From Kirk Park, Musselburgh, East Lothian
This small ceramic pot was found in a cremation burial in an urn in a cemetery at Kirk Park at Musselburgh in East Lothian. The burial dates between 2050 and 1500 BC.
The pot has holes on the side. It is decorated with incised lines forming vertical herringbone patterns separated by encircling bands of small lines. The decoration is now quite faint.
Small accessory vessels with holes in the sides are found in many cremation graves, usually accompanying urns. Their function is unknown, but they may have contained a strong-smelling substance which counteracted the smell of the corpse or its cremation.
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