DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.959#0215
l872.]
URNS CONTAINING HUMAN ASHES.
*53
strings; the large dishes have such rings very large. I have
the fragments of several black double cups, but not enough
of any one to restore it.
Unfortunately, the tremendous weights of stone in the
lowest stratum have broken or crushed to pieces all the
terra-cottas ; but all the splendid earthen vessels that I
have been able to save bear witness of wealth and art, and
it is easily seen at a first glance that they were made by a
people quite distinct from the one to which the next stratum
belongs (at the depth of from 7 to 10 meters, 23 to 33 feet).
I must draw especial attention to the great similarity in
the quality of the terra-cotta of the black Trojan vessels to
that of the vessels found in the Etruscan tombs; but their
forms and decorations are wholly different. In those
found here the patterns have always been engraved upon
the clay when it was still in a soft state. Most of the
Trojan terra-cottas are indestructible by moisture; some of
them, however, have become limp by damp, and I found,
for instance, upon the
primary soil at a depth
of 15^ meters (51 feet),
in a small private burial-
ground, formed and pro-
tected by three stones
25i inches long and
18 inches broad, two
vessels of a very remark-
able form with three
long feet and filled with
human ashes. The ves-
sels had suffered so from
moisture that in spite of
every care and precau-
tion I could not get them
out without breaking
them completely. I have, however, collected all the pieces
No. 107. Funereal Urn of Stone, found on the Primary
Rock, with Human Ashes in it (15J M.).
URNS CONTAINING HUMAN ASHES.
*53
strings; the large dishes have such rings very large. I have
the fragments of several black double cups, but not enough
of any one to restore it.
Unfortunately, the tremendous weights of stone in the
lowest stratum have broken or crushed to pieces all the
terra-cottas ; but all the splendid earthen vessels that I
have been able to save bear witness of wealth and art, and
it is easily seen at a first glance that they were made by a
people quite distinct from the one to which the next stratum
belongs (at the depth of from 7 to 10 meters, 23 to 33 feet).
I must draw especial attention to the great similarity in
the quality of the terra-cotta of the black Trojan vessels to
that of the vessels found in the Etruscan tombs; but their
forms and decorations are wholly different. In those
found here the patterns have always been engraved upon
the clay when it was still in a soft state. Most of the
Trojan terra-cottas are indestructible by moisture; some of
them, however, have become limp by damp, and I found,
for instance, upon the
primary soil at a depth
of 15^ meters (51 feet),
in a small private burial-
ground, formed and pro-
tected by three stones
25i inches long and
18 inches broad, two
vessels of a very remark-
able form with three
long feet and filled with
human ashes. The ves-
sels had suffered so from
moisture that in spite of
every care and precau-
tion I could not get them
out without breaking
them completely. I have, however, collected all the pieces
No. 107. Funereal Urn of Stone, found on the Primary
Rock, with Human Ashes in it (15J M.).