From Kirkpark, Musselburgh, East Lothian
This ceramic urn was found at Kirkpark at Musselburgh in East Lothian. It was used to hold cremated remains, sometime between 2050 and 1500 BC.
The urn has a pronounced collar, decorated with close-spaced incised lines in triangular fields. Beneath the collar, wider-spaced, crossing lines have been incised around the body. The form and decoration of the urn occurs on others found in East Lothian.
By around 1750 BC, in mainland Scotland, cremation had become the favoured funerary custom. Cremated remains were usually placed in a large pottery urn, its top covered by a skin or stone. The urn was then buried upside down in a cist or pit.
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