Cinerary Urn, Palmerston
Palmerston Park
A large cinerary urn with no decoration, with straight sides
near rim with inward curve below, then tapers to a narrow flat
base. The urn is orange coloured with a fine grained matrix.
In 1930 a contractor levelling a field between Terregles Street
and Glasgow Street in Dumfries noticed some fragments of pottery.
Further investigation revealed a Bronze Age cemetry of perhaps six
metres in diameter, with an area of blackened soil and wood ash.
Several urns and pigmy cups were also found. All the urns were
different with some plain, others decorated, and some pygmy
cup.
The three largest were found inverted. Examination of the
contents implied that after cremating the body, the bones, together
with soil and stones were scraped together and packed into a
container, possibly of linen. The urn was then placed over this
container. Some of the bones showed green staining, perhaps
indicating that they had been in contact with something bronze. It
is possible that this site was used only once, perhaps after a
single disaster which resulted in several people being killed.
Unlike neolithic people who usually buried their dead communally
in chambered tombs, Bronze Age people preferred to bury their dead
singly. During the early part of the period people were usually
buried in a crouched position in stone cists, but later cremation
was preferred with the remains interred in urns like these. They
created cemeteries by burying several urns at one site, sometimes
marking it with a cairn or mound of earth and stones. The urns were
often buried upside down. They were decorated with twisted cord or
string impressions and incised and impressed oval, circular and
diamond shapes.
Object no :
RPD0123
Collection :
Creator :
NA
Place of Production :
NA
Dimensions :
height: 305 mm diameter (base): 90 mm diameter (rim): 260 mm
Materials :
clay & red clay
Location :
Palmerston Park
Related site :
Accession number :
DUMFM:1935.68.7
Copyright :
NA