Villa Reale, inhumation in cist with Food Vessel

In 1828, while "trenching some ground for planting", Russell Blackbird, owner of Villa Reale, discovered a cist which measured 4 feet x 2 feet x 20 inches deep. It contained "the bones of a man, the head in particular, quite perfect, with all the teeth in it", and a Food Vessel. It is inferred that this had originally been a contracted adult inhumation. The vessel is bowl-shaped, and elaborately decorated - groups of encircling grooves, some rouletted, separating bands of stamped or incised herringbone, pseudo maggots, lozenges, chevrons and triangles. It was presented to the Society of Antiquaries by the finder. The site was redeveloped in the 1980s for sheltered housing, but part of the garden remains as informal woodland.