Description

Summary: 1 incense cup or miniature urn of rude construction with a single line of thumbnail cord pattern along the rim and on the sides four knobs or eyelets pierced vertically for suspension (the bottom and sides are covered in soot and grease) from a primary or secondary inhumation in bowl barrow Charnage Furze (Mere G15 ?), Kingston Deverill, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A miniature urn, with perforated lugs and signs of potential sooting, excavated in association with an inhumation within the barrow Charnage Furze, Kingston Deverill, by William Cunnington.

This vessel was re-examined by Copper (2017) as part of their Mphil with the University of Bradford, which covered all of the Early Bronze Age miniature vessels in Southern Britain. They divide the corpus into four groups: miniature, bi-conical, simple, and elaborate, and argue that most are derivations of late beaker and early food vessel imitations. Investigating the contexts of these vessels, they found that most were associated with primary cremations in round barrows, with no clear correlation with either age or sex – although noting that there was only limited evidence for the latter. They suggest that the perforated lugs and sooting visible on this vessel could support its being suspended above an open fire.