s contain a most remarkable series of burial urns, incense cups
and food vessels all found in barrows in the neighbourhood. The urns are
generally ornamented with bands of diagonal or crossed markings and other
designs as well as with the impressions of twisted pieces of hide or
grasses. The bases are usually very small for the size of the urns, after
the fashion of those in Canon Greenwell's examples in the British Museum.
In that collection may be seen several cinerary urns, incense cups and
food vessels from Hutton Buscel, Ganton, Slingsby, Egton and other places
in the vicinity of Pickering. They belong to the same period as those in
Mr Mitchelson's museum and are, on account of the simplicity and
comparative rarity of the bronze implements that have been discovered with
them, considered to belong to the earliest bronze period, that is, to the
time of the first Celtic invasions. Many of the objects in Mr Mitchelson's
museum are not labelled with the place of their origin, the manuscript
catalogue made some years ago having been lost; but with a few exceptions
the entire collection comes from barrows situated in the neighbourhood,
having been brought together by Mr Thomas Kendall more than fifty years
ago.

[Illustration: A COMPLETE SKELETON IN A STONE CIST BELONGING TO THE EARLY
BRONZE AGE.

It was discovered by a farmer in a field between Appleton-le-Moor and
Spaunton, and is now in the Museum at Pickering. [_Copyright reserved by
Dr J.L. Kirk._]
]

A complete skeleton in a stone cist is now lying in a glass case in the
museum. It was discovered accidentally by a farmer between
Appleton-le-Moor and Spaunton. He had decided to remove a huge stone that
had been an obstacle when ploughing, and in doing so found that he had
removed the top stone of a cist belonging to the early Bronze Age. The man
has a round or brachycephalic skull with the prominent brow-ridges and
powerful jaws of the Celtic people, and his right arm was arranged so that
the hand was beneath the skull. By his left hand was the food vessel that
is now placed on the left side of the skull, and at his feet are a number
of small bronze studs or rivets.

These Bronze Age men seem to have had a very general belief in the spirit
world, for the dead warrior was buried with his weapons as well as food,
so that he might be sustained while he hunted in the other world with the
spirit of his favourite axe or spear. The museum contains examples of
socketed