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Mount Bures people witnessed the
elaborate burial of a chief circa 10BC who was likely to have been
of princely status.
The grave was discovered by chance when workmen were deepening a
ditch near the completed embankment for the Stour Valley Railway
line.
They found the terminals of a pair
of fine fire-dogs, having dug down to almost five feet to free them.
The works foreman directed the men to clear the area carefully and
so other finds came to light.
Only the Fire-dogs are on display in Colchester Castle Museum (
see left),the other less substantial finds having been disbursed
or lost by the 19th century collectors.
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However, in the Museum there is one wine amphora which closely resembles
one shown in Illustration C
It is of the Dressel form 2-4, made in Italy only during the second
half of the 1st century BC and valued enough to have been kept as
a treasured heirloom by a Belgic chief.
The complete amphora now sadly lost,
Illustration D - a similar amphora,
now with a top
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