BRONZE AGE MAN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, 17 July 1930, Page 16

BRONZE AGE MAN

COFFIN 5,000 YEARS OLD. An ancient British coffin or stonecist, believed to be between 4.000 and 5.000 years old, and containing the 1 skeleton of a man. has been unearthed « at Summerhill, Blayton, in the north ■ of England. ; The discovery was made by school- < boys who were digging in the sand. J The stone-cist also contained an ancient urn which, though slightly crack- i ed. is in wonderful state of preserva- i tion. The boys were digging a “cave” j i when they came on the big slab of I < stone, inside which they found bones. 1 i They obtained a sack into which all h the bones and the urn were placed, and 1 the sack was left all night in a back- : yard. The boys did not realise the importance of their find until one of them told Mr J. Huntley, the head master of Blaydon Intermediate School, on the following morning. “I paid little attention to the matter at first, as finds of old bones are : not uncommon," Mr Huntley said, ! ‘‘But when the boy mentioned what he called a vase I realised that the j discovery was an important one.” Mr Huntley had the relics removed to the school for safe custody, and at once notified the police and the Hancock Museum authorities. The police then took possession of the bones, which were examined by Mr Parker Brewis, M.A.. F.S.A., a well-known archaeologist, who was for twenty-one years curator of the Black Gate Museum. After his examination, Mr Brewis declared that the remains unquestionably belonged to the bronze age. The cist was about 2ft broad, 3ft ' 6in wide, and about 2ft high. The bones were in a brittle condition and crumbled easily. Part of the skull is missing. The urn, which is of burnt earth, is of a brownish-red colour, Bin high and 51in wade. It is ornamented with straightline bands and crosses, giving evidence of design and craftsmanship. It is regarded as an important discovery. • ’ th"*, in neolithic times the funeral ground was an artlx. m which the j was laid on a stone slab with its face toward the rising sun. It was then surrounded on all four sides and top by further slabs, and an urn containing food was usually buried with the body to provide sustenance for the I dead man on his journey to the next j world. The burial was completed by heaping earth over the cist, the stones j serving to prevent wild animals from digging out the body.