Cinerary urn

This ceramic urn was found at Seamill at West Kilbride in Ayrshire. It was used to hold cremated human remains, sometime between 2000 and 1500 BC. Some of the bones were stained green from contact with a corroded bronze object buried as a grave good.

The undecorated urn has a pronounced collar, and tapers to a narrow base from a mid-belly 'shoulder'. It has been partly restored.

By around 1750 BC, in mainland Scotland, cremation had become the favoured funerary custom. Cremated remains were usually placed in an urn, buried upside down in a cist or pit. As before, individuals were buried in cemeteries, either flat or mounded.

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