ft. in thickness; and Mr. Law could tell them that he had also found them beneath a thin stratum of clay, under the peat, thus proving conclusively that all the peat had been deposited since these wild men roamed over these hills in their natural state. He noticed that in former times the field where these particular urns were found had been ploughed, and that the ploughshare had run through the centre of the circle, almost bareing the top of the centre urn. They would notice that the centre urn was of beautiful form, and the decoration was of what was called the fishbone pattern; it was made of a better kind of clay, and was better finished than the others, probably containing the bones of some important chief. There were also two small vessels, very simple, but nicely decorated; he had found many of these, and they were what he called incense cups. Of course, that was only a name he gave to them. They were probably deposited according to the superstitions of the Neolithic man. In examining the contents of these urns he had always found a pin, which he thought must have been used for fastening the skin round the body prior to cremation.

"Mr. Tattersall Wilkinson, Dr. Crump, of Burnley, and Mr. Law, F.G.S., of Hipperholme, were called upon to open the urns. Mr. Law thus describes the work:- The largest urn, which was of superior make from the others, was the first to be operated upon. The work was tedious, and was done in the most careful way possible. Each operator commenced to pick out the substances deposited in the urn by means of a small pocket-knife, and bit by bit of the material was closely examined as it fell out of the urn on to the table. For the first half hour or so nothing particular was found, the contents, which had so far been dug out, being portions of broken urns of a similar pattern to the urn that was being examined, but were not portions of it, and must have been placed there as filling-in material. Along with these urn-fragments there were dark brown sand, which appeared to have been burnt, quantities of bituminous soil, small fragments of bones, and bits of charcoal. As the examining party dug deeper into the urn, human bones became more numerous and in larger fragments, and of a more determinable character; and this went on until the urn had been half emptied. The rest of the contents of the urn then showed signs of being almost entirely composed of calcined bones, and bone after bone was picked out, examined, and laid on the table. Among these bones were fragments of various sizes of cranium, portions of scapula, portions of pelvic bones, femur, tibia, and other bones of the legs. Besides these there were fragments of ribs and perfect toe bones.

"Presently a small cup was laid bare inside the urn, and a few pokes with the knife so far emptied it of its contents that an ancient relic could be seen which differed from any that had yet been found.

""A moment later a piece of metal was picked out of the cup, and in the excitement of the moment was mistaken and announced to the audience as a spear-head. The piece of metal was about 21 ins, long and 11 ins. wide at one end, and tapered to a point at the other. It was thin and flat, and sharp at the sides and point. It contained rivets at the two extremities, which seemed to have had something fastened to them. A bronze pin was also found about the same time as this piece of metal, and on careful examination the metal and the pin was made out to have been a bronze brooch, the pin having probably been detached in extracting it from the bones in the cup. Besides this brooch, about a dozen beads of a necklace were found, which were chiefly of rounded shape, and about in, in

1898

a

19

diameter. Some of the beads seemed to be made of jet, and some of bone, and were more or less rudely carved. The next revelation, which caused some excitement in the audience, was the discovery of a bone pin, about 2 in. in length, and in. in diameter at one end, tapering towards a point at the other. It was cylindrical in form, and slightly curved. The fact of all these ornaments having been carefully placed in the cup, and buried with the urn, points rather to the cup having been used as a jar in which to preserve what was considered of great value. The opening of the two inferior urns proved that they contained nothing more than the sweepings-up of the funeral pile, which probably took place after the calcined bones had been placed in the more important urn.'

"Mr. Law said he thought this was one of the most interesting discoveries made in this part of the country. Mr. Wilkinson would admit that he had never before found so many urns together, or in such a state of perfection and preservation. When they got hold of these urns, he naturally thought they would belong to the Flint Period, but they did not seem to be so old; he now believed that they belonged to a period which immediately followed, viz., the Bronze Age. Besides thanking Mr. Wilkinson, they ought to thank Mr. Sutcliffe, the owner of the land where the urns were found, for kindly permitting them to dig; the tenant, Mr. Law; also the Co-operative Society of Todmorden, who had kindly lent that room for the meeting."

The bronze brooch is, in fact, decisive. The burial belongs to the Bronze Age, when, as is well known, cremation was practised, and was, in all probability, that of some chieftain of that age, together with his wives and dependents, who were compelled-as in the analogous custom of Suttee in India, which has only recently been abolished by the action of the British Government-to accompany their lord on his journey to the underworld. We congratulate all who were concerned in so interesting a discovery.

Discovery of a Crannog on the shore of the Clyde in Dumbartonshire. We have received the following graphic account of the above from Mr. W. A. Donnelly, of Bowling, N.B., to whom the credit of this interesting discovery is due :--

"Following up my good fortune in making, personally or in conjunction with my friend Mr. Bruce, F.S.A., several remarkable archæological discoveries on Clydeside, particularly the vitrified fort of Ardeonnel, or "Sheep hill," Auchintorlie, the famous cup and ring group on the rock surfaces of Greenland; subsequently, mysterious cup and ring marked blocks, and afterwards my dis