Urn

This ceramic urn was found in a cemetery at Brackmont Mill near Leuchars in Fife. It was used to hold cremated remains sometime between 2000 and 1500 BC.

The urn, here pictured upside down, has a pronounced collar which is decorated with a row of double triangles made by impressed cord. The neck is decorated with incised lines in a lattice pattern. The base has not survived.

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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