SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES
Edinburgh : Printed by Tkama* and ArchiMd ConftaNr
FOR
DAVID DOUGLAS.
LOS DOS HAMILTON. ADAMS, AXD CO
CAXMUDOC MAC MILLAN AKD BOWES.
v A . JAMK8 MArl.r.HOSE AND SOS*
SCOTLAND
IN
PAGAN TIMES
ana
THE RHIND LECTURES IN ARCHAEOLOGY FOR 1882
BY JOSEPH ANDERSON, LL.D.
KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL MPSEUil OF THE ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND
v.n.
EDINBUEGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
1886
All rights reserved.
Ill
4- V,*
PREFATORY NOTE.
THIS volume completes the series of the Lectures delivered by me as Rhind Lecturer in connection with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in the successive years 1879-82. The scheme of the Lectures was intended to embrace, in four annual courses of six Lectures each, a general review of the existing materials for the Archaeology of Scotland. In view of their delivery to a popular audience, it seemed desirable to make the systematic nature of the investigation a matter of continuous demonstra- tion. Regarding the historical method of dealing with prehistoric materials as wholly inapplicable to them, it behoved me to adopt and substitute a purely scientific method. Instead of commencing with the story of primeval man, and leading the narration downwards (as if drawing it from record), it was necessary to select a starting-place in the region of history bordering on the prehistoric, from which by tracing upwards, through the unrecorded ages, the interlinked succession of types and systems, I might penetrate as far towards the primitive conditions of human life in Scotland as the materials might serve
Vi PREFATORY NOTE.
to cany the investigation. Accordingly the first volume was devoted to the Remains and Relics of the Early Celtic Church, and the second to those of the Christian Celtic Monuments and Metal-work, not necessarily Ecclesiastical, — the two volumes together comprehending " Scotland in Early Christian Times." The third volume was devoted to the Remains and Relics of the Iron Age, and the present volume to those of the Bronze and Stone Ages, — the two together comprehending " Scotland in Pagan Times."
I am indebted to Mr. James Fergusson for the use of the illustrations of Maeshow ; to Mr. John Evans for illustrations of Bronze and Stone Implements (as noted in the Classified List) ; to the Ayr and Wigtownshire Archaeological Association, through Mr. R. W. Cochran-Patrick, for illustrations of the Bronze and Stone Implements of Ayrshire and Wigtown- shire from their published Collections ; to the Society of Antiquaries of London for illustrations of Gold Ornaments, etc., from their Proceedings; and specially to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for their permission to use such of the Society's woodcuts as might be suitable for the illustration of the Lectures.
J. A.
14 UiLLBxrii CRESCENT, EDINBURGH, fll* Jtimory 1886.
CONTENTS.
THE AGE OF BRONZE.
LECTUEE I.
BEONZE AGE BURIALS.
Typical features of Bronze Age deposits — Excavation of Cairn at Col- lessie in Fife — Its constructive features — Its Burials, burnt and unburnt, associated with Urns and a Bronze Dagger — Gold mounting of the Dagger hilt — Cairn Greg at Linlathen, Forfarshire — Its central Burial associated with an Urn and a Bronze Dagger — Cairn at Cleigh, Argyllshire — A Bronze Dagger found in its central Cist — Cairn at Glenforsa, Mull — Urns, Bronze Dagger, and Wrist-guard of polished Stone found with its Burials — Wrist-guards of Stone found with other Burials, accompanied by Urns and Arrow-heads of Flint, Bronze Daggers, etc. — Typical character of the Dagger-blade of Bronze associated with interments — Other Burials associated with other forms of Bronze Blades, oval or bifid — Bronze Age Cemeteries at Magdalen Bridge, Shanwell, and Sheriff-flats— Characteristics of the Urns found in them — Small urns with cremated bones of infants — Bronze Age Cemetery at Dalmore, with Beads and Implements of Stone — Necklaces of Beads of Jet from Bronze Age Graves at Balcalk, Lunanhead, Tayfield, and Torish — Bronze Bracelets orna- mented with repousse work from a Grave at Melfort — Armlets of solid Bronze and Urns found with them at Stobo, Crawford, and Kinnefl7 — Gold Armlets and Penannular Rings found with burnt Burials and Urns at Banif and Alloa — Other ornaments of Gold found with Bronze Age Burials at Orton, Monikie, and Huntiscarth — Classification of Bronze Age Urns in four varieties — Descriptions of Urns and their ornamentation — General phenomena of Bronze Age Burials — Sculptured Cist cover and Side-stones — Cremation and
viii CONTENTS.
Inhumation contemporary in the Bronze Age in Scotland— Indica- tions of the Bronze Age Culture, . Pages 1-96
LECTURE II.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
A Series of Bronze Age Burials marked externally by overground Stone Settings— Stone Circles at Mauchrie Moor, Arran— Characteristics of their enclosed Burials and Urns — Stone Circles and their enclosed Burials and Urns, etc., at Tuack, Crichie, and Fullarton, Aberdeen- shire— Stone Circles, with a great recumbent Stone filling one of the spaces on the south side of the Circle, at Rayne, Sunhoney, Ardoyne, Ardlair, and Castle Eraser, Aberdeenshire — Typical features of their underground phenomena — Stone Circles at Glen- balloch, Tynrich, Badentoy, Kingcausie, Auqnhorthies, Montblairy, and Balbirnie, and their included Burials and Urns — Review of the typical features of the Burials found in Stone Circles — All these features characteristic of Bronze Age Burial — Stone Circles of S tennis and Callernish— Stone Circles of Scandinavia — Stone-set- tings of Monumental character that are not circular — Stone-setting of six rows radiating from a cairn at Garrywhin — of six rows at Canister— of eight rows at Yarhouse — of twenty-two rows at Braan— of oval form at Achkinloch, Caithness — These Circles and Settings of Standing Stones are Sepulchral Monuments of the Bronze Age— Significance of the Phenomena of Bronze Age Burial in Scotland, . . . Pages 97-138
LECTURE III.
WEAPONS, IMPLEMENTS, ETC., OF THE BRONZE AGE.
Hoards of Bronze Implements and Weapons deposited in the soil, but not associated with Burials— Hoard of Swords, etc., at Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh— of Swords, etc., at Tarves, Aberdeenshire— of Swords, Spear-heads, etc., in Duddingston Loch — of Swords on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh— of Swords, etc., and Gold Ornament at
CONTENTS. IX
Gogar, Midlothian — of Swords, etc., at Cauldhame, Brechin — of Swords, etc., in Skye — of Spear-heads, Kings, etc., at Achtertyre, Elgin — of Spear-heads and Axes at Gospertie, Fife — of Spear-heads and Gouge at Torran, near Ford, Loch Awe — of Spear-heads, Sword, Axes, Gouge, and Rings at Killin — of Spear-heads, Axes, etc., at Inschock, Nairn — of Spear-heads and Axes at Highfield, Dingwall — of Axes, Swords, etc., at Dalduff, Kilkerran — of Swords at Shuna, Argyllshire — of Swords at Corsbie Moss, Berwickshire— of Swords at Jacksbank, Glenbervie — of Dagger-blades at Kingarth, Bute — of Shields at Beith, Ayrshire — of Shields at Yetholm, Roxburghshire — of Axes, Armlets, etc., at Rehill, Aberdeenshire — of Axes at Bell's Mills, Midlothian— of Axes, etc., at Forfar — of Axes, etc., at Poolewe, Ross-shire— of Axes at Balcarry, Wigtownshire — of Axes at Sluie, Morayshire — of Axes at Colleonard, Banffshire — of Axes at Fortrie of Balnoon, Banffshire — of Axes at Tonderghie, Wigtown- shire— of Axes at Culzean, Ayrshire — Typical characteristics of the Hoards — Classification of the different varieties of Implements and Weapons of the Age of Bronze — Class of Weapons — Swords, leaf- shaped and rapier-shaped — Daggers and Halbard-blades — Spear- heads and Moulds for casting them — Shields — War Axes — Trumpets — Class of useful tools — Axes, flat, flanged, and socketed, and Moulds for casting them — Chisels — Gouges — Fish-hooks — Sickles — Anvils — Caldrons — Hoards of Gold Ornaments — Of Armlets in Dumbarton- shire— in Stirlingshire — at Ormidale in Arran — at Carmichael, Lanarkshire — at Coul, Islay — in Galloway — at Kilmaillie, Inverness- shire — in Argyllshire — in the Hebrides — at Muckart in Perthshire — at Gullane, East Lothian — at Strond, Harris — at Cromdale, Inverness-shire— in Galloway — in Ayrshire — Of twisted Armlets, or Necklets at Largo in Fife — at Cairnsmuir, Peeblesshire — at Urquhart, Elginshire — at Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire — at Little Loch- broom, Ross-shire — at Moor of Rannoch — at Slateford, Midlothian — Diadems of Gold at Coulter, Lanarkshire — at Achentaggart, Dumfriesshire — Significance of the abundant use of Gold in the Age of Bronze — Characteristics of the Culture and Civilisation of the Bronze Age in Scotland, . . . . Pages 139-228
X CONTENTS.
THE AGE OF STONE. LECTURE IV.
CHAMBERED CAIRNS OF CAITHNESS.
Typical character of the Chambered Cairns of the Stone Age — Long Cairn at Yarhoiue, 240 feet in length— Its Chamber and Entrance Passage — Subdivision of the Chamber by Monoliths— Construction of the Roof— Character of the Floor and its cremated Burials — External Structure of the Cairn and its Crescentic Ends or Horns —Second long Cairn at Yarhouse, 190 feet in length— it* Chamber and Content* — Cairn at Ormiegill, Ulbster — its External Structure and Crescentic Ends or Horns — its Chamber and Content* — Stone Implement* found with it* Cremated Burials — Cairn at Ganywhin —it* External Structure — its Chamber and Contents — Flint Arrow- heads found with it* Cremated Burials — Circular Cairns with Central Chambers — Cairn at Canister— its Chamber and Contents — Burnt Burials, Urns and Flint Implements— Cairns at Yarhouse — Characteristics of their External and Internal Structure — Cairn at Bruan with a Side-chamber off the Central Chamber— Long Cairns at Rhinavie and Skelpick — General Characteristics of the Long Cairn with Crescentic Endings or Horns — Area of the type — Relation of the Caithness Cairns to the Long Barrows of England— Their Builders a homogeneous people spread over the whole area of Britain, . . . Pages 229-267
LECTURE V.
CHAMBERED CAIRNS OP ARGYLL, ORKNEY, ETC.
Circular Cairn at Achnacree, Argyllshire— its Structure and Content*— Cairn at Largie, Kilmartin, Argyllshire— it* Structure and Content* —Cairn at Kilchoan, Argyllshire— it* Structure and Content*— Typical feature* of the Caithness group also exhibited in the
CONTENTS. XI
Argyllshire group — The Orkney group of Chambered Cairns — Chambered Cairn of Maeshow — Kunic Inscriptions on the walls of its tinterior Chamber — Questions of its Origin and Purpose — Its typical relationship to the general group of Stone Age Chambered Cairns — Cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray — Cairn at Quoyness in Sanday — Cairn at Quanterness near Kirkwall — Cairn at Wideford Hill — Similarity of feature in this group of Chambered Cairns — Cairn with tripartite Chamber on the Holm of Papa Westray — Cairn with Crescentic Endings in Burray — Cairn at Bookan — Cairn at Unstan — Contents of its Chamber — Urns, Flint Implements, etc. — General features of Construction and Contents essentially the same in all the groups — Cairns encircled by a ring of Standing Stones — The group of Cairns at Clava, Strathnairn — Eelative Antiquity of the Stone Circles and the Chambered Cairns — Review of the special features and characteristics of the Stone Age Cairns and their Burial Customs — Eelative quality of the Culture and Civilisation they disclose, ..... Pages 268-304
LECTUEE VI.
IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS OF THE STONE AGE.
Materials which disclose the Stone Age Culture and Civilisation in Scotland — Manner of their occurrence — Earely found in Hoards or Groups — Classification according to their obvious uses — Perforated Axes and Hammers — Imperforate Axes and Adzes of polished Stone found singly or in groups — Chipped and polished Axes and Adzes of Flint — Methods of grinding, polishing, and hafting — Spear- and Arrow-heads of Flint — their different varieties — Manner in which they were affixed to the Shaft — Manufacture of Arrow-shafts with Flint Tools — Flint Knives — their different varieties — Ground-edged Knives of Porphyry and Schist — Flint Saws — Borers and Flaking Tools of Flint — Scrapers and Strike-lights — Flint Factories, or Sites on which the Manufacture of Flint Tools has been carried on — Comparison of the methods employed in these ancient Flint Work-
xli CONTENTS.
•hops with modern methods — Some of their processes have not been discovered by modern science — Qualities of Workmanship displayed in the product* of these ancient Factories — Review of the General Phenomena of the Stone Age in Scotland with reference to its special phases of Culture and Civilisation — General Outcome of the whole Investigation, . Pages 305-387
IXDKX, . . Pages 389-397
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SEPULCHRAL URNS— BRONZE AGE TYPES.
FIG. PAGE
2. From Cairn at Collessie, .... 6
3. From Cairn at Collessie, . .7 6. From Cairn at Linlathen, . . .11
10. From Cairn at Glenforsa, . 14
13. FromFyrish, . . . . 16
14. From Stobshiel, . . . . ,20
15. From Shuttlefield, Lockerbie, . . . .20 25-31. From Magdalen Bridge, ..... 30-36
32. From Shanwell, . .- . . . .37
34-39. From Sheriff-flats, . . 40-43
40. From Blairgowrie, ...... 44
41. From Barnfauld, . . 44 42,43. From Bucklyvie, . . .44
44. From Genoch,1 . . 45
45. From Craigdhu, . * . . . • . 46
46. From Benachie, V . ( . . . .47
47. From South Ronaldsay and Dunbar, / 47
48. From Killucken, ... .48 50. From Dalmore, ... .49 55. From Balcalk, . . . '.52 59. From Lunanhead, . . . .54 64. From Crawford, . . . . 58 66. From Kinneff, . . .59 68. From Banff, . . . 61 73. FromAlloa, . 63 76. From Monikie, . . 66
79. From Birsley, 71
80. From Drymmie, . 71
81. From Quarryford, . . 72
i Lent by the Archaeological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
Xiv CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Fio. "•*««
82. From Seamill, . 73
83-80. From Lesmurdie, 74
86-89. From Broomend, 76
90. From Slap, . 77
01. From Dairy, . 77
92. From Freefield, 78
93. From Drem, . 78
94. From Parkhill, 79
95. From Buckle, . 80
96. From Tents Moor, . 81
97. From Balmuick, 82
98. From Darnhall, 82 99, 100. From Kingsbarns, . 83
101. From Glenhead, 83
103. From Murleywell, 84
104. From Ninewells, 84
105. From Stannergate, . 85
106. FromOban, . 85
107. From Kennyshillock, . 86 111. From Eddertoun, 90
112,113. From Tealing, . 91
114. From Stenton, 92
117,118. FromTormore, . 98,99
120. From Tuack, . 103
124. From Crichie, . . 107
126. From Glenballoch, . 112
128. From Montblairy, . 1K>
SEPULCHRAL URNS— STONE AGE TYPES.
261,262. From Chambered Cairn, Achnacree, . 271
263. From Chambered Cairn, Largie, JTi'
274,279. From Chambered Cairn, Unstan, . 294-296
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS.
4. Dagger-blade, Collewie, . 8
7. Dagger-blade, Linlathen, 12
8. Dagger-blade, Cleigh, . 13
9. Dagger-blade, Drumlanrick, . 13
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV
FIG. PAGE
16. Knife-blade, Shuttlefield, . . . . 21
17. Oval Blade, Lierabol, . 22
19. Oval Blade, Rogart, . . 24
20. Oval Blade, Balblair, ... .24
21. Bifid Blades, Bowerhouses, .... 26
22. Bifid Blade, from the Shannon, ... 26
23. Bifid Blade, Kinleith, . . 27
24. Oval Blade, Magdalen Bridge, ... 29 33. Oval Blade, Shanwell, . . . . 38 49. Tanged Blade, Dalmore, . . .49 56. Pin, Balcalk, . . . - . . . 52
62. Bracelet, Melfort, ... 57
63. Arm-ring, Stobo, . . ... . 58
65. Arm-ring, Crawford, . . . 59
67. Arm-ring, Kinneff, . . . . . 60
138. Pin, Grosvenor Crescent, . . . 140
139. Mounting, Grosvenor Crescent, . . . 140
141. Sword, Grosvenor Crescent,1 . . . . 141
142. Sword, Sheath-end, and Brooch, Gogar, . . . 144
143. Sheath-end, Cauldhame, .... 145
144. Sword, Spear-head, and Pin, Skye, . . . 145
145. Oval Blades, socketed, Skye and Invergordon, . 146
146. Spear-head, Auchtertyre, . ^ . . . 147
147. Armlet (penannular), Auchtertyre, . . . 148 148,149. Spear-heads, Torran, ... .148
150. Gouge, Torran, ..... 149
151. Sword, Killin, ..... 150
152. Spear-head, Killin, ... .150 153,154. Axes (socketed), Killin, ... .151
155. Gouge, Killin, . . 151
156. King (hollow), Killin, . . 152
157. Armlet (penannular), Killin, . . . . 152
158. Spear-head, Highfield, .... 153
159. Axes (socketed), Dalduff,2 . . .154
160. Sword, Jacksbank, . ... 156 161,162. Shield, Lugtonridge,2 .... 158
163. Shield, Yetholm, .... .159
1 Lent by Mr. John Evans.
2 Lent by the Archaeological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
XVi CLASSIFIED LIST OF 1LLU8TRATI'
f
164. Armlet (peiuumular), Rehill,
165. Axe. (socketed), Bell's Mill*, . 161
166. Axe« (socketed), Forfar, 161
167. Spear-head, Forfar, . ";-
168. Ring (penannular), Poolewe, . 163 169,170. Axes (flanged), Balcarry,1 . '«4, 165
171. Axe (flat), Sluie, 166
172. Axe (flat), CulMM,1 !':-
173. Sword, South Uiat, 172
174. Sword, River Tay, . 172
175. Sword, Wigtownshire,1 174
176. Sword, Keith House, . 174
177. Sword, Kirkoswald,1 . 175
178. Dagger, Gretna,1 176
179. Dagger, Pitcaithly, . 176
180. Dagger, Kilrie,8 177
181. Dagger, Whiteleya, . 177
182. Halberd, Galloway, . 178
183. Halberd, Welbsleben, 179
185. Spear-head, Whitehaugh,1 . 181
186. Spear-head, Denhead, 181
187. Speai-head, Barhullion,1 182
188. Spear-head, Belhaven, . 182
189. Spear-head, Crawford, . . . .183
190. Spear-head, Linton, . . 183
191. Spear-head, Merton Hall,1 . 184
192. Spear-head (unknown), ... 184
193. Spear-head, Lanarkshire, . . . 184
194. Spear-head, Craigton, . . 185
195. Spear-head, Dean Water, . 185
198. Battle-axe, Bannockburn, . 188
199. Trumpet, Coilsfield,1 . 189
200. Axe (flat), Innennessun,1 . 190 202. Axe (flat), Lawhead, . . .192
204. Axe (flat), Nairn, ... .194
205. Axe (flanged), Moss of Cree,1 . 195
206. Axe (flanged), Greenlees,* ... .195
> Lent by the Arclurological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire. 1 Lent by Mr. John Evans.
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii
FlQ. PAGE
207. Axe (flanged), Applegarth,1 . 196
208. Axe (flanged), Dams, . 196
209. Axe (flanged), Largs,2 . 197
210. Axe (flanged), Glenbuck,2 . . 197
211. Axe (socketed), Strath, . 198
212. Axe (socketed), Knockandmaize,' . . . 199
214. Chisel, Low Torrs,2 . . .201
215. Chisel, Burreldales, . . 201
216. Chisel (tanged), . 201
217. Chisel, Kingoldrum, ... 201
218. Gouge, River Tay, . 201
219. Fish-hooks, Glenluce, . 202
220. Sickle, Edengerach, . . 203
221. Sickle, Errol, . .203
222. Anvil, Oykel, . . 205
223. Caldron, Carlingwark, 206
224. Caldron, Kincardine, . . 206
225. Caldron, West of Scotland, . .207
MOULDS FOR BRONZE INSTRUMENTS.
196,197. For Spear-heads, Campbeltown, . . 186,187
203. For Flat Axes, . . 193
213. For Socketed Axes, Rosskeen, •. . . 199
GOLD ORNAMENTS.
5. Mounting of Bronze Dagger-hilt, Collessie, . . 9
69. Armlet, Banff, . . . . . 62
70-72. Rings, small penannular, Banff, . . 62
74. Armlet, Alloa, ... 64
75. Ear-ring, Orton, ..... 65
77. Mounting of Dagger-hilt, Monikie, . . 66
78. Discs, Huntiscarth, ..... 68 142. Ring (hollow, penanuular), Gogar, . 144
226. Armlet (penannular), West Highlands, . . 209
227. Ring (hollow, penannular), West Highlands, 210 228,229. Armlets (penannular), Carmichael,3 . . . 211, 212
1 Lent by Mr. John Evans.
- Lent by the Archaeological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
3 Lent by the Society of Antiquaries, London.
b
xviii CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Pio. rAO«
230,231. Armlet* (twisted), Largo, 215
232. Armlet (twisted), Belhelvie, . 219
233. Armlet (twisted), Rannoch, . 220
234. Armlet (twisted), Slateford, 221
235. Diadem, Coulter,
236. Diadem, Auchentaggart, --'•'•
STONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC.
11. Wrist-guard, Glenforsa, I"1
12. Wrist-guard, Fyrish, . 15
52. Flint Knife, Dalmore, . ~»0
53. Beads of Jet, Dal more, . 51
54. Wrist-guard, Dulmore, 51
57. Flint Knife, Balcalkj . 52
58. Beads of Jet (Necklace), Balcalk, 53
60. Beads of Jet (Necklace), Tayfield, . 55
61. Beads of Jet (Necklace), Torish. . 56 78. Beads of Amber, Huntiscarth, . 68
102. Hammer, Glenhead, . . 83
108. Sculptured Cist-cover, Carnwath, . . 88
109. Sculptured Cist-stones, Kilmartin, . . 89
115. Flint Knife, Stenton, . 93
1 16. Whetstone, Stenton, . .93 123. Hammer, Crichie, . . 106 240. Beads of Lignite, Yarhouse, . 240
243. Hammer, Ormiegill, . . • ^46
244. Flint Knife, Ormiegill, 246
245. Arrow-head, Ormiegill, . . 246
246. Flint Knife, Ormiegill, . . 246 S51. Flint Knife, Canister, . .253
268, 269. Polished Implements, QuoynMft, . --';
280. Arrow-heads, Unstan, . M
281. Scraper, Unstan, . . 298
282. Flint Knife, Unstan, . 298
283. Flaking Tool, Unstan. . IN
285. Axe (unHnished), Coll, . 308
286. Axe (perforated), Shetland,1 *»
1 Lent by Mr. John Evans
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xix
FIG. PAGE
287. Axe (perforated), Portpatrick,1 . . . 309
288. Axe (perforated), Chapelton,1 .... 310
289. Axe (perforated), Montfode,1 . . . .311
290. Axe (perforated), Claycrop. . ' . . - . 312
291. Axe (perforated), Newburgh, . . . . 313
292. Axe (perforated), Fardenreoch,1 . . . 314
293. Axe (perforated), Duns Castle, . . . 315
294. Axe (perforated), Eiver Tay, . . . . 316
295. Axe (perforated), Loch of Friars Carse, . . 317
296. Axe (perforated), Prieston,1 . . . . 317
297. Axe (perforated), Torhouskie, .... 318
298. Axe (perforated), Machermore, . . .- 318
299. Axe (perforated), Portpatrick, . . . 319
300. Axe (perforated), Kirkcowan, . . . 319
301. Axe (perforated), Balmaclellan, . . . . 319
302. Hammer, Cleughhead, ..... 320
303. Hammer, Urquhart, . . . . .321
304. Hammer, Corwen, . . . 322 305,306. Axes, Campbeltown, ..... 323
307. Axe, Aberdeenshire, ..... 324
308. Axe, Drumour, . . . . . 325
309. Axe, Daviot,2 ...... 326
310,312. Axes, Tingwall, . » . .327,329
313,314. Axes, Fochabers, ..... 330,331
315. Axe, Affleck, . . . . ' . . 333
316. Axe, Urquhart, ..... 333
317. Axe, Fordoun, . . 334
318. Axe, Dundee, ..... 334
319. Axe, Old Deer, . 335
320. Axe, Gilmerton,2 . . . . .336
321. Adze, Slains, . . . . - 337
322. Axe, Dundee, ... . 338
323. Axe, Dalmeny,2 ... • . 339
324. Axe, Caithness,2 . . . . 339
325. Axe, Berwickshire, ..... 339
326. Axe, Lerwick, ... . 340
327. Axe, Cunningsburgh, . . * . 340
1 Lent by the Archaeological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
2 Lent by Mr. John Evans.
XX CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILUTKTRATIOKB.
no. '*°*
328. Axe, Shetland, 341
320. Adze, Shetland, . : M 1
330. Adze, Shetland, 342
331. Axe, Ericht, . 343
332. Axe, Cunzierton, . . 344
333. Adze, Glenluce, ... 345
334. Adze, Little Barns, . .345
335. Axe, Kirklaucbline, .
336. Axe, Stirlingshire,1 . ... 347
337. Axe, Brownhill,* . . 348
338. Grinding-stone, Lamberton, . . v . 349 889. Grinding-stone, Stoneykirk, . . . 860
340. Axe (handled), New Guinea, . . . . 351
341. Adze (handled), South Pacific, . .352
342. Adze (handled), New Guinea, . 352
343. Axe (handled), South Australia, . . 353
344. Axe and its handle, Solway MOBS, . . . 353
345. Axe (with mark of handle), Ervie, . . . 354
346. Spear-head, Urquhart, . . . 355
347. Spear-head, Machermore, .... 355
348. Arrow-head, Culbin Sands, .... 3:.i;
349. Arrow-head, Urquhart, .... 3.~><; 350,351. Arrow-heads, Culbin Sands, .... 356
352. Arrow-head, Knockscreb,2 . . . . 8M
353. Arrow-head (serrated), Petty, . . . 357 354,355. Arrow-heads (serrated), Urquhart, . . . .V>7 356,357. Arrow-heads (barbed), Lanfine,2 . 358
358. Arrow-head (barbed), Glenluce, . . . 358
359,360. Arrow-head (barbed), Torrs, ... 358
361. Arrow-head (barbed), Culbin Sands, . . 358
362. Arrow-head (barbed), Torre, . .359 863. Arrow-head (barbed), Shapinsay, . . . 359 364. Arrow-head (barbed), Torre, . . 359
365,366. Arrow-heads (barbed), Culbin Sands. . . 868
367. Arrow-head (barbed), Whitecrook, . . 359 866. Arrow-head (stemless), Ellon, . . .360
369,370. Arrow-heads (stemless), Torre,* . . 860
> Lent by Mr. John Evans.
* Lent by the Arclueological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxi
FlO. PAGE
371-373. Arrow-heads (single-barbed), Culbin Sands, . . 361
374. Arrow-head (in the shaft), California, . . 361
375. Arrow-head (in the shaft), Fyvie, . . . 362
376. Arrow-head (in the shaft), Geisboden,1 . . 362
377. Ridged Flake of Flint, . . . .363 378,379. Knives of Flint, ..... 363
380. Instrument for planing Arrow-shafts, . . 363
381. Flint Knife, Rousay, ..... 366 382-385. Trimmed Flakes, Dairy,2 . . . .367 386,387. Flint Knives, Culbin Sands, .... 368
388. Flint Knife, Monikie, .... 368
389. Flint Knife, Culbin Sands, .... 368
390. Flint Knife (ground-edged), Urquhart, . • . 369
391. Flint Knife (ground-edged), Strachur, : . 369
392. Flint Knife (oval), Kintore, . . . .370
393. Flint Knife (oval), Fordoun, .... 370
394. Knife of Porphyry (oval), Shetland, . . . 370 395-397. Knives of Schist, Shetland, . . . .371 398-400. Flint Saws, Glenluce, . . . .. 372
401. Borer of Flint, Galston,2 . . . . 373
402. Borer of Flint, Culbin Sands, . . . 373
403. Flaking Tool of Flintr Fordoun, . . • . 374
404. Flaking Tool of Flint, Corennie, , . . 374
405. Flint Scraper, Urquhart, . . . .375 406,407. Flint Scraper and Pyrites, Flowerburn, . . 376
408. Flint Scraper, Torrs,2 ..... 377
409. Flint Scraper, Gullane, .... 377 410,411. Flint Scrapers, Elginshire, .... 377
BONE IMPLEMENTS.
51. Hollow Cylinder or Button, Dalmore, . . 50
. 270. Implement (use unknown), Quoyness, . . 287
GROUND-PLANS, SECTIONS, VIEWS.
1. Cairn, Collessie, Fife, . . . 4
18. Tumulus, Burreldales, .... 23
1 Lent by Mr. John Evans.
* Lent by the Archaeological Association of Ayr and Wigtownshire.
XXii CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Fio. «•*«
109. Cut, Kilmartin, 89
110. Cairn, Eddertoun, . 90 119. Stone Circle, Tuack, . 102
1 2 1 , 1 22. Stone Circle, Crichie, 1 05
125. Stone Circle, Ardlair, 110
127. Stone Circle, Kingcausie, . 114
129. Stone Circle, Stennis,1 . 118
130. Stone Circle (smaller), Stennis,1 . . . 119
131. Stone Circle, Callernish, . . 120
132. Chambered Cairn, Callernish, . . . 121
133. Stone-setting (parallel rows), Garrywlun, . 127
134. Stone-setting (parallel rows), Canister, . . 129
135. Stone-setting (parallel rows), Yarhouse, . . 130
136. Stone-setting (parallel rows), (Myth. . . 131
137. Stone-setting (oval), Acbkinloch, . . . 133
237. Chambered Cairn, Yarhouse, . . . • 231
238. Chamber in Cairn, Yarhouse, . . . 232
239. Chambered Cairn (No. 2), Yarhouse, . . 238
241. Chambered Cairn (long), Camster, . . . 241
242. Chambered Cairn, Ormiegill, . . . 24.r> 247. Chambered Cairn, Garrywhin, . . . 247
249. Chambered Cairn (round), Camster, . . . 250
250. Chambered Cairn (section), Camster, . . 251
252. Chambered Cairn (No. 3), Yarhouse, . . 254
253. Chambered Cairn (No. 4), Yarhouse, . . 256
254. Chambered Cairn (No. 5), Yarhouse, . . 257
255. Chambered Cairn (No. 6), Yarhouse, . . 257
256. Chambered Cairn, Bruan, .... 259
257. Chambered Cairns, Rhinavie, . . 261
258. Chambered Cairn (view), Rhinavie, . . . 262
259. Chambered Cairn, Skel pick, . .
260. Chambered Cairn, Achnacree, . . . 270
264. Chambered Cairn, Maeshow,- . . 275
265. Chamber in Cairn, Maeshow,* ... 276 Ml Chambered Cairn, Holm of Papa Westray, . 282 267. Chambered Cairn, Quoyness, Sanday, . 284
1 Lent by the Society of Antiquaries. London. * Lent by Mr. James FergUMon.
CLASSIFIED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FlO. PAGE
271. Chambered Cairn, Quanterness, . . . 288
272. Chambered Cairn, Bookan, . . . 291
273. Chambered Cairn, Unstan, . . . 293 284. Chambered Cairn, Clava, .... 301
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
THE AGE OF BRONZE.
LECTUEE I.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
HAVING dealt with the remains of the Iron Age culture and civilisation of Scotland in the last course of Lectures, I now proceed to deal similarly with those of the Age of Bronze. When they have been exhausted, the residue will represent the remains that are assignable to the Age of Stone ; and to these the last three Lectures of the present course will be devoted.
In dealing with the remains of the Age of Bronze, we shall examine and consider, not only the nature and characteristics of the objects of bronze themselves, but also the nature and characteristics of the objects in other materials which have been found in association with them. It has been already shown that the circumstances which have controlled the actual associations, and the phenomena which determine the scientific associations of objects of various uses, purposes, and materials, are primarily those of the burial deposits of a period. Hence I shall select for description and examination of their typical characteristics — first, a series of burials which may be determined to belong to the Bronze Age by their essential circumstances or underground phenomena ; 1
2 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
second, a series of burials characterised by special develop- ments of their non-essential overground phenomena, with the view of ascertaining whether they also exhibit, or do not exhibit, the essential characteristics of Bronze Age deposits ; and lastly, the hoards or accumulations of Bronze Age objects which have not been found associated with burial
The Age of Bronze has been defined to be that stage of progress towards the existing culture and civilisation which manifested itself in the construction of cutting tools and weapons of bronze. When therefore we find a series of deposits in which no implement or weapon of iron occurs, but in which the tools and weapons, which, in the Iron Age, were made of iron, are found to be of bronze, although there may be along with them many other articles in other materials — iron alone excepted — it is clear that such a series of deposits must necessarily be assigned to the Age of Bronze. But practically it is not always possible, and fortunately it is not always necessary, to adduce the presence of bronze in a particular deposit, as part of the demonstration that it must be assigned to the Age of Bronze. There are other features which are so constant as to become typical, and when their typical character has been once established, they serve as indications no less certain and conclusive than the presence of bronze in its typical character. For instance, as we have already seen that a certain peculiar system of ornamentation was characteristic of such Iron Age objects in different materials as had surface decoration applied to them, we shall now see that the total absence of these peculiar forms of ornamentation becomes a characteristic feature of the surface decoration of the Age of Bronze. But we shall also see that the ornamentation which is applied to objects that are demonstrably of Bronze Age types, though it be ornamentation which is totally unlike that of the Iron Age, is yet of a nature so characteristic and peculiar as to
BRONZE AGE BUKIALS. 3
be absolutely distinctive of the age to which it belongs. The difference between the two systems will become appar- ent as we proceed, but it may be briefly formulated in the statement, that while the distinctive ornamentation of the Iron Age was a system of curvilinear decoration — the curves not being parts of circles — the distinctive ornamentation of the Bronze Age is a system of rectilinear decoration asso- ciated with occasional circles or parts of circles. Again, this distinctive system of ornamentation of the Bronze Age is associated with a very remarkable development of sepulchral pottery, the entire absence of which was found to be one of the most striking features of the Iron Age deposits of Scot- land, so far as they are yet known. These highly-decorated urns of clay, which are such constant and characteristic accompaniments of the burial deposits of the Age of Bronze, present several varieties of form and purpose, but they are all characterised by one system of decoration. They are not found, even in the majority of cases, to be actually associated with implements of bronze ; but the forms and the orna- mentation having been established as typical, the fact that the typical form associates itself sometimes with bronze, but never with iron, is sufficient to invest it with the character of a typical form of the Bronze Age. The bearing of these explanatory remarks upon what is to follow will become apparent 'as we proceed with the examination of the series of burials now to be described.
In August 1876 and 1877 I was present at the excavation of a large cairn on the property of Mr. William Wallace of Newton of Collessie, in Fife, by whom the excavation was undertaken. The cairn was a mass of stones and boulders, covering an area of about 120 feet in diameter, and rising in the centre to a height of about 14 feet above the natural level. The work was continued over two seasons, and its
4 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
magnitude may be inferred from the fact that upwards of a thousand cart-loads of stones were removed in the course of the operations. Commencing at the south-east side, a width of about 8 yards on the ground level (as shown by the lighter shading on the ground-plan, Fig. 1) was cleared of
Fig. 1.— Orouud-Plan and Section of Cairn at Collessie. (Section on the line cd.)
the stones down to the subsoil By this means the whole of the central portion of the cairn was examined, and two seg- ments of its circumference were left Of these segments, the one on the east side had been partially removed in the con- struction of the road, while that on the west had been appar-
BRONZE AGE BUEIALS. 5
ently used as a place of deposit for stones removed from the field in which the cairn was situated. The bulk of the cairn was found to be composed of gathered stones and boulders none very small, and few beyond such a size as could be lifted or rolled by two men. The larger stones were mostly in the lower part of the cairn. The stones throughout were simply agglomerated, not built or placed with any visible arrangement, except in one special feature. A few feet within the margin of the cairn there was a ring of sandstone slabs set on edge continuously round the cairn as far as we examined it, although we did not meet with it on the south- east side, where we first broke into the mass of the cairn. It seemed therefore as if it had not completely encircled the cairn, but it certainly formed a special feature in its con- struction around the major part of its circumference. It seemed as if it had originally formed the base-line or ex- ternal boundary of the mass of loose stones composing the cairn, which had gradually slid down over it, and in process of time concealed it. The slabs of which this base-line was composed were from 3 to 4 feet in height, well bedded in the gravel on their edges. The space within this boundary, from which the mass of the cairn had now been removed, presented a remarkable appearance. It was covered with a layer of fine clay, mottled with marks of fire in separate spaces, some of which were several feet in diameter. In some of these spaces the ashes and charcoal of wood might be gathered in handfuls, and the whole surface of the site of the cairn was more or less strewn with minute particles of charcoal. In some places this intermixture of ashes and charcoal extended deep into the subsoil underneath the surface. This is accounted for by the fact that there were cremated burials in the gravel underneath the cairn.
In the cairn itself we found but one burial, placed on the natural surface of the ground in a cist of slabs, a little to the
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
south-west of the centre. The cist (see the Ground-Plan and Section) was composed of five slabs, four forming the sides and ends, and the fifth the cover. The interior of the cist was 4 feet 6 inches in length, and 3 feet wide in the centre, one end being slightly narrower than the other. The side stones had been pressed outwards by the superincumbent weight, and there was a vacant space of 15 inches in depth between the under side of the covering stone and the gravel in the bottom. In the gravel a few small portions of the unburnt bones of a human skeleton were found in a condition of extreme decay. A portion of a leg-bone found near the narrower end of the cist sufficed to determine the position of the body. Near the other end, and therefore placed either behind the shoulder or before the face of the corpse, a tall,
handsomely-shaped, and finely- made urn of clay (Fig. 2) lay on its side, partially imbedded in the gravel. Half of its longi- tudinal section seems to have stood out of the gravel in the free space of the upper part of the cist, and, thus exposed to the action of air and moisture, may have softened and per- ished. But the half which remains is sufficient to exhibit the form and proportions, the workmanship and ornamenta- tion, of this peculiar vessel. It stands 9 inches high, and measures 6 inches across the mouth. It is peculiarly grace- ful in shape, narrowing slightly below the brim, swelling again to its greatest width at about half its height, and
Fig. 2.— Urn found in the central Ciat of the Cairn at Collessie (9 inches in height).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
again contracting to a diameter of 4 inches across the bottom. It is thin and well made, of a fine paste, with a very slight admixture of particles of stone, and it has been well baked in an open fire. Although made without the aid of a wheel, it is almost regular in its outlines. Its ornamentation is arranged in bands, and consists of groups of parallel lines alternating with bands of zigzags and short oblique lines, produced by the impressions of a tool with teeth like those of a comb.
This one burial was all that was discovered in the cairn, and it was apparently the burial for which the cairn was constructed. It was an unburnt burial, and no relics of any kind were associated with it except the urn.
But on sounding the subsoil underneath the base of the cairn, two spots were discovered showing signs of previous disturbance. In one of these (shown in the Section at b), when the loose gravel was thrown out, the excavation as- sumed the form of an oval . pit about 4 feet by 3, and 6 feet deep. In the bottom of this pit, imbedded among gravel largely mixed with ashes and charcoal, frag- ments of an urn of the same form as that found in the cist were discovered. Its fractures were old, and the pieces, about thirty in number, lay nearly together and on the same level.
All thp mWpq nf thp Fig. 3. -Urn found 6 feet under the base ' P1€ of the Cairn (7 inches in height).
vessel were recovered, ex- cept two, which do not affect its form as it is now reconstructed (Fig. 3). It measures 7 inches high, and
*
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
C inches across the mouth. It is smaller in size, longer and straighter in the brim, and shorter in the bulge, than the first urn, but is of the same peculiar form, the same in texture and finish, and similar in the character of its ornamentation.
In another pit (shown on the Section at a), which had been excavated to a depth of 4 feet underneath the natural level, there appeared at that depth a layer of burnt bones, about an inch in thickness, spread over a space of 3 or 4 square feet. The fragments of the bones were perfectly white, broken into very small pieces, and exhibiting the cracked and contorted condition usually observed in deposits • >f this character. I recognised among i them portions of a human skull and
j of the vertebral column. The atlas
H was entire, and seemed to be that of an adult. There was no appearance of an urn, but among the bones lay a finely-made, thin, and tapering blade of bronze (Fig. 4), still bearing on its broad end the mark of its handle. It had suffered some damage by the gravel under which it lay having been trodden over previous to the discovery of the deposit, but it is perfectly recognisable as a bronze blade of a special form, characterised by its thinness and its tapering, and by its attachment to the handle by rivets, the broken rivet- holes being still visible in the specimen. When first taken up, there were adherent to the surface of the bronze some patches of dark-coloured matter, covered with hair-like fila-
Fig. 4.— Bronze Dagger- blade found 4.J feet under the base of tbe Cairn (6 inches in length).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 9
inents, and below the darker patches a browner and softer layer exhibiting the appearance of decayed woody fibre. When examined with a pocket lens, this appearance of woody structure was distinctly visible among the adhesive mass of wet ashes, bone-dust, and earth, which covered the surface of the blade. Parts of the surface of the darker upper layer were also seen to be covered with a coating of short straight filaments, of such an excessively fragile nature that the slightest touch was sufficient to obliterate their form. As much of this filamentary coating of the dark-brown layer of woody fibre on the blade as suffices to demonstrate its character with certainty has been preserved. When dry, it separated from the blade in small, twisted, slightly curling masses, which on the under side have a leathery appearance, and yield the odour of leather when burnt. These masses are extremely brittle, and difficult to deal with as mounted objects for microscopic examination, but by saturating one of them in warm turpentinej and subjecting it to pressure, I was able to mount it as a transparent object in balsam. The microscope then resolved it into a compacted mass of agglutinated hairs mingled with cellular structure. Under polarised light, the hairs exhibit the same appearance and structure as the dark hairs of a Shetland cow, taken from one of the rivlins, or Shetland shoes of untanned hide, in the Museum, with which I have compared them. From this I infer that when the blade was placed among the burnt bones of its owner, it had not, like Fis- 5. -Gold Mounting of the
Handle of the Bronze Dagger
them, passed through the fire, f0imd at Coiiessie.
but had been deposited in its
sheath, as it used to be worn, the sheath being formed of
wood covered with cowhide, with the hair outwards. Close
by the blade was found the gold mounting of the butt-end of
10 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
its handle (Fig. 5). It is in the shape of a thin fillet nearly | inch broad, and worked into an oblong mounting 1J inch in length, and £ inch in the width of its opening. Its orna- ment consists of four parallel longitudinal flutingsin repousst work.
I have described this cairn and its associated burials thus minutely, because it is the only cairn of the Bronze Age which I have seen excavated. Many others have doubtless been met with, but the instances in which the phenomena of the burials and the features of the structure have been specially investigated and placed on record are exceedingly few, and the details are of the most meagre and unsatis- factory description.
For instance, a great cairn, which is known by the name of Cairn Greg, on the estate of Linlathen, in the parish of Monifieth, in Forfarshire, was opened in 1834 by Mr. Erskine of Linlathen, in presence of the late Lord Rutherfurd and Mr. George Dundas, Advocate, and reopened in 1864 by the late Dr. John Stuart and a number of other anti- quaries. It affords a curious illustration of the difficulty of obtaining full and precise information as to the most obvious facts, that Dr. Stuart, who wrote two separate accounts of this latter examination of the cairn,1 gives no hint of its size ; and the nearest approach we obtain to an idea of its actual dimensions is from a notice in the New Statistical Account of Forfarshire, where it is described as " a large heap of stones." Dr. Stuart was chiefly interested in the alleged occurrence of a stone sculptured with the so-called "elephant" symbol in connection with the cist which occupied the centre of the cairn ; but this has been already referred to in its proper connection,2 and has no bearing on the present
1 Proc. Soc. Anliq. Scot., vol. vi. p. 98, and Sculptured Stontt of Scotland, vol. i.
* ScotUtnd in Early Chr'uftitm Times (Second Series), p. 181.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
11
investigation. The cairn is placed on a rising ground commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. It covered a single burial, placed in the centre of the cairn, upon the natural surface of the ground. It is proper to state, however, that there is not on the record of the investigation any indication that more burials than that in the central cist were looked for, and it seems certain that no part of the subsoil underneath the cairn would at that time have been examined. The central cist was formed of large slabs of freestone, covered by an enormous slab measuring 7 feet in length by 4| in breadth, on which rested another of still greater size and weight. The interior of the cist measured 4 ft. 10 inches in length by 2 ft. 9 inches in breadth, and 2 ft. 10 inches in depth." As in the case of the Collessie cist, its bottom seemed to be paved with small water-worn pebbles ; and when it was first opened, in 1834, an urn (Fig. 6) of the same form as the Collessie example, but smaller and more rudely made, was found lying on its side near the centre of the cist, on the south side, the direction of the axis of the cist being nearly east and west. The urn, which stands 7 inches high, is ornamented with a rough scoring of zigzags round the upper and lower parts. Near the west end of the cist was found a thin bronze blade of triangular form (Fig. 7), bearing at the butt-end the mark of the handle, and still retaining the three rivets which fastened it, in the rivet-holes. There is no indication
Fig. 6.— Urn found in a Cist in the centre of the Cairn at Linlathen (7 inches in height).
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMKs.
in the record from which it can be determined whether the interment in the cist was that of a burnt or an unburnt body, although the probability is that it was the latter.
In Cairn Greg we have thus a repetition of certain special features of the Collessie burials. There is the interment in a cist set on the surface of the ground and covered with an enormous cairn of stones ; the inter- ment is presumably unburnt, and associated with a tall urn of the same peculiar form ; and finally, we have again the association with the interment of a thin triangular bronze blade fastened to the handle by rivets. At Cleigh, near Lochnell, Argyll- shire, there are the remains of a cairn 60 feet in diameter, from which the stones had been removed to be util- ised in modern farm-buildings. It contained a central cist, which the process of removal laid bare, and an urn which was found in it asso- ciated with the interment was given to a person living in the neighbourhood as a visitor, and lost. There is no record of the other phenomena of the interment. Near it, however, another cairn was partially removed, so as to expose the cist. It is not known whether an urn had been associated with the burial in this cairn, but on clearing out the open cist, Dr. Angus Smith was fortunate in finding a beautiful bronze blade of this peculiar thin and triangular form (Fig. 8), which had been unnoticed by the parties who first opened the cist1 It measures 5 inches in length by
1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., voL x. p. 84.
Fig. 7.— Bronze Dagger (4| inches in length) found in a Cist in the Cairn at Lin- lathen. (One of the rivets is shown apart from the Blade.)
BKONZE AGE BURIALS.
13
2 J inches broad at the base, arid is almost perfect in outline. It bears the mark of the handle, with the usual lunation in the middle of the butt-end, the terminal outline of the haft being further marked on the blade by a double row of punctulations impressed by a punch. The three rivets are still in the rivet-holes, and have broad round heads.
In these two interments we have the same features of cairn-burial, with a central cist, the interments being accompanied by an urn, and by the special form of the thin triangular blade of bronze fastened to the handle by rivets.
Fig. 8. — Bronze Dagger-blade, from a Cist in a Cairn at Cleigh (5 inches in length).
Fig. 9. — Bronze Dagger-blade found in a Cist at Drumlanrick (4^ inches in length).
There is in the Museum another example of this typical blade of bronze, which is said to have been found in a cist at Drumlanrick, in Perthshire (Fig. 9). Unfortunately no record of the circumstances of its discovery exists, but it is a blade of precisely the same form and character as those found associated with the interments that have
14
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
been already described. It measures 4J inches in length, and the butt-end bears the mark of the handle to which it has been attached by three rivets, two of which are still in their places.
In clearing away a cairn on the farm of Callachally at Glenforsa, in the island of Mull, two urns were found. No record of the phenomena of the interments exists, but the fragments of the urns and the two objects found with them are preserved in the Museum. One of the urns (Fig. 10) was of the same form as those from Collessie and Cairn Greg, 6 J inches high, and 6 inches wide at the mouth. It is orna- mented with narrow parallel bands of zigzags and short straight lines, the bauds passing transversely round the circumference of the vessel. These narrow bands alternate
with broader bands of a different variety of ornamentation. They are filled with a series of acutely-pointed tri- angular spaces, each alternate triangle filled with zigzag lines drawn parallel to each other. The lines forming the long equal sides of the triangles appear to have been stamped with the teeth of a comb. The second urn was also of the same form and character, but differed
in the arrangement of its ornamentation. The lower part is covered with scorings of zigzags, the upper having a band of triangular spaces alternately plain and filled with parallel
Fig. 10.— Urn found at Glenforsa, Mull (6j inches in height).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
15
lines. With the urns there were found the fragments of a thin triangular bronze blade, and an implement, in polished stone (Fig. 11), thin and rectangular in form, with slightly rounded corners, and pierced by a small hole in the middle of its breadth close to each end. It measures 3£ inches in length by 1J inch in breadth, and is formed of a hard greenstone, symmetrically shaped and carefully polished.
Fig. 11. — Wrist-guard of polished stone found with the Urn at Glenforsa. Mull (3^ inches in length).
In this case we have again the same features of cairn- burial, with the same form of urn, and the same thin, tri- angular blade of bronze, but with an additional feature in the occurrence of an implement of polished stone. The
Fig. 12. —Wrist-guard of polished Felstone found with an Urn at Fyrish. Back and front Views. (4.^ inches in length.)
probable use of this implement is not directly suggested by its form, and there is nothing in the circumstances of its
16 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
association in this instance which suffices to reveal its pur- pose. But other implements of similar form and character have been occasionally found in somewhat similar associa- tions in Scotland, and instances have occurred in England, which are directly suggestive of the probable purpose which has been assigned to them.
One found at Fyrish, near Evanton, in lloss-shire, was also associated with an urn accompanying an unburnt burial. . The implement (Fig. 1 2) is formed of a hard, close- grained greenish stone, finely polished, and perforated by a small hole in each corner. It measures 4£ inches in length by 1J inch in breadth, narrowing slightly in the middle,
Fig. 13.— Urn found at Fyrish, Evanton, Ross-shire (6 inches in height).
and curved in the cross-section. The urn (Fig. 13) with which it was associated is 6 inches high, and ornamented by bands of parallel lines and zigzags. It differs a little from the tall variety, with slightly everted lip and bulging sides, with which we have previously become acquainted. It is thicker and coarser in texture, is almost as wide as it is hi<zh, and though somewhat shorter in the upper part, is bowl-shaped below, and tapers to a base of 3 inches.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 1 7
A similar implement of greenstone, found in a sepulchral tumulus in Skye, measures 2J inches in length by If inch in breadth. It is of the same form, convex on its upper surface, and concave interiorly, finely polished, and orna- mented at the ends with a border of slightly pitted ovals.
In 1821 a cist was discovered 8 feet under the apex of a conical mound of sandy loam in the parish of Cruden, Aberdeenshire. The cist was formed of slabs of gneiss, and measured internally 4 feet 3 inches in length by 2 feet 2 inches in breadth, and 2 feet 2 inches deep. Its bottom was the sandy soil of which the mound was composed, and its cover was formed of a large rough slab of slaty rock and a flattish block of granite. In the cist were two skeletons — one of a full-grown man, the other of a child ; and with them there were the remains of a dog. Besides these human and animal remains, the cist also contained two urns, two flint knives, seven arrow-heads of flint, and an implement of polished greenstone of this special form, 4J inches long, rounded on one face, hollow on the other, and pierced with a small hole at each corner. In this case, the association of this peculiarly formed stone object with seven arrow-heads of flint is suggestive of its connection with the use of the bow, and the fact that the bracers of bone, which in more recent times were strapped on the left wrist to protect it from the recoil of the bowstring, are curiously like these stone objects in form and character, has given force to the suggestion.
In two instances in England, the stone implement has been found actually in contact with the bones of the fore-arm. In a grave-mound on Roundway Hill, near Devizes, such an implement was found between the bones of the left fore-arm of an unburnt human skeleton. It is a flat plate of chlorite schist, 4| inches in length and If inch in breadth, finely polished, and pierced by four small holes, countersunk on both sides at the four corners. Along with it there were 2
1 8 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
also found associated with the burial a single arrow-head of flint, and a thin bronze blade, with a tang for insertion in the handle.
In a grave-mound at Kellythorpe, near Driffield, an imple- ment of the same character was found lying on the bones of the right fore-arm of an unbunit human skeleton, while underneath the bones was a small bronze buckle, apparently the fastening of the strap by which the implement had been bound upon the wrist.1 It is similar in form to the others which have been described, concave on the under side, 5 inches in length by 1 i inch in breadth, and having in the four perforations four pins or rivets of bronze, with gold heads. The other articles found associated with this burial were a thin bronze dagger-blade with a wooden sheath and a handle of wood, some amber beads, and an urn of the tall variety, with thin and slightly everted lip and bulging sides, which has been already described as occurring in association with similar implements in Scotland.
It thus appears that these peculiar implements of polished stone have been found in association with arrow-heads of flint, and that, when found in the position in which they were worn, they occupied the place on the right and left fore-arm which the " bracer " would have occupied on the fore-arm of a right-handed and a left-handed bowman. It appears also that we have, in this series of burials, a set of typical phenomena, consisting in the association of imple- ments of stone with certain implements of metal — that metal being bronze. The presence of this thin knife-like blade of bronze among the grave goods of these interments is the most distinctive of their peculiar characteristics. It separates the burials in which it occurs, on the one hand from the typical burials of the Iron Age, which have been already described, and on the other hand from the typical burials of the Stone
1 Archceologia, xxxiv. 254, Plate xx. fig. 7, and xliii. 427.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 1 9
Age, which have yet to be described. It separates them from the burials of the Iron Age, because it has never yet been found either with implements of iron, or with objects exhibiting the special forms or bearing the special decoration of the Iron Age. It separates them from the burials of the Stone Age because it is itself of bronze, and, though it is often found in association with implements of stone, it brings these stone implements and the burials with which they are associated into the category of Bronze Age types.
Eeturning now to the further consideration of the series of burials that are characterised by the presence among their grave goods of a blade of bronze, we shall find the blade, which is their characteristic feature, presenting occasional differences of form and association. But whatever may be the direction or the extent of these variations — whether its form may be triangular, or oval, or disc-shaped ; whether it may be attached to its handle by rivets or by a tang, or by casting the handle in the metal itself, — the typical character- istic of the implement is that it is always an instrument of cutlery fashioned in bronze. It may be styled a dagger, a knife, or a razor ; it may be associated with burnt or un- burnt interments, and with urns of different varieties of form; but its essential character and significance are con- stant.
At Stobshiel, in Haddingtonshire, in 1881, an interment after cremation was discovered, by the plough turning up the broken bottom of an urn, inverted over a deposit of burnt bones, among which there was found a portion of a thin flat triangular blade of bronze, perforated at the base by two rivet-holes. The urn (Fig. 14) is of a peculiar type, flower- pot-shaped below, and widening upwards to about the middle of its height, from which it contracts again towards the brim. The ornamentation is confined to a narrow baud underneath the brim, and consists simply of intersecting zig-
•Jo
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
Fig. 14.— Urn found at Stobshiel, Haddingtonshire (14J inches in height).
Fig. 15.— Urn found at Shnttleneld (9 inches in height).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
21
zags. Two slightly projecting mouldings encircle the plain part, and one forms a border immediately underneath the ornamented rim. It measures 14| inches in height, the width across the mouth being 10 J inches, across the widest part in the middle 1 2 inches, and across the bottom 5 inches. In April 1880 a chance passer-by observed a labourer extracting bones from a hole in the brow of a sandy knoll in a field at Shuttlefield, near Lockerbie. On inspecting the place, he found that the man had discovered the site of a cremated burial The burnt bones had been collected, and placed in a shallow excavation in the sandy eminence, with a large flowerpot-shaped urn of baked clay (Fig. 1 5) inverted over them. The bottom of the urn had been so near the surface that the plough had passed through it, and the labourer's atten- tion being attracted to the rounded cavity which was thus disclosed, and the curiosity of both aroused by the fact that it contained a deposit of burnt bones, a complete examination of the place was made, and the re- maining portion of the urn unearthed. It was but 9 inches high, having been originally perhaps 14 or 15 inches in height, and 9 inches diameter at the mouth. From its brim the sides are nearly perpendicular for a depth of about 4 inches, to a raised external ridge, which passes transversely round it at the junction of the perpendicular part with the part where it begins to slope towards the bottom. The sloping part is plain, the upper part orna- mented with irregularly placed oval indentations. Among
Fig. 16.— Bronze Blade found in the Urn at Shuttlefield (actual size).
22
SCOTLAND IN J'AtJAX TIMKS.
the burnt bones which it protected, a small thin blade of bronze (Fig. 16) was discovered. It is unfortunately broken, but enough remains to show the special form and character of the implement. In its tapering form, its thinness, and the presence of a single rivet-hole at the base, it resembles the blades which have been already described; but it presents points of difference which are more characteristic than these points of resemblance. Its outlines are oval towards the base ; it is not flat, but swells in the centre to a distinct longitudinal midrib, and it terminates at the butt- end in a flattened tang-like prolongation, pierced by a central
rivet-hole. These features are sug- gestive of a transition from a type that is triangular, flat, and riveted at the base, to a type that is oval in outline, swelling in the middle, and tanged at the base. Such a form is not unfrequently found asso- ciated with similar interments.
For instance, a plain oval blade of bronze of the form here shown (Fig. 17), thinning to the point end and to the edges (as indicated by the cross-section), and showing the fracture of the tang which has been broken off the thicker extremity, was found among the incinerated bones under an inverted urn which had been placed about 3 feet under the surface, near the outer margin of a tumulus at Lierabol, in the Strath of Kildonan, Suther- landshire. It measured about 2 inches in length by | inch in its greatest breadth, and nowhere exceeds jv inch in thickness.
ft Fig. 17.
(1) Bronze Blade found in a
Tumulus at Lierabol, Kildonan, Sutherland.
(2) Section across the blade
(actual size).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
23
A small oval tanged blade of bronze, which has not been preserved, measuring 2f inches in length, by f inch in greatest breadth, was found in 1862, in a grave-mound of peculiar form at Bur- reldales, in Aberdeen- shire. The form of the grave-mound (as shown in the accompanying ground - plan, Fig. 1 8) was that of a circular eminence, of low eleva-
. Fig. 18.— Diagrammatic Ground-plan of
tlOn, about 30 feet in Tumulus at Burreldales (not to scale).
diameter, with a depres- sion in the centre, and surrounded at the distance of about 12 feet from its base by a raised ring of lower elevation, measuring altogether about 50 feet in diameter. Two stones (marked 1 and 2 in the Plan) appeared in the outer ring. One burial was found in the external ring (marked 4), and two (marked 3 and 5) in the central mound. The burials were of burnt bodies, the incinerated bones deposited in urns. The blade was found with the burial marked 5.
Sir John Clerk describes the excavation of a grave- mound at Newbigging, near Penicuik, previous to 1725. It contained three urns with incinerated bones, and in one of the urns was found a small oval tanged bronze blade, ornamented in the centre by an oval filled with chequers of lozenge-shaped spaces alternately plain and filled with cross-hatched lines.1
A similarly ornamented blade of the same form and
1 Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale (1726), p. 116, and Plate iv. Fig. 8. The cairn is described in the Appendix to the Itinerarium, pp. 170 and 178.
24
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
character was found about the year 1834 in a grave- mound or cairn at Rogart, in Sutherlandshire. In the centre of the cairn was a cist of slabs, and among the
a.
Fig. 19.
(1) Bronze Blade found in a
Grave-mound at Rogart, Sutherland (actual size).
(2) Section across the blade.
1. Fig. 20.
(1) Bronze Blade found in a Cairn
at Balblair, Creich, Suther- land (actual size).
(2) Section across the blade.
bones in the cist the blade (Fig. 19) was found. No urn was observed by the persons who removed the cairn, and the record does not state whether the bones were burnt or
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 25
unburnt. The blade is fortunately preserved, and, though imperfect, is an instructive example of this peculiar variety of the rarest of all forms of these bronze implements. The tang measures nearly an inch in length, and what remains of the blade 2£ inches in length by 1J inch in greatest breadth. A border of punctulations surrounds the central oval, which is ornamented by lozenge-shaped spaces alter- nately plain and filled with fine lines crossing each other obliquely.
About the year 1848, a crofter at Balblair, in the parish of Creich, Sutherlandshire, removing stones from a cairn for agricultural purposes, discovered a coarsely-made urn of considerable size inverted over a deposit of burnt bones upon a flat stone.1 He removed the urn, but as his wife refused to admit the " uncanny " thing within the door of their dwelling, it was set outside on an adjoining knoll, and became a mark at which the passing schoolboys exercised their skill in stone-throwing until it was smashed to pieces. Among the bones covered by the urn there was found a small bronze blade (Fig. 20), so thin that it suffered a good deal from rough handling.2 In its imperfect condition it measures 4| inches in length by 1^ inch in greatest breadth. It is, or rather has been, of an oval, pointed form, with a tang at one end about an inch in length, for insertion in the handle. The middle portion of the blade is raised, and ornamented in the centre of the oval raised portion by lines crossing each other diagonally. The marginal segments are broad, flat, and thin, running to an edge of extreme tenuity and sharp- ness. From their oval shape, their wide thin margins, and uniform sharpness of edge all round, these blades are
1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. vii. p. 475.
2 This blade, and those found at Rogart and Lierabol, are preserved in the Duke of Sutherland's Museum at Dunrobin. — Proc. Soc, Antiq. Scot., vol. x. p. 431.
26
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMKS.
obviously more of the nature of implements than weapons, although it is as obviously impossible to specialise their purpose more closely.
Fig. 21. — Three tanged Blades of Bronze fonnd at Bowerhouses, Dunbar (one-half actual size).
Sometime about the year 1822, in the course of levelling ground at Bowerhouses, near Dunbar, two urns of consider- able size, one of them being nearly a foot and a half in height, were discovered in a tumulus, with deposits of burnt bones. No details of the phenomena exist, and it is uncertain whether the four bronze objects found were associated with one or more of the burials. They are vaguely stated to have been found " in two urns, mixed with burnt bones." One of these four articles is a bronze socketed axe-head. The other three are thin oval tanged blades (Fig. 21), differing from those previously de- scribed, by their truncated form at the butt-end, and the bifid termination at the free end. Two of them are pierced with small holes immediately below the junction of the bifid points.
Fig. 22.— Bronze Blade found in the Shannon (one-half actual size).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
27
As these blades are much broken, I place with them for comparison a perfect blade (Fig. 22), of the same bifid form and character, possessing a similar perforation, and bearing on its raised midrib a triply repeated ornament of concentric circles. It was found in Ireland in the bed of the Shannon.
Fig. 23. — Bronze Blade found at Kinleitb, Currie, near Edinburgh (actual size).
A larger and more elaborately constructed disc-shaped blade of this bifid character (Fig. 23), having its handle cast in the same piece with the blade, was found in gravel near the bed of the Water of Leith, at Kinleith, near Currie, in Midlothian, in 1863, and is now in the National Museum. It has a loop at the free end of the handle, and is both
28 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
larger and of stronger make than any of the other speci- mens. This blade was not found in association with an interment, but it is clearly of the same character as those that have been described, and it is the only example known in Scotland, which has not been found in connection with a burial.1
Though numerous casual discoveries of single interments of the character of those that have now been described may have given rise to the opinion that they are usually found as isolated examples, it requires the negative evidence of an exhaustive examination of each separate site to warrant the conclusion that the casually discovered grave is not one of a group. Where such exhaustive investigations have been made, it has usually been found that the site of the casually discovered interment is really a cemetery. In point of fact, the gregariousness of these cremation burials is one of their most striking characteristics, implying the use of the site as a family or tribal buryiug-ground over a long period of time. These cremation cemeteries are often unmarked by any external sign, but they are usually placed on a natural knoll with an open gravelly subsoil, or they are found spread over the summit of a hillock of sand
Such a cemetery was discovered a few months ago in excavating a sand-pit at Magdalen Bridge, Midlothian, between Joppa and Musselburgh. The site was close to the shore of the Firth of Forth, and the surface level of the ground not more than 1 4 feet above high-water mark. Of the nine or ten urns that were discovered, seven are now reconstructed, and placed in the National Museum. The typical interment had associated with it a thin bronze blade
1 Similar curved, disc-shaped or crescent-shaped blades have been found in France, Switzerland, and Italy. They have been supposed to be razors by some of the continental archaeologists. The continental examples appear to belong to the later portion of the Bronze Age, and, in some instances at least, to the early Iron Age.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
29
(Fig. 24), of the oval tanged form which has been already described, the centre ornamented with a series of lozenge- shaped spaces alternately plain and filled with parallel lines. The blade was found among the burnt bones enclosed within the urn, but little care was taken by the workmen, either to pre- serve such a fragile article from rough handling, or to notice the special circumstances of the sep- arate interments. The urn in which the blade was found (Fig. 25) measures 12 inches in height and 9| inches across the mouth. The lower part is flowerpot-shaped, and plain, encircled by a slightly raised and rounded moulding at about two-thirds of its height from the bottom. A similar mould- ing separates the ornamented band underneath the brim from
the plain part below it. The upper part, which alone is ornamented, narrows slightly from the moulding to the brim. The ornamentation impressed in the clay when it was soft is peculiarly arranged in a broad band divided into panels or spaces, bordered above and below by three parallel lines, and separated from each other by four vertical lines. These spaces are filled with different arrangements of parallel lines, forming different patterns of zigzags, or lines crossing each other obliquely. The interior of the rim is also ornamented by oblique lines.
The second \irn (Fig. 26), which is similar in form, slightly
Fig. 24. — Bronze Blade found in an Urn at Magdalen Bridge, near Musselburgh (actual size).
30
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIM! >.
narrowing to the brim from the upper of the two mould- ings, is also similar in the character and arrangement of its ornamentation. It is the largest of the urns found in this cemetery, measuring 16 inches in height, by 12£ inches in diameter across the mouth.
Fig. 25. — Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (12 inches in height).
The third urn (Fig. 27), which is of the same peculiar form, having the lower part flowerpot-shaped, and narrowing to the brim from its greatest diameter upwards, is surrounded by three mouldings, and the ornament consists of a simple band of intercrossing zigzags. It resembles the two pre- viously described in having the interior of the rim orna- mented by oblique lines. It is also remarkable for its great
BKONZE AGE BURIALS.
31
width in proportion to its height. It measures 13 inches high, and 14 inches in its greatest diameter at the shoulder, narrowing to 1 1 inches diameter across the mouth.
Fig. 26. — Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (16 inches in height).
The fourth urn (Fig. 28) is smaller, and resembles the previous three in its contraction, both upwards and down- wards, from its greatest width, which in this case is about
32
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
the middle of its height. Above this it contracts gracefully in two stages with reversing curves, the slightly everted rim answering to the mouldings below. The ornamentation is disposed in two bands, separated by a boldly rounded moulding. The lower band contains a series of intercrossing zigzags, separated from the plain space below by a line of
Fig. 27.— Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (13 inches in height).
punctulations, and the upper band contains the peculiar pattern known as "herring-bone." The lines are deeply impressed in the clay by an implement notched or toothed like a comb. This is the smallest of the urns found in this cemetery. It measures 10 J inches in height, and 7$ inches across the mouth.
The fifth urn (Fig. 29) is of the same shape, narrowing
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
33
upwards and downwards from the shoulder, but it differs from the previous four in having a deep overhanging brim, and presents no mouldings. The ornamentation is confined to the part above the shoulder, and consists of oblique parallel lines on the band underneath the rim, and on the rim itself a band of triangular spaces each filled with oblique lines. The interior of the rim has a triplet of lines drawn
Fig. 28.— Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (10£ inches in height).
round the sloping margin. The vessel measures 12 £ inches high by 9 inches in diameter.
The sixth urn (Fig. 30) is of the same form, and orna- mented in much the same manner, except that the band below the overhanging rim consists of intercrossing zigzags, and the ornamentation of the interior of the brim is a con- tinuous zigzag. It measures 12 inches high, and 8| inches diameter across the mouth. 3
34
SCOTLAND IX 1'ACJAX TIMK.S.
The seventh urn (Fig. 31) differs in shape from all the others. It is widest at the mouth, tapering gradually to the base. Its ornamentation consists of a narrow band of zigzags of four parallel lines round the exterior rim, and underneath this ornamented band two slightly raised and rounded mouldings encircle the plain part of the vessel. It
Fig. 29.— Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (12 J inches in height).
measures 13f inches in height, and 10 inches across the mouth.
Fragments of other two urns of the same general character were subsequently brought to the Museum from the same place, and besides the cremated burials accompanied by cinerary urns, there were also discovered a burial, unburnt, in a cist of stones, and another unburnt burial simply deposited
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
35
in the soil without any cist. A small urn, 3 or 4 inches high, was also reported by the workmen, but it was said to have crumbled to fragments, and the fragments were not seen by any one capable of describing them.
The presence of the bronze blade found in connection with the urn first described, and the occurrence of a minute
Fig. 30. — Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (12 inches in height).
fragment of the metal with a green stain, characteristic of the presence of bronze, upon the bones found in another urn, establish the fact that the interments in this cemetery are interments of the same age and condition of culture as those that have been previously described. The phenomena are not the same in every case, but there is a sufficient family
36 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
likeness between the groups to warrant us in concluding that they cannot be far apart in time, or widely separated in the scale of culture. The form of the urns is the same, their ornamentation is of similar character, the burial customs are similar, and the associated objects are identical in form and character.
Fig. 31.— Urn found at Magdalen Bridge (13f inches in height).
The same conclusions may be drawn from the phenomena of a remarkable cremation cemetery which was discovered some years ago at Lawpark, near St. Andrews. About twenty urns of this cinerary type were obtained from it, varying in size from 10 to 16 inches in height, and from 8 to 11 inches
BRONZE AGE BUKIALS.
37
in diameter. Two small oval tanged bronze blades which were found among the burnt bones are preserved in the University Museum at St. Andrews.
Recently, at Shanwell, near Milnathort, Kinross-shire, the excavation of a gravelly knoll disclosed a considerable number of burials pertaining to an ancient Bronze Age cemetery, of the same character as those at Magdalen Bridge in Midlothian, and Lawpark, near St. Andrews.
Fig. 32.-- Urn found at Shanwell (14 inches in height).
The deposits were burials after cremation, mostly unpro- tected by cists, but accompanied by urns of the same form and character as those found in the two cemeteries which have been previously described. One of the urns (Fig. 32), which is now in the Museum, measures 1 4 inches in height, and nearly the same in diameter at the mouth. It is ornamented round the brim by a series of impressed lines
38 SCOTLAND IS PAGAN TIMES.
of twisted cord, arranged in opposing triangles with plain lozenge-shaped spaces between. It also presents the feature, so common in these large cinerary urns, of a double raised moulding passing round the vessel underneath the orna- mented brim. Among the burnt bones of one of the deposits there was found a fine specimen of the thin oval
Fig. 33. Bronze Blade found with the Urns at Shanwell— lx>th side* and section across centre (actual size).
bronze blade (Fig. 33), beautifully ornamented on both sides with an engraved pattern of lozenge-shaped chequers within a border surrounding the central portion of the blade. It measures 3A inches in length, and 1 inches in greatest width,
BRONZE AGE BUKIALS. 39
and differs from the Sutherlandshire blades in having a broad flat tang pierced by a central rivet-hole. With another of the deposits a small quadrangular whetstone, similar to that found at Stenton,1 was also discovered.
Looking to the fact that these bronze blades are so often found associated with this typical form of urn, and consider- ing that out of so many instances of the occurrence of this form of urn in the same cemeteiy, only one or two present the distinctive feature of the associated blade which attri- butes them to the Bronze Age, it seems a fair inference that the form of the urn alone, without the presence of the blade, may be to a certain extent accepted as evidence of the period to which the interment falls to be assigned. No such urn has ever been found associated with implements of iron, or with objects bearing the characteristic ornamentation of the Iron Age. They are often associated with bronze, and if the absence of bronze from the interment may in some cases be taken to mean the presence among the living of a condition of culture in which the use of metals was unknown, it would obviously be unscientific to conclude that this must neces- sarily have been the case in every such instance. We know that this form of urn belongs to the Bronze Age, and we shall continue to speak of it as a Bronze Age form in describing other instances of its occurrence in which no bronze has been found with it.
In 1878, Mr. Bell, the tenant of the farm of Sheriff-flats, near Thankerton, in Lanarkshire, discovered the remains of a cremation cemetery on the summit of a gravelly knoll near the bank of the Clyde. A large part of the knoll had been previously removed, probably at the time when the neigh- bouring road was made, and what was left undisturbed was merely a portion of its original area. Mr. Bell found three urns, and a few days afterwards I visited the spot, when
1 See the figure of the Stenton whetstone (Fig. 116), p. 93.
40
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
three more were found. The largest entire urn (Fig. 34) is of the some form as that last described from Magdalen Bridge (see Fig. 31), being widest at the mouth, and tapering gradually to the bottom. Its decoration is also similarly confined to a narrow band round the exterior of the rim, and it presents the same feature of two mouldings encircling the
Fig. 34.— Urn found at Sheriff-flats (13 inches in height).
part of the uni below the ornamented band.^ The ornamenta- tion is a series of intercrossing zigzags, the lines of which are not straight, but slightly curved, and appear as if feebly drawn by an unsteady hand. The inside of the lip is ornamented in a similar manner. The urn measures 13 inches in height, and 12 inches in diameter across thejmouth.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
41
The second urn (Fig. 35), which must have been of larger size, but is now unfortunately incomplete, is of the same form as the majority of the Magdalen Bridge urns, narrow- ing upwards as well as downwards from the shoulder, the outlines gracefully formed in reversing curves. One mould- ing remains, and the ornamentation has been entirely of groups of obliquely crossed lines.
Fig. 35.— Urn found at Sheriff-Hats (12A inches in height).
The third urn (Fig. 36), which is much smaller, also narrows from the shoulder both upwards and downwards. It is encircled by two mouldings close together at the shoulder, and the ornamentation consists of. a series of horizontal lines of impressed markings, as with the teeth of a comb, encircling the body of the urn about half an inch apart. This urn, which is 5f inches high, and 5J inches
I-J
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
in diameter at the mouth, was found in a cist formed of four flat stones, with a fifth placed over them for a cover.
Fig. 36. — Uru found at Sheriff-flats (5j inches in height).
Fig. 37.— L'ru found at Sheriff-flats (5 inches in height).
The fourth urn (Fig. 37) is of the same typical form, but more rudely made. The upper part is encircled by a double
moulding underneath the rim, and the ex- terior surface is rudely scored over with cross- in- zigzags. It was found in fragments at a depth of 3i feet from the surface. As now reconstructed, it measures 5 inches in height, and nearly the same in diameter at the mouth.
Fig. 88.— Um found at Sheriff-flats (6 inches in height).
The fifth urn (Fig. 38) has much resem- blance to the fourth, but is thinner and better-made. Its
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 43
exterior is perfectly plain, except that it is surrounded by a series of mouldings immediately underneath the brim. It was found at one side of a deposit of burnt bones from 3 to 4 inches in thickness, placed about 2 feet under the surface, and covering an area of about 15 to 18 inches in diameter. It lay partly upon the bones, and was nearly filled with them, though it could not have contained any- thing like the quantity composing the deposit. It measures 6 inches in height, and nearly the same in diameter at the mouth.
Close beside it, among the heap of bones, lay a small cup- shaped urn 2 1 inches high (Fig. 39). This tiny cup-shaped vessel is a characteristic re- presentative of a class of urns which are of comparatively rare occurrence, and are never found alone, but always in association with a larger urn ; frequently indeed the smaller vessel has been found de- posited within the larger. Fig. 39.
For instance, on the glebe Sma11 Urn found at sheriff-flats
(2| inches in height).
at Blairgowrie, in 1878, a
large urn, measuring about 12 inches high, and the same in diameter at the mouth, was discovered in the gravel, at a depth of about 2 feet under the surface. The urn had been covered with a large stone, and was broken into fragments, which were not preserved. But among the bones which it contained there was found a tiny cup-shaped urn (Fig. 40), If inch high, and contracting slightly upwards and down- wards from the shoulder.1
At Barnfauld, Threepwood, in the parish of Beith, Ayr- shire,2 a small cup-shaped urn (Fig. 41), 2 inches in height
1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xii. p. 624. 2 Ibid. 685.
44
SCOTLAND IN I '.\ii.\X TIMKS.
and 2£ inches diameter across the mouth, was found about 1804 within a larger urn, which was not preserved, but is described as having a capacity of about six gallons. This vessel differs from the two that have been already described,
Fig. 40. — Small Urn found within a larger Urn at Blairgowrie (1} inch in height).
Fig. 41.— Small Urn found at Barnfauld, Threepwood (2 inches in height).
inasmuch as it presents on one side two small perforations passing completely through the clay, and less than half an inch apart.
Fig. 42.— Urn found in a Ciner- ary Urn at Wester Buck- lyvie (2$ inches in height).
Fig. 43.— Under part of the Urn, highly ornamented.
At Wester Bucklyvie, in Fife, in 1866, a large clay urn was discovered in ploughing. It was about 15 inches in height, narrowing upwards and downwards from the shoulder. It stood inverted over a deposit of burnt bones, among which a very small urn (Figs. 42 and 43) was discovered, 3 inches in diameter, and 2| inches high. It contained a compacted
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 45
mass of ashes and burnt bones of very small size, which were determined from the presence of a milk molar to be those of an infant. The natural inference is that the bones in the larger urn were those of the mother of the child.
At Genoch, in the parish of Straiten, in Ayrshire, a crema- tion cemetery was discovered, and removed in levelling ground for the foundation of a dwelling-house. A considerable number of urns, "probably about a dozen," were met with and destroyed. They all contained burnt bones and ashes. One small vessel only was preserved (Fig. 44). It presents
Fig. 44.— Small Urn found at Genoch, Ayrshire, and its Cover. (Urn 3 inches in height.)
the peculiarity of being furnished with a lid or cover, also formed of clay. It was found among the burnt bones within a large cinerary urn, and, according to the statement of an eye-witness, " the lid was on it when found." It measures 3 inches in height, 3 inches diameter at the mouth, and 2| inches at the base, widening to about 5 inches in extreme width at the shoulder. It is pierced by two small holes on one side about If inch apart. Its lid or cover is a flat circular disc of clay, 3^ inches diameter, thoroughly burnt, and perforated by a small hole in the centre. The ornamentation of the urn consists of three
46
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIM I .>.
Fig. 45. — Small Urn found at Craigdhu, North Queensferry (2 inches in height).
groups of encircling parallel lines, — a group of four imme- diately underneath the rim, a group of six encircling th»-
shoulder, and a group of four immediately al K>\ < • the base.1
In one case, at Craig- dhu, near North Queens- ferry, the smaller urn (Fig. 45) assumes the form of a diminutive copy of the larger ciner- ary urn. This example was found within a large urn, about 12 inches diameter, enclosed in a cist in the centre of a
cairn of considerable size. A fragment only of the larger urn has been preserved. It shows a band of raised zigzag ornamentation underneath the rim, and the surface covered with circular impressions made in the soft clay as if with the end of a twig. The small urn itself (which is here figured of the full size) is but 2 inches high, and the same in diameter at the mouth.
It thus appears that this small variety of cup-shaped urn differs from those larger urns with which it is associated only in respect of the smallness of its size. The form of the larger urn with which it is always found associated is the cinerary form which accompanies burials after cremation. It appears also that in all cases in which the position of the small urn with respect to the larger urn has been ascer- tained, the smaller vessel is invariably found within the
1 " Ancient Urns found in the Cairns and Barrows of Ayrshire," by James Macdonald, LL.D. ; published in the Archaeological and Historical Collections of the Ayr and Wigtown Archaeological Association, vol. i. p. 43.
BKONZE AGE BUKIALS.
47
larger, and that where the contents of the smaller vessel have been determined they have been found to be the cremated bones of an infant.
Fig. 46.— Small Urns found on Benachie (3 inches diameter).
Their most curious feature is the frequent presence of two or four small holes pierced through one or both sides. Of two examples (Fig. 46) found more than sixty years ago in a cairn on Benachie, in Aberdeenshire, one is 3 inches in diameter at the base where it is widest, tapers upwards to 2 inches diameter at the mouth, and is pierced at the widest
Fig. 47. — Small cup-shaped Clay Urns, from South Ronaldsay, Dunbar, and Old Pendrith.
part by two pairs of small holes on opposite sides ; while the other, which is wider than it is high, is 3 inches in diameter
48 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
and 2 inches in height, and pierced only by two holes on one side.
Of the three here shown (Fig. 47), the one to the left, which comes from South Ronaldsay, Orkney, is pierced by two pairs of small holes in its opposite sides ; the one to the front, which was found near Dunbar, is pierced by one pair of holes in one side only ; and the one to the right, which was found at Old Pendrith, in Cumberland, is also pierced by one pair of holes only. They are frequently found in England, and
occasionally also in Ire- land. One Irish example in the Museum is remark- able for the extraordinary development of this special feature — the piercing of the sides (Fig. 48). It was found at Killucken, county Pi*. 48. -Small Urn found at Killucken, Tyrone, within a large
Tyrone, Ireland.
and finely ornamented urn,
which measured 14 inches in height, and 10£ inches in diameter across the mouth. The large urn was inverted over a deposit of calcined bones, among which the smaller vessel was discovered. It measures 3 inches in greatest diameter and 2 inches in height.
I now proceed to notice other burials, or groups of burials, exhibiting the same characteristic phenomena, accompanied by other varieties of associated objects.
At Dalmore, near Alness in Ross-shire, a group of burials was discovered in making a branch railway in 1878.1 It consisted of ten interments, in cists of flat stones set in the gravel, and each covered by one or more slabs. Two of them contained implements of bronze. In the first example the cist was only 20 inches under the surface. It was 18 inches
1 Described by Mr. W. Jolly in Proc. tfoc. Antig. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 256.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
49
long, 9 inches broad, and 12 inches deep. In the bottom was a layer of burnt bones 2 inches thick, among which was
Fig. 49. — Bronze tanged Blade (actualize).
found the bent and broken butt-end of a tanged blade of bronze (Fig. 49), which had apparently passed through the fire. The second grave presented similar phenomena, with
Fig. 50. — Urn found at Dalmore, Alness (13£ inches in height).
this variation, that the implement associated with the burnt bones was a fragment of a slender cylindrical stem or pin of bronze. In several of the other graves, although no bronze 4
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
?. 51. — Hollow Cylinder of Bone found in the Urn (actual size).
was actually found, its presence was determined by the peculiar greenish tinge of its oxide imparted to the bones with which it had lain in contact Two of the remaining interments presented special features. One was enclosed in a circular construction of stones, built like a wall, and
covered with a flat stone 2 feet 3 inches under the surface. It contained an urn (Fig. 50) inverted on a round flat slab of mica schist about 16 inches diameter and 2£ inches thick. The urn was 12 inches diameter at the rim, 13 \ inches high, and 5 inches across the bottom. It is orna- mented with slips of moulded clay implanted on the rim, which is perforated by several circular holes about half an
inch in diameter. Among the bones covered by the inverted urn there was found an object of bone (Fig. 51), in the form of a small hollow cylinder nearly an inch in length, pierced on one side by two small eyelets nearly close together. Objects of this description have been occasionally found with crem- ated interments in England, and it has been suggested that they may have been used as dress- fasteners or buttons.
One burial of the ten was unburnt It was at a much greater depth than the ethers, being 8 feet under the surface. The cist was only 2 feet 6 inches in length by 20 inches in breadth, and con-
Pig. 52.- Flint Knife (4 inches in length).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
51
sequently the body when placed in it must have been bent nearly double. There had been deposited with it a fine leaf -shaped knife of chipped flint (Fig. 52) 4 inches in length by an inch in breadth, and varying in thickness from £ to | inch ; a string of fifty beads, narrow sections of a cylinder, of a jet-like mineral (Fig. 53), and a polished stone wrist-guard (Fig. 54) of the same
. , . Fig. 53. — Beads of a jet-like substance
character as those previ- (actual size).
ously described. It does
not differ from them, except that it has one of its ends
broken, and subsequently ground smooth. The two holes
in the end that remains entire are counter-sunk on one
side, as is usual in these objects. In section it is concave
Fig. 54.— Stone Wrist-guard (actual size).
on one side, convex on the other, and measures nearly If inch in length, by 1^ inch in greatest width, and about -j^ths of an inch in thickness.
On the farm of Balcalk, in the parish of Tealing, Forfar- shire,1 two cists were found within a short distance of each other in 1880. The first contained only the fragments of an urn, along with an unburnt interment. The second cist measured 3 feet 2 inches in length, by 2 feet wide and
1 "Notice of a Jet Necklace," etc., by John Sturrock, F.S.A. Scot., in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xiv. p. 260.
52 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
2 feet deep. It contained the remains of an unburut skeleton. Behind the right shoulder was an urn (Fig. 55), 5$ inches high, 6 inches in its greatest diameter, ornamented with transverse parallel bands of impressions of twisted cord, including between them zigzags of the same character. The urn stood upright, and immediately under it, and in contact with it, were a small triangular flint knife (Fig. 56) and a bronze pin (Fig. 57). In contact with the neck and upper
Figs. 55, 56, 57.— Urn, Flint Knife, and Bronze Pin from the Cist at Balcalk. (Urn 5J inches in height.)
part of the shoulders were the beads and plates of a neck- lace of jet or cannel coal (Fig. 58), 147 in number. The surfaces of the plates are decorated with lozenge-shaped patterns of closely set punctulations drilled with a fine point These patterns have much of the same character as those that are found hatched upon the surfaces of the bronze blades that have been already described. This interment differs from most of the others in being uiiburnt, and the urn also differs on that account from the large cinerary urns found with burnt interments. Its special feature is the occurrence of the necklace of jet beads and plates ; and we
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 53
find this special feature associated with the presence of bronze. There are in the Museum portions of a similar necklace of jet beads and plates, consisting of thirteen oblong
Fig. 58. — Necklace of Jet Beads and Plates lonnd in the Cist at Balcalk.
beads and eight plates, three of which are triangular, the rest rhomboidal, found with fragments of an urn of similar character, two beads of amber, and a small fragment of thin bronze, in a cist occupying the centre of a small cairn about
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
23 feet in diameter on the farm of Blindmill at Rothie, Aberdeenshire. The plates are perforated for three rows of beads to be inserted between them.
At Lunanhead, near Forfar, in 1877, a small cemetery of cists was broken into in excavating a gravel-pit for road- making. In one of the cists, which seemed to have con- tained an unburnt interment, a necklace of jet beads was found,1 of which six of the plates and seventy-two beads were recovered, and are now in the Museum. As in the Balcalk necklace, the plates are ornamented with punctula- tions arranged in lozenge-shaped spaces between borders of
punctulations, and are pierced transversely for four, five, and nine rows of beads in the interspaces. In another cist, which also contained an un- burnt interment, there was found an urn (Fig. 59) of the same bowl-shaped form, 6 inches in diameter and 5 inches high. With it there was also a broad knife-like flake of flint about 2£ inches in length, by 1J inch in breadth.
At Tayfield, near Newport, in Fife, in 1870, a necklace of jet beads and plates (Fig. 60), of which eight plates and thirty-nine beads were recovered, was found in a cist 2 feet 10 inches in length, 2 feet 3 inches in width, and about 18 inches in depth, which was discovered in a gravel-pit about 15 inches under the surface, covered over with two rough slabs of stone.2 There was an urn in the cist, which was
1 " Notice of two Cists," etc., by William Galloway, ID Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xii. p. 288. 1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., voL viii p. 411.
Fig. 59. —Urn found in a Cist at Lunanhead (5 inches in height.)
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
55
recovered in fragments. It does not appear on the record whether the interment was burnt or unburnt. The form of the urn would have determined this question, but the frag- ments were not preserved. The necklace exhibits the same general form as is seen in that found at Balcalk, and the
Fig. 60.— Necklace of Beads and Plates of Jet found at Tayfield.
plates are pierced for seven beads in the central space, and four in the two side-spaces.
Another necklace of this character (Fig. 61), found in a cist at Torish, near Helmsdale, in Sutherlandshire, exhibits the same arrangement of the beads and plates, with similar ornamentation, but differing in the pattern, which in this case consists of triangular instead of lozenge-shaped spaces, alternately plain and punctulated. Xo trace of bones and no fragments of an accompanying urn were found when the
56 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
contents of the cist (which had been thrown out by some boys) were examined some days afterwards by Rev. Dr. Joass, but fragments of charcoal, an arrow-head of chert, and part of a spear-head of yellow flint, were found among the ejected materials.1 This necklace is figured, as restored, from a drawing by Rev. J. Joass, LL.D., Golspie. The plates marked a e and e were entire, portions of b and d only were found, and / is restored from its corresponding plate a.
Fig. 61.— Necklace of Beads and Plates of Jet found in a Cist at Torish, Sutherlandshire.
In other interments, in which the phenomena are in the main similar to the group of phenomena which we have traced through the whole series of burials that have now been de- scribed, we find the presence of personal ornaments of bronze and gold constituting the most striking feature of the deposit. The recorded instances of their occurrence are few, but in such cases the intrinsic value of the objects presents a temp- tation to their concealment, which does not operate in regard to objects less valuable in themselves.
In making a road at Mel fort, Argyllshire, recently, two cists were discovered. Nothing was observed in the one,
1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. viii. p. 409.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 57
but in the other there were discovered the beads and plates of a necklace of jet similar to those which have been already described. Along with the necklace of jet, how- ever, there were also two bracelets of bronze, thin and well made, ornamented with parallel lines punched in the outer surface of the metal, and a band of lozenge-shaped ornaments hammered up from the inside. Unfortunately one of the bracelets was broken to pieces, the metal being thin and
Fig. 62. — Bronze Bracelet (one of a pair) found with a Necklace of Jet in a Cist at Melfort (actual size).
brittle from oxidation ; but the other (Fig. 62) shows per- fectly the form and ornamentation of both.
In making a new road in the neighbourhood of Stobo Castle in 1855, a cremated interment was discovered in what seems to have been a small cairn. There was no urn observed, but the deposit was not carefully examined, and the only things that seem to have attracted attention were the burnt bones which lay under a large boulder, and two bronze rings (one of which is shown in Fig. 63), which lay above it. The rings, which, bent to a circular shape, are well
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
adapted for being worn on a small wrist, are formed of a bar of bronze flattened on the inside and ovally convex on the outer side, the ends meeting together, but unjoined. The
Fig. 63.— Bronze Bracelet fount! with a cremated burial at Stobo, Peeblessbire (3} inches diameter).
internal diameter of each of the rings is 2| inches, and the
greatest thickness f inch.
In excavating a cairn
in the parish of Crawford, Lanarkshire, in 1850, an urn of the tall form (Fig. 64), with thin everted lip and bulging sides, was found, with an unbunit body, in a cist in the centre of the cairn. The urn, which is 6 inches high, and 5J inches in diameter, is highly ornamented. With it there was found a bronze ring (Fig. 65) of the same peculiar character as that
Fig. 64.— Urn found in a Cist in a Cairn in the Parish of Crawford, Lanark- shire (6 inches in height).
terment.1
found with the Stobo in- The ring measures 2J inches diameter, and is
1 In the account of this interment in the Archaeological Association's Journal, vol. xvii. p. 110, a spear-head of bronze is said to have been
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
59
apparently formed of a bar of bronze bent to a circular form, and slightly flattened on the inner side ; the junction of the
Fig. 65.— Bronze Ring found with the Urn (3 inches in diameter).
ends, however, is imperceptible, and the whole surface is covered with a dense lustrous patina.
"-55i*?v»- v v7iT'*~~>>*~-"~^rvs'»sfc<*S
^^^^^^^^
Fig. 66. — Urn found with Bronze Rings at Kinneff.
Again, in 1831, in trenching ground near the Castle of Kinneff, in Kincardineshire, a pair of bronze rings, similar in
found with it. It may have been found iu the cairn, but its condition and patina are quite different from those of the ring.
60 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
form and construction to those that have now been described, were found in association with an unburnt burial, accom- panied by an urn (Fig. 66) of the low wide-mouthed form which is usually associated with burials unburnt. The rings (one of which is shown, Fig. 67) are circular, nearly cylindrical
Fig. 67.— Bronze Ring (one of a pair) found with the Urn at Kinneft (3 inches in diameter).
in section, but slightly flattened on the inner circumference, and the ends fit closely together without being joined. As in the previous case, it was said that a bronze spear-head, which was sent to the Museum with them, had been found at the same time and in the same place, but its condition and patina do not correspond with the condition and patina of the rings, and the probability is that it was not associated with the burial deposit.
There is in the Museum a portion of another bronze ring, apparently of the same character, which was found with an urn of the same form, wide-mouthed and thick-lipped, at Rntho, in Midlothian. Some other fragments of bronze, among which is the pin of a fibula of Iron- Age form, are said to have been found with them, but there is no distinct or detailed record of the phenomena observed at the time of
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
61
the discovery, and the association may not have been due to the original circumstances of the deposit.
I now proceed to notice a series of burials in which the presence of massive and costly ornaments of gold is the most prominent feature.1
Some time before 1828 a very remarkable burial was dis- covered on the estate of the Earl of Fife, near Duff House, in Banffshire. There are no details of the phenomena of the interment, but the articles found with it have been preserved in the National Museum. They consist of an urn of clay, five penannular rings of solid gold, and two fragments of a thin blade of bronze, apparently of the same character as the thin flat triangular blades described in the first portion of this Lecture. The urn (Fig. 68) is the form which is widest at the mouth and tapering to the base, and it is specially remarkable on this account, that, although found associated with such a deposit of costly objects, it is itself as rude and plain as can well
Fig. 68.— Urn found with Gold Orna- ments in Banffshire (6 inches in height).
be imagined. Of the gold
rings, which are all penannular in form, two are apparently bracelets (one of these is shown in Fig. 69) ; the other three (Figs. 70, 71, and 72) are much smaller in size. They are all said to have been found in the urn, with the fragments of
1 For a description of the gold ornaments of the Bronze Age in Scot- land that have been found in circumstances of association not necessarily sepulchral, see the third Lecture, pp. 208-224.
62 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
the bronze blade, and as the urn was found inverted on a flat stone, the probability is that it covered an interment after cremation.
Fig. 69. — Gold Armlet (one of a pair) found in the Urn (Fig. 68) (2j inches diameter).
In the month of March 1828, in the course of the con- struction of a new road to the Academy at Alloa, a cemetery of burials after cremation was discovered, from which no fewer
figs. 70, 71, 72.— Three small Gold Rings found in the Urn (Fig. 68) (actual size).
than twenty-two urns were obtained. Of these only one (FJg. 73) is now known to exist, and it owes its preservation to its having been sent at the time of its discovery to the National Museum. It is 12| inches high and 10 inches diameter at the mouth, with an overhanging rim. There
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
63
was one unburnt burial among the group which these opera- tions disclosed. It lay close to two of the burnt burials that were first discovered, and on the flat stone cover of the cist which contained the skeleton were two penannular armlets of gold, together weighing nearly five ounces. One of these is shown of the actual size in rig. 74.
Pig. 73.— Urn, being one of a group of twenty-two found at Alloa in 1828 (12^ inches in height).
In excavating a mound of considerable size at Upper Dalachie, in Banff shire, in 1 794, a cinerary urn was discovered, in which among the burnt bones there was a penannular armlet of gold of the type of the Alloa armlets, 3 inches in diameter, and formed of a solid rod of gold, a little over f of an inch in thickness.1
At Largiebeg, in the island of Arran, some time previous to 1840, a group of cists was discovered, in one of which
1 Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i. p. 129.
64
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
there was found a penanuular armlet of gold, described as being " in the form of the handle of a drawer," which was sold to a jeweller and melted.
In 1731 Sir John Clerk describes a large penannular armlet of gold, with dilated or trumpet-shaped ends, which was found in an urn somewhere in the north of Scotland.
Fig. 74.— Gold Armlet (one of a pair) found with a burial at Alloa (actual size).
In 1838, in reclaiming land on the estate of Suiiderland, in the island of Islay, a number of burials were discovered in the vicinity of a large standing stone which had been broken up and removed by blasting with gunpowder. The burials appear to have been of the cisted form, so common in these Bronze Age cemeteries, and containing urns which are not particularly described. In or near one of these cists there were found a penannular armlet of gold with dilated or
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
65
trumpet-shaped ends, and another armlet of a form which is of much less common occurrence, formed of " a broad band of gold beaten out so as to form a convex centre, on either side of which was a fluted ornamental border, and a raised rim returned at the edge." This armlet was unfortunately lost; the other, which has been engraved by Dr. Wilson,1 probably still exists.
Fig. 75.— Gold Ornament found in a Cist at Orton, Morayshire. (Size, 5f inches long, 1J inch broad at the loop ; weight 182 grains.)
At Orton, near Fochabers, in 1 863, in the course of the construction of the railway between Elgin and Keith, a stone cist was unearthed on the crown of a gravelly hillock. But little note of the contents was taken by the workmen, who only observed about the centre of the cist " a ridge of black dust," and on either side of that a gold ornament, of the form here shown (Fig. 75) from a drawing by Sir J. Noel Paton, represent-
1 Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 462. 5
66 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
ing the manner in which it has been considered that such a pair of objects must have been worn. The one here repre- sented is preserved in the National Museum, the other is not known to be now in existence. It measures 5£ inches in length, and is formed of a thin plate of gold, which, if flattened out, would be 1J inch broad at the centre. It is orna- mented along the margin with a row of punched markings bordered by a line on either side. Its weight is 182 grains. Among the gravel taken from the same hillock, and deposited on the line as "ballast," there was subsequently found a diadem or lunette-shaped plate of gold, which it was thought might probably have been associated with the same inter- ment.
Figs. 76 and 77.— Urn and Gold Ornament found at Monikie. (Urn 5j inches in height.)
At Monikie in Forfarshire a small cairn beside the Cross of Camuston1 was opened in 1620, by Commissary Manic. who found underneath the cairn an unburnt burial, accom- I>anied by a rude urn (Fig. 76) of the bowl-shaped form usually associated with such interments, and also a broad flat oval ring of thin gold (Fig. 77) with parallel mouldings in repousst work. The urn is 5£ inches high, and 6 inches diameter at the mouth, narrowing below to a base of 3J
1 It IB manifestly impossible to connect the Cross with the burial thus found in juxtaposition with it The Cross is of a type which comes close to the twelfth century.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 67
inches. The oval ring of thin gold, which is here shown of the size of the original, is too small for a bracelet, and was probably the mounting of the haft of a blade of bronze similar to that found at Collessie, to which it has consider- able resemblance.
At Huntiscarth, in the parish of Harray, Orkney, in 1858, a grave-mound about 30 feet diameter at the base, and 1 1 or 12 feet high in the centre, was opened by the occupant of the farm on which it is situated. Near the centre of the mound, and about 7 or 8 feet under the surface, a cist was found, about 2| feet in length by 20 inches in breadth, and covered by a large flat stone. On either side of the cist two upright stones, placed at right angles to the flags forming its sides, rose to within 2 feet of the summit of the mound. In the cist was a deposit of burnt bones, and at one corner on a piece of flat stone lay four discs of thin gold, and a neck- lace of beads of amber. The gold discs (two of which are shown with the beads in Fig. 78) are about 3 inches diameter, pierced with a circular hole in the centre, and ornamented with a rude pattern of concentric circles and bands of oblique lines or zigzags in repousst work. The amber beads are rudely formed, some globular, but mostly triangular, with one or two fragments of rectangular plates similar to those of the jet necklaces already described, and two curved pendants.1
Eeviewing the whole results of this portion of the investigation, it becomes evident that we have been dealing with a special class of burials, which are for the most part characterised by the presence among their grave goods of
1 The arrangement of the beads in the woodcut is of course quite arbitrary. It is by no means certain that all or even the greater portion of the necklace has been recovered. Gold discs of similar character have been occasionally discovered in Ireland, but these are the only examples on record in Scotland. For a description of some of the Irish specimens, see the Collectanea Antigua, vol. iii. p. 221, and Wylde's Catalogue of Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
G8
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
II
"3
- r : - - ~
o C 1^
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 69
cutting instruments of bronze. We find this characteristic feature associated alike with burnt and with unburnt inter- ments ; with burials in cairns, and with burials in natural mounds, or hillocks of gravel and sand; with burials in cists, and with uncisted interments, in which the urn con- taining the burnt bones, or inverted over them, is simply set in a hole in the ground. But on comparing the varied phenomena of these burials, and groups of burials, it also becomes evident that they present other features, which are equally constant and characteristic. They are usually accom- panied by urns, which exhibit peculiar varieties of form and ornamentation. In the typical forms of the accompanying urns we have thus a series of characteristic features of no less importance in the classification of the burials than the associated instruments of bronze. For instance, it is evident that if the thin bronze blade which accompanied any one of the interments with which we have been dealing had been overlooked by the investigators, or had utterly perished, the burial might still have been rightly referred to the Age of Bronze by the character of the urn associated with it, because it would have appeared on comparison that it was of the same typical form as other urns in which or with which bronze has been commonly found. In other words, the special forms of the urns that have been found associated with instruments of bronze are of themselves typical of the Age of Bronze, and their presence alone is sufficient to establish the classification of the interment when bronze is not present. Again, on comparing the circumstances of the burials that have now been described, it is evident that the urns deposited with them divide themselves by the circumstances of their association into two groups: — (1) those found with burnt burials ; and (2) those found with burials unburnt. It is also apparent that they divide themselves by the charac- teristics of their forms into four typical varieties, of which
70 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMKH.
two are found associated with burnt burials, and two with burials unburnt : —
First Group. — Cinerary urns, containing or covering the burnt bones and ashes of cremated burials : —
Type 1. Large, coarsely-made urns, wide-mouthed,
narrow-based, often with a thick overhanging rim,
or with slightly raised mouldings round the sloping
part, the ornamentation usually confined to the upper
part of the vessel. (See Figs. 79 to 82.)
Type 2. Very small cup-shaped urns, often pierced
with two or four small holes in the sides, the
exterior surface usually ornamented. When these
vessels occur, they are commonly found within the
larger variety of cinerary urn. (See Figs. 39 to 48.)
Second Group.— Urns that are not cinerary, associated
with unburnt interments.
Type 1. Tall urns, with thin everted lip and bulging
sides, highly ornamented. (See Figs. 83 to 95.) Type 2. Wide-mouthed, thick-lipped, narrow-based
urns, highly ornamented. (See Figs. 99 to 107.) Applying these deductions to the classification of the unclassified burials, of whose casual discovery in almost every parish in Scotland there are more or less precise records, we find that the results correspond, so far as the record goes, with the results that have been already obtained. For instance, there can be no hesitation in concluding that the accidental discovery of two burials at Birsley, in the parish of Tranent, in 1880, one of which was enclosed in a cist, while the other was a deposit of burnt bones within an uni of the form here represented (Fig. 79), was an indication of the site of a Bronze Age cemetery of the character of those which have been already described. Similarly, although no instruments of bronze were found in association with the six urns of which the fragments were discovered in a sandy
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
71
Fig. 79. — Urn found at Birsley, near Prestonpans (14 inches in height).
Fig. 80. — Urn found at Drymmie Wood, Balbirnie (6 inches in height).
72
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
hillock at Diyinmie Wood, Balbirnie, in 1879, there caii be no reasonable doubt that this also was the site of a Bronze Age cemetery. The typical form of the urns, as represented by the only one of the six which was recovered entire (Fig. 80), is that which usually occurs associated with burials after cremation in cemeteries from which bronze instruments have been obtained. So also it may be inferred, from the form and character of the urn (Fig. 81) found in ploughing a gravelly
Fig. 81.— Urn found at Quarryfonl, East Lothian (12 inches in height).
mound at Quarryford, East Lothian, in 1882, that a cemetery, similar to that at Magdalen Bridge, must have existed there. This urn so closely resembles the urns of the Magdalen Bridge group (Figs. 29, 30), both in its form and ornamentation, that there cannot be the slightest hesitation in regarding them as examples of the same special variety of a strongly
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
73
marked type. The same may be affirmed of an urn (Fig. 82) recently found at Seamill, Ayrshire, in excavating for a new road. It stands 1 1 inches high, is 8f inches diameter across the mouth, tapering to 6^ inches across the bottom, the upper part ornamented with two lines of impressed markings on the sloping brim, and the widest part of the vessel marked by a slightly raised and rounded moulding, which forms the upper border to a band of zigzags of two parallel lines, bounded by a similarly raised and slightly rounded moulding below.
Fig. 82. — Urn found at Seamill, West Kilbride, Ayrshire (11 inches in height).
In a sandy hillock at Lesmurdie, in Banffshire, in 1849, five cists were discovered, and the urns from three of the cists (Figs. 83, 84, 85) are preserved in the National Museum. In this case, although no bronze was found, the urns are of a typical form, which has been found associated with bronze when instruments of that metal are present with the inter- ment ; and we can therefore have no hesitation in assigning
74
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
tliis cemetery also to the Age of Bronze. In one of the cists some flint chips were found, which appeared to the investi- gators to be incrusted with oxide of iron ; but the fact of the presence of iron was not ascertained by analysis, and this appearance may have been due to the presence of a nodule of pyrites of iron deposited with the flints as a means of striking fire. Strike-lights, consisting of a flake or scraper of flint and a broken nodule of pyrites of iron, have been found deposited with similar interments.1 In this cemetery at Lesmurdie the burials were all unburnt, and the presence of chips of flint, or even of carefully-fashioned implements of stone (as we have already seen), is not an uncommon feature of Bronze Age interments.
Figo. 83, 84, 85. — Three Urns found in Cists at Lesmunlie, Banffshire (7f , 5£, and 7.J inches in height).
The same conclusion may be drawn with reference to a still more remarkable cemetery of this description, which was accidentally discovered at Broomend of Inverurie in 1866. In a large natural mound of sand and gravel, which was cut through in making a road, four cists were found. In two of these no urns were observed. In the third, which measured 5 feet 3 inches in length, about 2 feet 6 inches in width, and nearly the same in depth, two full-grown male skeletons were found, placed with their heads at either end of the cist.
1 See an instance at Flowerburn, Ross-shire, noticed in Lecture vi p. 376 ; and see also Canon GreenwelTs British Barrow*, p. 41, and Evans's Stone Implement* of Great Britain, p. 284.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
75
Behind the head of each skeleton there was an urn of this special form (Figs. 86, 87). In the cist there were also a few flint chips, a portion of a broken ring, apparently made from the burr of a red-deer horn, and a few fragments of charcoal. Notwithstanding the presence of charcoal, the bodies were unburnt, and the bones were closely covered with a matted growth of rootlets, or more probably the mycelium of some cryptogamous plant. In the fourth cist, which was
Figs. 86, 87. — Urns from a Cist at Broomend, Inverurie (6 inches and 7 inches in height).
covered by a very large and heavy slab, there were also two skeletons, — one of an adult male, and the other apparently of a very young female. The presence of the matted covering closely enveloping the bones was again observed, but in this case its close resemblance to decaying tufts of coarse hair was regarded as evidence of the presence of the hide of an ox, in which the bodies had been wrapped for burial. The adult skeleton lay on its left side, with its head towards the east end of the cist, the knees drawn up to the chin, and the
76
SCOTLAND IX PAGAN TIMES.
feet drawn close to the thighs. The arms were bent upwards with the hands to the face. The infant skeleton, similarly contracted, was placed in the north- west corner of the cist. In this instance, as in the previous double interment, there were also two urns in the cist. The smaller of these (Fig. 88) was placed behind the smaller skeleton. It is of the typical form usually found with un- burnt burials of the Bronze Age, 5£ inches high, and 3| inches wide at the mouth, well-shaped, and highly ornamented. The other urn (Fig. 89) is 6 £ inches in height. It was placed behind the larger skeleton, and
presents the remarkable association of a spoon or ladle of horn, which was found projecting from it in the manner
Fig. 88. — Urn from the same Cist as Fig. 89 (5 j inches in height).
Fig. 89.— Urn and Spoon of Horn found in a Cist at Broomend of Inverurie.
shown in the engraving. The handle of the spoon is 9 inches in length, and the bowl, which has become twisted and split
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
77
with age, is 2| inches in length, and barely an inch in depth. The excessively bent form of the handle may be due to its position with reference to the rim of the urn.1
Again, in the casual discovery of two cists at Slap, near Turriff, Aberdeenshire, in one of which there was found a tall thin urn with everted lip (Fig. 90), we cannot fail to recognise indications of the presence of a Bronze Age cemetery. The urn, which is 6 inches high, though perfectly plain, exhibits the typical form which is characteristic of one special variety of the urns accompanying unburnt interments of the Age of Bronze.
Fig. 90.— Urn found in a Cist at Slap, near Turriff (6 inches in height).
Fig. 91.— Urn found in Court Hill of Dairy, Ayrshire (9J inches in height).
In clearing away a large earthen mound known as the Court Hill, at Dairy, in Ayrshire, in 1872, a cairn of stones was found underneath it, and in a cavity under the original surface on which the cairn had been reared there were found the fragments of an urn of this typical form (Fig. 91), 9£ inches in height, and highly ornamented.
1 Accounts of the burials from which these details are taken were communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Mr. J. H. Chalmers and Mr. C. B. Davidson, and printed in tbeir Proceedings, vol. vii. pp. 110, 118.
78
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
A more rudely made but elaborately ornamented example (Fig. 92), measuring 7 inches in height and 5 inches diameter across the mouth, was found in a cairn at Freefield, Aberdeenshire. The cairn, which was 60 feet in diameter and 15 feet high, yielded nothing else to the explorers, working with a force of five or six labourers for six days.
Fig. 92. — Urn found in a Cairn at Free- field (7 inches in height).
Fig. 93.— Urn found at Drem (8 inches in height).
An example (here figured on a smaller scale as Fig. 93) from Drem, Haddingtonshire, was discovered in 1882, by the ploughshare coming in contact with the covering stone of the cist. The urn, which measures 8 inches in height, and 4£ inches across the mouth, had been placed at the feet of an unburnt skeleton laid on its side in a contracted position.
At Parkhill, in Aberdeenshire, in excavating a gravelly hillock for railway purposes in 1867 and 1881, two burials
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 79
were discovered, each accompanied by an urn.1 The urn from the last discovered interment (Fig. 94) is now in the National Museum. The burial was that of an unburnt body, placed in a contracted posture, within a cist 3 feet 9 inches in length by 2 feet 3 inches in breadth, the bottom of which was paved with small pebbles. Among the human bones in
Fig. 94.— Urn found in a Cist at Parkhill (5J inches in height).
the cist were fragments of the left fore-limb of a boar, and the bottom of the cist was sprinkled with charcoal. The urn, which is of graceful shape, and elaborately ornamented, is 5| inches high, and 4| inches wide at the mouth.
An urn (Fig. 95) of the same typical form, but wider in proportion to its height, and with a more distinctly everted
1 "Notice of Cists," etc., by Mr. Ferguson of Kinmundy, in Proc. Soc, Antiq. Scot., vol. xiv. p. 69.
80
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
lip, was found a few months ago in association with an un- burnt interim-Mi at Buckie. Its ornamentation is of tin- same character, and, like the previous specimen, it is here figured of half the actual size, for the purpose of showing the character of the decoration with greater distinctness. It
Fig. 95.— Urn from a Cist at Buckle (7 inches in height).
measures 6 inches diameter across the mouth, and stands 7 inches high.
Another urn of the same typical form, found at Tents Moor, between Leuchars and Tayport, in Fife (Fig. 96), presents a curious peculiarity in its ornamentation, which consists of the impression of a twisted cord of two strands wound spirally round the vessel from bottom to rim. A
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 81
triple band of a similar marking surrounds the inside of the rim. The vessel is finely formed and well made, of a close tenacious paste. It stands 5 inches high, and has a diameter of 5 inches at the mouth, which, like others of its class, is slightly everted towards the lip.
Fig. 96.— Urn found at Tents Moor, near Leuchars, Fife (5 inches in height).
At Balmuick, near Comrie, in Perthshire, a group of three small cairns were recently explored by Mr. Boston. In a cist in one of these there was found a very remarkable urn (Fig. 97), presenting the unusual feature of a side-handle. Urns of this variety have been occasionally found in England, but this is the first example that is known to have occurred in Scotland. In its form the body of the vessel somewhat resembles the tall variety with the thin everted lip, but is more akin to the form of the ornate vessel found at Barnhall, 6
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TI.ML.S
Fig. 97.— Urn found in a Cist at Bal- muick, near Comrie (5j inches in height).
which seems an intermediate form between the tall vessel and the bowl-shaped variety.
At Darnhall, in Peeblesshire, in 1869, a group of cists was
discovered in a gravel-pit, fnn 11 one of which an urn of the peculiar form hen- shown (Fig. 98) was re- covered and sent to the National Museum by Lord Klibank. It is the only one of this special variety which has come under my notice. It is not distinctly stated whether it was associated with an unbumt body, but the form is more allied tu that of these tall thin-lipped vessels than to the thick- lipped, shallower, and more bowl-shaped form of those
which follow, though they are also associated with un- bumt bodies.
By the giving way of a retaining-wall in a cutting for the public road, through a sandy hillock known as Kingsbarns Law, near Grail, in 1873, two cists were discovered, in each of which was an unbumt skeleton with an urn. The urns (Figs. 99, 100) were sub- sequently obtained for the National Museum. They are both of the thick-lipped, wide-mouthed form, almost as wide as they are high, and tapering to a narrow basa Like most urns of this
Fig. 98.— Urn found at Darnhall, Peeblesshire (5J inches in height).
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
83
class, they are highly ornamented over the whole of the exterior surface.
Figs. 99, 100.— Urns from Cists at Kingsbarns Law, Crail (6 inches and 5 inches in height).
At Glenhead, near Doune, Perthshire, a mound or cairn covering a number of cists was cleared away some years ago. In one of the cists an urn closely resembling the smaller of the two from Kingsbarns Law was found, and along with it a peculiarly-shaped stone hammer of veined quartzite. The
Fig. 101.— Urn found in a Cairn at Glenhead, near Doune (4i inches in height).
Fig. 102. — Stone Hammer found with the Um (2i inches in length).
urn (Fig. 101) measures 4£ inches in height, and 4 inches in diameter across the mouth, and is highly ornamented over
84 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
the whole of its exterior surface. The stone hammer (Fig. 102) is 2 1 inches in length, and 1] inch in diameter, nearly cylindrical in form, with rounded ends. It is beautifully polished, and pierced near the middle by a neatly-bored hole for the haft, with parallel sides, about f inch in diameter. No bronze was observed in association with these burials, but theB3 was no attempt at a careful investigation. The character of the group of interments differs in no respect from that of many other such groups in connection with which the occurrence of bronze has been recorded. The presence of this finely polished stone hammer-head does not necessitate the attribution of an interment like this to the Age of Stone. Speaking of these perforated axes and hammers of polished stone, Mr. Evans remarks1 that " many of these appear to belong to a time when bronze was already in use, at all events for knife-daggers," and the form of the urn which accompanied this particular hammer is, as we have seen, a Bronze Age form.
Figs. 103, 104.— Urns found at Murleywell and Ninewells, Forfarsbire (4j and 4J inches in height).
At Murleywell, in the parish of Glammis, Forfarshire, in
1852, an urn of similar form (Fig. 103) was found with an
unbunit skeleton in a cist of rough slabs. It measures
1 Evans's Ancient Stone /mplanenb, etc., of Great Britain, pp. 49, 163.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
85
4f inches in height, by 4f inches diameter at the mouth, and has the whole exterior surface decorated with impressed markings in parallel bands and groups of zigzags. It also possesses the special feature of four projecting knobs placed at equal distances round the upper part underneath the rim, and pierced laterally by small round holes.
Another urn of similar form (Fig. 104), but without the pierced ears, and less elaborately ornamented, was found in similar circumstances at Ninewells, near Invergowrie in Forfarshire, in 1863. It measures 4| inches in height, and 4 1 inches in diameter across the mouth, tapering to a base of 2 1 inches in diameter.
Fig. 105.— Urn from Cist at Stannergate (4£ inches in height).
Fig. 106. -Urn found at Oban (4^f inches in height).
An urn of more bowl-shaped form (Fig. 105), found in one of a group of cists at the Stannergate, Dundee, is ornamented over the whole exterior surface with bands of impressed markings of a twisted cord alternating with double rows of triangular impressions. All the cists contained unburnt interments, and it is probable that each cist contained an urn, although this was the only one noticed by the workmen. It measures 4| inches in height and about the same in diameter.
An urn of similar bowl-shaped form (Fig. 106), 4f inches
86 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMKS.
high, and 5 inches diameter at the brim, was found in one of a group of cists discovered in excavating a gravelly hillock at Oban, Argyllshire, in 1876. The figure of it which is here given is drawn to a smaller scale than the others.
Fig. 107.— Urn from a Cist at Keuuyshillock (5 inches in height).
A very beautifully ornamented example of bowl-shaped form (Fig. 107) was found in a cist covered by a caini at Kennyshillock, in the parish of Urquhart, Elginshire, in 1879. It measures 5 inches in height, and 4£ inches diameter across the mouth. The cairn was about 25 feet in diameter, and contained at least one other cist, from which an urn was recovered in 1871.
With regard to the general phenomena of these burials of the Bronze Age, it is apparent, from these descriptions of isolated interments and local cemeteries, that no uniformity exists in what may be termed the external and non-essential features of the burials. But we find that these* interments, whether their external manifestations may be those of burial in a cairn, burial in a simple cist set in a gravelly hillock, or burial in an urn unenclosed by any cist, are characterised by the same distinctive feature, — the presence of the blade or
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 87
other instrument of bronze. We find also that the urns, the cairns, and the cists, which are thus associated by the common presence of this distinctive feature, are themselves characterised by certain distinctive features which are con- stant. The urns (as has been shown) exhibit four different varieties of form. The cairns are all unchambered, — that is, they are simple unstructural heaps of stones piled over a central cist, or over a group of cists. The cists, whether in cairns or simply set in the ground in a natural hillock, are of two varieties, — a cist of small capacity, for the ashes of a burial after cremation, and a cist of larger capacity, for a burial unburnt. The longer variety of the Bronze Age cist, however, is rarely, if ever, of full length, like the cisted or stone-lined graves of the Iron Age and the Christian time, and it generally differs from these in its greater width and massive- ness of construction. As a rule, its sides, ends, and cover are of single stones, often of great size, usually unshaped, but occasionally marked by sculpturings of very peculiar character, though such instances are really rare. At (Joilsfield in Ayrshire, in 1785, a cist was opened, which con- tained an urn of the wide-mouthed, bowl-shaped form (type 2 of group 2, on p. 70), of which so many examples have been given. The cover of the cist was sculptured on the under side with cups and circles.1 At Carnwath Moor, in Lanark- shire, in 1870, a small cairn was cleared away, in which a cist was found, containing an urn of the tall narrow form, with bulging sides and thin everted lip (type 1 of group 2, on p. 70). The cover of the cist, which is an unshaped slab of sandstone, 4 feet long by 3 feet in width, and 6 inches in thickness, is sculptured on its under side as shown in Fig. 108. At Kilmartin, in Argyllshire, in 1870, a cist, in the
1 This stone is figured from a drawing communicated to the Royal Society in Dr. Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 480 ; and in Professor Simpson's Archaic Sculpturings, p. 30, PI. xiii.
88 SCOTLAND IX PAGAX TIMES.
construction of which two sculptured stones had been used, was found in the remains of a partially ruined caini. The cist, which was 6 feet in length inside, was formed of large stones placed in the manner shown in the ground-plan (No. 1 of Fig. 109), and covered with a massive slab. The covering slab was unsculptured, but the stones marked B and A respectively were sculptured as shown in the diagram. The slab B (No. 2
Fig. 108.— Sculptured Cover of Stone Cist at Carnwath (4 feet 3 inches in length).
of Fig. 109) is marked with a long groove, picked with u sharp-pointed instrument, and having shorter grooves at right angles to it. The slab A (No. 3 of Fig. 109) has the repre- sentation of a flat axe-head, of the typical form of the earliest axe-heads of bronze, eight times repeated. These sculpt ur- ings are shallower than seems requisite for use as moulds for casting these implements, although Mr. Evans has re-
BRONZE AGE BUKIALS.
89
marked that it is not impossible that they might have been so used.1 But whether their presence may imply that this
Fig. 109. — Cist at Kilmartin and its Sculptures.
1. Ground-plan of Cist (6 feet long inside). 2. Incised Face of Upright Stone B. 3. Front View of Stone A, showing incised Sculpturings of Axe-heads.
is the grave of a Bronze Age founder, and these are his moulds, or whether they are merely symbolic representations,
1 Ancient Bronze Implements, etc., of Great Britain, by John Evans, D.C.L., etc., p. 430.
90
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
3/tee.
Fig. 110. — Ground-plan of Cairn on the Glebe at KMertonn.
the inference is unavoidable that they belong to the Age of Bronze.
Again, with regard to the burial customs, it is also apparent from the descriptions of these ,..~- local cemeteries, that we have
no evidence sufficient to separ- ate the custom of cremation from the custom of burying the body unburnt. We have fre- quently found the burnt inter- ments and the interments unburnt in close juxtaposition in the same group of burials, and in point of fact the two modes of burial are occasionally present in the same cairn. For
instance, in a cairn on the glebe of Eddertoun, in Ross-shire, which was explored by Rev. Dr. Joass,1 a group of six cists
was found. The cairn was a small one, about 24 feet in dia- meter, and 5 feet high, and the cists were disposed as shown in the accompanying ground-plan (Fig. 1 1 0). The cists marked with the numbers 2, 5, and 6 on the ground - plan contained burnt bones, while that marked with the number 3 contained an un- burnt skeleton and the urn here shown in Fig. Ill, about 6 inches high, and 5 inches diameter at the
mouth. It is of the tall variety, with thin everted lip and bulging sides, usually associated with unburnt interments. 1 Prof. Soc. AiUiq. Scot., voL vii. p. 268.
Fig. 111.— Urn tound in one oftheCirts.
BRONZE AGE BUKIALS. 9 1
At Tealing, in Forfarshire, in 1870, in a gravelly hillock at the base of Tealing Hill, three interments were found. At a depth of 8 feet from the surface there was a cist, con- taining an unburnt skeleton laid on its left side, with the head to the east ; and about 3 feet above the cover of the
Figs. 112, 113. — Urns found overlying a Cist at Tealing.
cist were two cinerary urns (Figs. 112, 113) filled with burnt bones. One was inverted over the bones, the position of the other was not ascertained. Both were simply set in the gravel, at a depth of about 3 feet under the surface, and slightly protected by a setting of small stones.1 They are
1 The circumstances of these burials were communicated at the time to the Rev. Canon Greenwell of Durham, whose extensive experience en- titles him to speak with authority on this question. He says : — " This discovery is similar to many that have come under my own observation, — an unburnt body with one or more burnt bodies overlying it. Were the two burials, the burnt and the unburnt, contemporaneous? I am inclined to think they were, and I have found so many cases where a burnt and an unburnt body have been laid in the grave most unquestionably at the same time, as to make such a proceeding by no means an unusual one. It is difficult to say why one was burnt, while the other was interred without having undergone the process of cremation. I have thought we have in the burnt bodies those of wives or slaves killed at the time of the funeral of the man ; still that is mere conjecture, and men are found burnt and laid alongside of unbnrnt women, if we may judge of the sex by the accompanying implements or weapons, which seems a fair de- duction ; but I am certain that inhumation and cremation were practised,
92
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
of the large, wide-mouthed variety, ornamented only on the upper part, which is invariably associated with burials after cremation.
Fig. 1 U. l'i n from a Cairn at Stenton (Hi inches in height).
In a cairn at Stentou, in East Lothian, which was removed in 1877,1 two interments were discovered, one of which was burnt, and the other unburnt. The cairn was a large one, having its base defined by a circle of boulders measuring 40 feet in diameter. Near the centre of the cairn was a small square cist containing the urn here figured (Fig. 114), 14i inches high, and 12| inches diameter at the mouth. It
not only at the same time, but for interments made on the same day. It is probable that this case at Tealing was a similar one, and that the two overlying burnt bodies were laid there at the same time as the un- burnt body. The burials were no doubt of the native population, and in all likelihood pre-Roraan."— Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., voL viii. p. 382.
1 Described by Rev. George Marjori banks in Proc. Soc. Antitj. Scot., vol. xvi. p. 220.
BRONZE AGE BURIALS.
93
had been placed in the cist in an inverted position over a deposit of burnt bones. Near this cist was another, 4£ feet in length, by 2i feet in breadth, containing the remains of an unburnt skeleton, and with it a finely chipped knife of flint (Fig. 115), formed of a triangular flake 3 inches in length, and a whetstone of micaceous schist (Fig. 116), of quadrangular form, with a hole partially bored at one end. Whetstones of this form are only found in graves of the Bronze Age. No urn was found with this interment.
Figs. 115, 116.— Flint Knife and small Whetstone, found with an unburnt Burial at Stenton (each 3 inches in length).
In the whole of these burials and groups of burials, when taken collectively, there is presented to us a series of pheno- mena which differ widely from the phenomena of the Iron Age burials described in the last course of Lectures. They so far resemble the Iron Age burials, inasmuch as they are of Pagan character, accompanied by deposits of grave goods ; but these deposits are widely different in character from those
94 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
accompanying the burials of the Iron Age. The Iron Age deposits abound in tools and weapons of iron, but they contain no cutting implements of bronze. The deposits with which we are now dealing are totally destitute of iron, and the only cutting instruments of metal which they contain are made of bronze. The presence of personal ornaments of silver was also a special feature of the sepulchral deposits of the Iron Age ; but the absence of silver is a feature of the deposits we have now surveyed which is quite as characteristic as the absence of iron, while the presence of personal orna- ments of gold, of massive and peculiar forms, is equally notable. Not less notable is the change in the character of the ornamentation of all the objects that exhibit surface decoration. When attention is directed to the prevailing characteristics of that decoration, it becomes apparent that it presents nothing in common with the system of ornament witli which we had become familiar in our investigation of the Iron Age deposits. The ornament we now meet with consists almost entirely of combinations of straight lines, disposed in parallel groups or zigzags, or triangular or lozenge-shaped spaces. Occasionally a segmental curve, or u concentric circle, appears, but the prevailing character of the decoration is as clearly a system of straight lines as that of the Iron Age was a system of curved lines. By these in- dications we perceive that we have passed from a system of decoration in curvilinear forms to a system of decoration in rectilinear forms, and from a phase of culture familiar with the use of iron and silver to a phase of culture familiar with the use of bronze and gold. The bronze is present in these deposits in the same character in which iron was present in the deposits of the Iron Age — as the only metal used for cutting instruments. We find it asso- ciated both with burnt and unburnt burials, with urns of clay of special forms and peculiar ornamentation, with
BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 95
personal ornaments of gold, amber, and jet, with implements of polished stone and roughly chipped arrow-heads and knives of flint. We find the typical burials, of which these associated objects are characteristic, extending over the whole of the mainland of Scotland, and into many of its outlying isles. But we do not find — at least I have been unable to discover — any obvious or noticeable distinction between the forms or the workmanship of the different examples of the same classes of objects found in widely separated portions of the country. The urns from Ross-shire and Mull are as well made and as highly decorated as those from Midlothian. The bronze blades and jet necklaces from Sutherlandshire are precisely like those from Forfarshire and Midlothian. The gold ornaments from Banffshire are simi- lar to those from the southern districts of Scotland. There may be among the various examples some that are finer and some that are ruder than others, but taking them collectively, it is evident that the objects fashioned in these various materials usually exhibit shapeliness of form, fitness of purpose, and tastefulness of decoration. These thin trian- gular blades of bronze are as beautifully cast and finished as any modern founder could wish. They were neatly fitted to their handles, and solidly fastened by rivets. The handles themselves were occasionally decorated with mountings of gold ornamented in repoussb work. The smaller blades of oval outline are even more skilfully made and more delicately finished and decorated. The urns with which they are asso- ciated exhibit a wonderful variety of graceful forms and appropriately simple but effective ornamentation. They are not wheel-made, but many of them are nearly as regular and symmetrical in their outlines as if they had been thrown on a potter's wheel. With these finely ornamented vessels there are associated armlets, earrings, and diadems of gold, bracelets of bronze, necklaces of jet, and beads of amber.
96 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
The gold ornaments are massive and well made, and their forms, though peculiar, are neither rude nor devoid of elegance. The necklaces of beads and plates of jet are elaborately constructed and carefully ornamented with punctulated patterns, which contrast fitly with the polished surface of the material. Thus there is taste exhibited in the forms of all these variously fabricated objects, and dexterity and skill implied in their finish and workmanship. Intrinsi- cally, they are evidences of the capacity and skill of the men who made them. But, as we find them all in associations which show that they are grave-goods — devoted to the dead, — we see that they are also evidences of the piety and affec- tion which thus expressed themselves in the manner of the time.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 97
LECTURE II.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
IN my last Lecture I have dealt with a series of burials selected on account of their essential phenomena, these being the phenomena which are presented by the deposit itself, inclusive of the manner of burial, and all its under- ground accompaniments. In the present Lecture I shall deal with a series of burials selected by their overground phenomena, with the view of determining whether they exhibit the same essential or underground phenomena which are characteristic of the previously described series. The burials now to be dealt with are those which are distin- guished externally by overground erections or stone-settings, such as are known in this country by the names of Stone Circles, or groups of Standing Stones.
On Mauchrie Moor, in the townland of Tormore, in the island of Arran, a remarkable group of interments was in- vestigated in 1860 by the late Dr. Archibald Bryce. The most characteristic of this group was an interment in a care- fully constructed cist, 3 feet in length, 1 foot 4 inches in breadth, and 2 feet deep, covered over by a very large stone at a depth of 3 feet 4 inches under the surface. The cist was placed in the centre of a circle of about 2 1 feet in diameter, on the circumference of which stood four blocks of granite
98 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
about 3 feet high, and nearly equidistant from each other. In the cist lay an urn on its side among some fragments of bone, whether burnt or unburnt is not specified. Tin* uni (Fig. 117) is a wide-mouthed vessel, tapering in the lower part, and contracting in stages towards the brim. Its whole surface is ornamented in bands of oblique lines and impressed markings, the bands being separated from each
Fig. 117. — Urn from a Stone Circle at Tonnore, Arran (71 inches in height).
other by single, double, or triple lines, scored with a point. Among the bones on the floor of the cist were a few flint chips, and a fragment of a bronze awl or pin, greatly corroded. This burial in its underground phenomena, which constitute its essential features, differs in no respect from the typical character of the burials described in the last Lecture. But it presents this special distinction, that it differs from thrni in its overground features, inasmuch as it is placed within a
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 99
construction which is not a cairn or a mound, but a setting of standing stones, on the circumference of a circle enclosing a considerable area.
Other interments presenting similar features were found in the immediate vicinity. One of these burials, enclosed in a cist a little over 3 feet in length, 22 inches broad, and 26 inches deep, was accompanied by an urn (Fig. 118) of similar form and ornamentation to that last described, and a few chips of flint. No bones were noticed. The inference
Fig. 118. — Urn from a Stone Circle at Tormore, Arran (6J inches in height).
from this is that the deposit was unburnt, for there is nothing more indestructible than burnt bone. The cist was placed in the centre of a circle 15 yards in diameter, around the circumference of which there had been set at intervals seven tall pillars or narrow slabs of sandstone. Of these, three were still standing, two had fallen, and the others had been removed. The tallest of those left standing was about 18 feet in height, 3| feet in breadth, and 22 inches in thickness ; the second was 15 feet high, 3 feet broad, and 14 inches
100 SCOTLAND IS PAGAN TIMES.
thick ; and the third 12 feet high, 4 feet broad, and 1 1 inches thick. This burial differs from the first, inasmuch as ft pix-sents no bronze. But every other feature is essentially the same, and we only know that no bronze was detected in it. Such a small pin-like fragment as that which gave a distinctive character to the first interment may have been 1 in-sent without being detected. Indeed, the little fragment found in the first instance, although detected and preserved by the explorers, was not known to be of bronze until the objects found with the burials had been forwarded to the Museum, and nothing was apparently further from their minds than that such tilings as minute portions of pins or awls of bronze were to be looked for in such interments. But the absence of the evidence of bronze in this interment does not affect the obvious conclusion from the concurrent similarity of all the other features in both. They are inter- ments with urns of similar character, similar in their ornamentation, and placed in cists, in the centre of an enclosed circular space defined on the surface by a circular stone-setting or circle of standing stones.
An interment with a similar urn and a few chips of flint was found in a cist placed in the centre of another circle of standing stones at no great distance from the last-mentioned example. In this case, the circle had been about 13 yards in diameter, and had five stones remaining in its circumference, four of which were prostrate. The stone still remaining erect was about 14 feet in height. A second interment, un- burnt, was found in a cist placed at a distance of 3 feet from the central cist. Here again we have a repetition of the same features, but with this difference, that there is more than one interment within the space enclosed by the circular boundary of erect pillar-stones.
In all these burials the phenomena are of the same essential character as those of the burials described in the
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 101
last Lecture. They are burials associated with implements of bronze, or with urns decorated with that peculiar ornamen- tation of straight and zigzag lines, which we have learned to recognise as characteristic of the Age of Bronze. They differ from those previously described in one respect only, — they are marked above ground by the presence of a stone-setting of peculiar character, which takes the form of a ring of standing stones encompassing the area in which the inter- ments have been made.
I now proceed to describe a further series of interments in which this overground characteristic is specially con- spicuous. For our knowledge of their phenomena we are indebted to a series of investigations made by Mr. Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, F.S.A. Scot., which constitute one of the most important contributions to the materials of Scottish archaeology that has ever been made.1
At Tuack, near Kintore, in Aberdeenshire, Mr. Dalrymple found a group of seven interments within the area enclosed by a circle of six upright pillar-stones, the ground-plan of which is shown in Fig. 119. Four of these burials were deposits of incinerated bones, placed in small round pits from 1 8 inches to 2 feet in depth ; and three were also deposits of incinerated bones, but placed in pits of somewhat larger dimensions, and covered by inverted urns. The four first- mentioned burials were arranged round the central space of the circle, at nearly equal distances from the centre, and from each other ; the three last-mentioned burials were near the two northern stones of the circle, their positions being shown on the ground-plan by small dotted circles. The deposit nearest the eastmost stone was covered by an inverted urn
1 The results of these investigations are briefly summarised in the first volume of Dr. John Stuart's Sculptured Stones of Scotland, issued by the Spalding Club in 1856. As this work is now both rare and costly, they are not so well known to archaeologists as they deserve to be.
102 SCOTLAND IX PAGAN TIMr>.
(Fig. 120) 12 inches high, 10 inches wide at the mouth, widen- ing to 1 1 inches at the shoulder, and tapering thence to a base of 5 inches diameter. Its ornamentation is a simple band of intercrossing zigzags, forming lozenge-shaped spaces by inter- section. The ornament is confined to the sloping upper part of the vessel next the rim, and below it two raised and slightly rounded mouldings encircle the urn in a direction l>arallcl to the rim. These features are absolutely identical
Fig. 11 9. --Diagrammatic Ground-plan of Stone Circle at Toack (24 feet diameter).
with the features so frequently remarked in the larger variety of the cinerary urns found in the cists and cemeteries described in the last Lecture ; and this interment presents another feature, apart from the form of the urn and the char- acter of its ornamentation, which is also identical with the most characteristic of all the features of these cisted burials. Among the incinerated bones protected by the urn there was found a small fragment of thin bronze, greatly corroded, a portion doubtless of one of the thin bronze blades which are the characteristic accompaniments of so many interments of the Age of Bronze. The other deposits presented features
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
103
equally characteristic. Close by the stone which stood to the west of the north point in the circumference of the circle, two interments were found, also of incinerated bones covered by inverted urns. One of these urns was 13 inches high, 1 1 inches wide at the mouth, widening to 1 3 inches at the shoulder, and tapering thence to a base of 9 inches diameter. Among the incinerated bones which it covered there were found two small fragments of thin bronze, brittle and con-
Fig. 120.— Urn found in the Stone Circle of Tuack (12 inches in height).
torted, having apparently passed through the fire. They have every appearance of the wasted fragments of the thin bronze blade which is so commonly the characteristic accom- paniment of Bronze Age burials. The urn covering the contiguous deposit was larger in size, but of the same typical character, and presenting a variety of form which has become familiar to us from its frequent occurrence in the cists and cemeteries of the last Lecture. It has a broad overhanging brim, below which is a kind of neck and shoulder, from which it slopes regularly to the bottom. It measured 14|
1 04 SCOTLAND IK PAGAN TIMES.
inches high, 11 inches in diameter across the mouth, and 14 inches across the shoulder, contracting to 5 inches dia- meter at the base.
In this group of burials the same essential features are again present. The interments are burnt, and associated with cinerary urns of the same typical form and ornamen- tation, and with the same characteristic thin flat blade of bronze. There are no cists, but as we have previously found in cremation burials, a large urn is inverted over the deposit of incinerated bones. The burials are placed in an enclosure marked off from the surrounding area by a circular stone-setting, or circle of standing stones. But this place of interment has an addition to its overground phenomena which we have not previously met with. Its area is not only marked by the circular stone-setting, but it is further cut off from the common soil around it by a trench of 1 2 feet wide (not shown in the ground-plan), encompassing its cir- cumference, and giving a sense of complete isolation to the circle of stones with its included grave-ground.
At Crichie, also in the Kintore district, another series of interments was found within a circular space cut off from the surrounding area by a trench A B of Fig. 121, which differed from that at Tuack, inasmuch as it was not carried completely round the included area, but was interrupted at two points (C C) by accesses on the unexcavated level of the north and south sides. The trench was 20 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, and the accesses connecting the included area with the adjoining surface were 9 feet wide. On the circumference of the circular area, within the trench (as shown in Fig. 121), there had been a circle of six standing stones, with a seventh in the centre, but five had been removed for building purposes before the time of Mr. Dalrymple's investigation. In the centre of the circular area he found under the apparent surface a cairn of stones,
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 105
lo^feet iii diameter, and about 5 feet high (see Fig. 122). Its base was formed of flat slabs, the inner edges of which
Figs. 121 and 122. — Ground-plan and Section of Stone Circle at Crichie, Aherdeenshire. (Scale 25 feet to an inch.)
overlapped those of a very large slab in the centre. This slab was the cover of a cist, about 4 feet long by 2 feet
106 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
10 inches wide. The cist contained the remains of an unburnt skeleton, and (it is also said) some calcined hones, hut nothing else was found in it. Near one of the stones of the circle on the north side of the area (No. 2 on the ground-plan) an inverted urn was found set in a small pit excavated in the subsoil, and covering a deposit of calcined bones, " partly human, and partly of some animal." The urn is about 12 inches high, 7£ inches diameter at the mouth, widening to 10 J inches at the shoulder, and tapering thence to a diameter of 6 inches at the base. The
Fig. 123.— Perforated Stone Hammer, from Stone Circle. Crichie (4) inches in length).
part l>etween the shoulder and the brim is ornamented with diagonal lines impressed in the clay, the lower part plain. At the base of another stone (No. 1 in the plan) there was also a deposit of incinerated bones, whether protected by an uni or not is uncertain. Close by it, and also in front of the base of the standing stone, was another deposit of calcined bones, and between the two deposits there was found the finely made head of a war-axe or hammer of stone (of the form shown in Fig. 1 23). It is of greenstone, 4 J inches in length, and 3| inches in greatest breadth, oval in
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
107
its outlines, but deeply hollowed on the two sides at the orifices of the perforation for the handle, so as to give grace- fulness to the shape, and at the same time to lessen the extent of the perforation. These hollows are bordered by a group of three incised lines, which follow the curvature of the hollow in the sides of the implement. Several other deposits were found at different parts of the area, chieny in the vicinity of the bases of the pillar-stones which had been removed. One of these deposits was enclosed in a small cist, others were merely deposited in the earth, but one was contained within an urn of elegant shape, 9£ inches high, 1\ inches in greatest width, and narrow- ing to 3| inches diameter at the base (Fig. 124). It has a thick overhanging rim, a deep short neck formed by an inward curve, from which it curves quickly out to the shoulder, and thence tapers in a long slope to the bottom. The neck and the part of the vessel immediately under the shoulder are ornamented by impressed lines forming a series of double zigzags crossing each other in the centre.
In this group of interments we have again a repetition of phenomena which are for the most part of similar character to those that have been previously described. The burials are mostly after cremation, but occasionally unburnt. They are placed sometimes in cists, sometimes in urns, and occasionally in pits in the subsoil. These are all features with which we have become familiar as characteristic of Bronze
Fig. 124. — Urn from Stone Circle, Crichie (9| inches in height).
1 08 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
Age interments. The burying-ground is a circular space, cut off from the surrounding area by a trench, with a mound of earth on the outside of the excavation. The space thus enclosed is also encompassed by tall pillar-stones set up at intervals round its circumference. The urns associated with the burials are of the same forms, and decorated with the same ornamentation, as those found in other circum- stances associated with fragments or blades of bronze. Here there is no evidence of the presence of bronze itself, but the perforated stone battle-axe is a typical form of stone implement assignable to the Age of Bronze, because it has been often found associated with implements of bronze in other deposits of a sepulchral character.
At Fullarton, also in the neighbourhood of Kintore, Mr. I )alrymple found seven deposits of incinerated bones, some of which were accompanied by fragments of urns, and also an unburnt burial, within the area of a circle of which only three stones remained, two of which were prostrate and broken. The circle had been about 28 feet in diameter, and probably consisted of six or seven stones. In other districts of Aberdeenshire he found similar deposits, in a series of circles of much larger size and more massive construction. They are distinguished from those that have been described by the presence, in the circular stone-setting, of one stone greater than any of the others, which is never erect, but lies on edge between the two pillar-stones that stand to the west of the south point in the circumference of the circle.
We thus proceed to consider a series of burials found within such circles as have one of the spaces between t\v» of the standing stones filled by a great recumbent stone or slab, usually placed on its edge, and situated commonly to the west of the south point of the circle.
At Rayne, in Aberdeenshire, in a circle of about 60 feet
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 109
diameter, which had consisted apparently of twelve stones — the pillar-stones from 5 to 6 feet in height, and the re- cumbent stone a great flat slab 12 feet in length, 7 feet in breadth, and 1| to 2 feet in thickness — there was found in the central portion of the area a mass of stones, with a circular hollow or pit in the centre containing a deposit of incinerated bones, among which were some fragments of urns and the half of a broken wrist-guard of polished stone (similar to that figured at p. 15, as found in the urn at Fyrish), having one end perforated by three small holes. This implement, as has been shown, is also of a type which is frequently associated with implements of bronze, although no bronze was found with it here.
At Sunhoney, in the parish of Midmar, deposits of incinerated bones were found throughout a space of 8 feet diameter in the central part of the area enclosed within a circle of 12 stones. Of these stones eleven are upright pillars of red granite, from 5 to 7 feet in height, while the twelfth is a stone recumbent on its edge, filling the space between the two pillars that are immediately to the west of the south point in the circumference of the circle. This recumbent stone is 1 6 feet in length, 4 J feet in breadth, and 3 feet in thickness, weighing about 18 tons.
At Ardoyne, in the parish of Oyne, a deposit of in- cinerated bones, accompanied with fragments of urns, was found in the centre of a circle, 81 feet in diameter, which had apparently consisted of twelve stones, of which one was recumbent, placed, as in the former instances, on the south- west side of the circle. The recumbent stone measures 8 feet in length, 5| feet in breadth, and about 15 inches in thickness. One of its adjoining uprights is gone ; the one remaining is 9 feet high, 2 feet broad, and 2 feet thick.
At Ardlair, in the parish of Kennethmont, a deposit of
110
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMK8.
incinerated bones was found within the area of a circle about 35 feet diameter (Fig. 125), which appears to have originally consisted of ten stones. The circle stands on the summit of a round low hill on the estate of Leith Hall. The upright stones are not remarkable for size, ranging from 4 to 5 feet in height, but the recumbent stone is more massive, measuring 9 feet long, 3i feet broad, and 2 feet thick. There
Fig. 125. — Diagrammatic Ground-plan of the Stoue Circle at Anilair. From Sketch by C. E. Dalrymple. (35 feet in diameter.)
seems to have been an interior circle not quite concentric with the exterior stone-setting. The deposit was found within the interior circle and near its southern side. It had been placed in a pit about 4 feet in diameter and little more than 2 feet deep, and covered with two flat stones.
At Castle Fraser several deposits of incinerated bones, accompanied by fragments of urns, were found within the area of a circle about 65 feet diameter, which had consisted
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. Ill
of eleven stones, of which ten were upright pillars, and one a great slab 6 feet 9 inches in length, and 6 feet in breadth, filling the space between two of the uprights on the south- west side of the circle. The largest of the standing stones measured 1 1 feet 9 inches in height, and 4 feet 9 inches in breadth. In this case, as at Ardlair, there was an interior circle, 13 feet in diameter, well defined by flat stones set in the ground close to each other, and showing themselves above the turf. The whole area of the principal circle, as well as that of the interior circle, was closely paved with small boulders, lying about 6 inches underneath the surface.
From these examples it is clear that whatever may be the variation in the constructive character of the stone-setting, or in the general nature of the overground phenomena of these interments, the essential or underground pheno- mena are found to be constant in all their typical features : the burials are sometimes burnt, and sometimes unburnt, and they are associated with urns and other objects that are characteristic of the Age of Bronze.
The results of the investigations which in a few other cases have been conducted by other explorers are in the main similar.
At Glenballoch, near Blairgowrie, in Perthshire, there is a circle of four stones embracing an area of about 18 feet diameter.1 The largest stone is 7 feet long by 6 feet broad, and 3 feet 3 inches high ; the smallest is 5 feet long by 4 feet 9 inches broad, and 2 feet high. They are not tall pillar-stones set erect on their ends, but oblong boulders laid on their broadest sides. Within the circle, a large urn (Fig. 126) containing a deposit of calcined bones was found some years ago by Mr. Harris, the farmer, and has been since
1 Described by Mr. J. Romilly Allen in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xiv. p. 90.
I l-J
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
placed in the National Museum. It measures 15£ inches in height, 12 inches diameter over the brim, widening to ti diameter of 14 inches at the shoulder, from which it tapers to a base of 6 inches diameter. It is ornamented both out- side and inside the rim by bands of impressed lines meeting each other obliquely so as to form what is known as the
Fig. 126.— Urn found in a Stone Circle at Glenballocli (15 J inches in height).
herring-bone pattern. Below the overhanging rim there is a wide band of boldly moulded ornament of zigzags, in which it will be seen that the operator has failed to divide the space properly in setting out his pattern. But with the exception of this slight defect, the workmanship and decora-
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 113
tion of this large and handsomely formed vessel is excellent, and, as Mr. Komilly Allen has well remarked, " will compare favourably with those of any other production of ceramic art, ancient or modern."
At Tynrich, Ballinluig, near the junction of the Tummel with the Tay, in 1855, when a piece of ground was being prepared for a garden, a circle of 25 feet diameter, composed of six great stones, varying from 6| to 3| feet high, and set at nearly equal distances from each other, was trenched over. Within the area of the circle four different burials of burnt bones were found, deposited in large cinerary urns, each of which was about 2 feet high, and over 12 inches in dia- meter at the mouth. The urns were all destroyed.1
At Badentoy, in the parish of Banchory-Devenick, in Kincardineshire, Mr. Alexander Thomson found remains of a deposit of calcined bones and charcoal in the centre of a circle of standing stones, which had been excavated at least once before, and the contents disturbed, but the nature of the deposit was unmistakable. The circle had consisted of seven stones, of which four had been broken up for building purposes. Of the three that remained, the largest was 9 feet high, 3 feet 3 inches broad, and 2 feet thick ; and the smallest 4 feet high, 3 feet broad, and 15 inches thick.
At Kingcausie, half a mile west from Badentoy, five deposits of incinerated bones, mingled with fragments of urns and charcoal, were found within the area of a circle con- sisting of thirteen stones. The stones forming this circle were smaller than usual, none of them being over 3 feet high. The circle (Fig. 127) is about 78 feet in diameter, and contains two smaller concentric circles of flat stones placed on edge close to each other, the second circle being 1 2 feet within the circumference of the outer circle, and the
Quotation from Perthshire Advertiser, and letter from Rev. Mr. Mae- millan, Dunkeld, in the Kilkenny Journal, vol. iii. p. 313.
8
114
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
third enclosing a space of 9 feet diameter in the centre. The deposits were found within the area of the central circle.
Q 0
Fig. 127.— Diagrammatic Ground-plan of Stone Circle at Kiugcausie (78 feet in diameter).
At Auquhorthies of Kingcausie, also in the same parish, a deposit of calcined bones and fragments of an urn were found in the centre of a similar triple circle enclosing an area of 1 20 feet in diameter. On its external circumference thirteen stones remain, the largest of which is 9 feet high. The larger of the two interior circles is remarkable, as presenting the same feature which has been already remarked as character- istic of the external structure of many of the larger circles in Aberdeenshire, viz., a large recumbent slab placed 80 as to fill the space between two uprights on the south-west side of the circle. In this case, only one of the uprights remains
CIKCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
115
5 feet high and 3| feet thick. A cavity shows where the corresponding upright had stood at no distant date. The recumbent stone between them measures 7 feet in length and 4 feet in height. The remainder of this interior circle, as in the neighbouring circle of Kingcausie, is composed of smaller stones set on edge end to end. The smaller of the interior circles, also formed of small stones on edge placed end to end, encloses a central space of 14 feet in diameter, within which the deposit was found.
Fig. 128. — Urn found in a Stone Circle at Newton of Montblairy (13$ inches in height).
On the farm of Newton of Montblairy, in Aberdeenshire, there was a large stone circle, of which all the stones but one had been removed. It was excavated by the late Mr. Alex-
116 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
ander Morrison of Bognie many years ago. There is no detailed record of the excavation, but a large urn (Fig. 128), which was found filled with burnt bones, was subsequently sent to the National Museum. It is of the cinerary form, and more than usually ornate in character, decorated with simple bands of short oblique lines, and bold projections underneath the overhanging lip. It measures 13 J inches high, and the same across the mouth, tapering from the shoulder to a base of 5 inches diameter.
Recently, in excavating #. small circle in the grounds of Balbirnie House, near Markiuch, Fife, a number of broken urns of the cinerary type were disinterred, and among the burnt bones were several small fragments of a thin blade of bronze.
Reviewing the whole series of these burials, we find that they invariably present a certain set of typical characteristics. They are burials, mostly after cremation, but occasionally of unburnt bodies, — the burnt and unburnt burials occurring in the same group, and with similar associations. The objects accompanying the burials in the character of grave-goods are small pins of bronze, portions of thin bronze blades, chips of flint, wrist-guards, and perforated war-axes of polished stone. Such things as these are not found with every burial, but urns or fragments of urns of the same forms and ornamenta- tion as those which we have otherwise ascertained to be characteristic of Bronze Age interments, are found on all the sites. In their essential or underground phenomena, these burials are therefore in all respects similar to the burials which have been described in the previous Lecture. But in their non-essential or overground phenomena there is a very remarkable difference. The burial ground is fenced off from the surrounding area by a circle of stones, sometimes mere roughly- shaped natural boulders, rolled into their places on the circumference of the imaginary circle, enclosing the
CIKCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 117
burials ; at other times tall slabs, set erect on their ends, and firmly fixed in that position in the soil. Sometimes there is a trench, or a trench and embankment of earth, surrounding the circle of stones. At other times there is a differentiation in the construction of the circle of pillars, which, at its south- west side, has the space between two pillars filled by a huge recumbent slab, set usually on its edge. Occasionally the stone circle is doubled, the inner circle being formed of smaller slabs placed end to end, with their edges slightly projecting above the surface of the soil. In rarer cases, there is a third circle, within the second, of the same character. From the frequency with which these burial circles are found to con- tain a plurality of interments, it is obvious that they are not the monuments of single individuals, but family or tribal burying-grounds. From the fact that they contain inter- ments, burnt and unburnt, it is obvious that they were in use when both these customs were practised, while the occurrence of bronze in association with the burnt interments assigns them to the Age of Bronze.
In all these instances, the circular stone-setting, whatever may be the precise form which it assumes, has been found to be the external sign by which the burial ground is dis- tinguished from the surrounding area. Like the cairn, it is thus the visible mark of the spot of earth to which the remains of the dead have been consigned. Of course it is impossible to say, and it is not necessary that it should be affirmed, that in every stone circle the evidences of interment will be found. There are cairns and cists that have yielded no such evidence, but the absence of the evidence in some cases does not affect the general conclusion drawn from the concurrent testimony of the many instances in which the evidence is distinct and unmistakable. There may be stone circles which have yielded no conclusive evidence of inter- ment, but the want of evidence in a few cases (to whatever
118
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
cause it may be attributed) cannot affect the general con- clusion drawn from the many cases in which the evidence is distinctly concurrent. In other words, we have so many stone circles which, upon proper investigation, have proved themselves burying-places, that it is impossible for us to conclude that those which are still uninvestigated will dis- close a different purpose for this type of structure.
Fig. 129.— Large Stone Circle at Stennis, Orkney (366 feet in diameter).
The colossal size of their pillar-stones, the magnitude of the area enclosed, the care and labour expended in trench- ing and fencing it, are features which give to these singular constructions a peculiarly impressive character. This im- pressiveness is specially characteristic of such a circle as that of Stennis, in Orkney (Fig. 129), which stands within a circular trench enclosing an area of two and a half acres. The diameter of the area is 366 feet, and the trench surrounding it is 29 feet in width, and about 6 feet in depth. The enclosed area is approached on two sides by level cause- ways crossing the trench, which are about 17 feet wide. The circle of pillar-stones stands about 1 3 feet distant from the inner side of the trench. They are placed about 1 7 feet apart, on the circumference of a circle of 340 feet in diameter. The original number of erect stones was probably sixty, of which there are but thirteen now standing. Ten others are prostrate, and the stumps or fragments of thirteen more bring the number still recognisable on the site to thirty-six.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
119
The highest stone standing is 14 feet, the lowest about 6 feet. Of the twenty-three stones which are either erect or prostrate, and probably entire, there are fourteen which exceed 10 feet in height, and five of these exceed 12 feet in height. The greatest breadth is about 8 feet, the general average being about 4 feet, and the thickness 1 foot.
Fig. 130. — Smaller Stone Circle at Stenuis (104 feet in diameter).
A smaller circle, now almost obliterated, stood a little to the south of the greater circle of Stennis. The whole interior area of the circle (Fig. 130) was raised about 3 feet above the natural surface, and a circumscribing earthwork of the same height, rising from a base of about 36 feet in width, seems to have surrounded it at a distance of 36 feet from the bottom of the slope of the included mound. Only two pillar-stones of the circle remain standing, a third lies prostrate, and the stump of a fourth is visible. Of the two that are still erect, one is 17 feet high and 6 feet broad, and the other 15 feet high and 4 feet broad. The prostrate pillar-stone is 1 9 feet long and 5 feet broad.
At Callernish, in the island of Lewis, there is a very re- markable stone circle (Fig. 131), with lines of standing stones proceeding from its circumference, which give the whole figure of its ground-plan some resemblance to a long- shafted cross. The circle consists of thirteen stones erected somewhat irregularly on a circumference of 42 feet in diameter. A larger stone, 17 feet high above the ground and 5j feet broad at the base, stands in the centre of the
120
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
Hi
4-ft •
•t»
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 121
circle. A line of five stones extends from the circumference to a distance of 96 feet to the south ; a similar line of four stones extends 52 feet to the east ; and one of four stones 36 feet to the west. Two parallel lines going off to the north- ward form an avenue 270 feet in length, and about 27 feet in width. The total number of stones is forty-eight, and the total length of the monument, from the extremity of the double line through the centre of the circle to the extremity of the single line beyond, is 408 feet, and the length of the trans- verse arms from point to point across the centre of the circle is 130 feet.
In 1858, Sir James Matheson caused the peat which had grown on the site of this monument to be removed. The average depth of the peat from the surface to a rough cause- wayed basement in which the stones were imbedded was 5 feet. In the process of the removal of this accumulation,
Fig. 132.— Ground-plan of Chambered Cairn within the Circle at Callernish (20 feet in diameter).
the workmen uncovered the remains of a circular cairn (Fig. 132), occupying the space bet ween the centre stone and the east side of the circle. In the centre of the cairn was a chamber with regularly built internal walls, and a passage leading from it to the outside of the cairn, the opening being
122 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
placed between two of the stones of the circle. The chamber was divided into two compartments by slabs placed across the floor, leaving an opening between their edges a little less than 3 feet wide. Beyond these slabs the inner compart- ment was formed of dry-walling in the sides, and a long slab set on edge at the back. The passage was about 6 feet in length, and 2 feet wide, entering the chamber between two slabs set on end facing the two on each side of the entrance to the inner compartment. The first compartment was 6 feet 9 inches from side to side, aud 4 feet 3 inches from front to back, the second, 4 feet 4 inches from side to side, and 2 feet 1 inch from front to back, on the floor, widening upwards in consequence of a slight inclination of the slab at the back. With the exception of a single stone, which was supposed to have been a lintel, there was no appearance of a roof, and there is nothing on the record of the excavation to show whether the roof of the chamber had fallen in, or whether it had been removed. It is not even stated what was the height to which the side-walls were found standing. But it is obvious at a glance that here we have a very pecu- liar construction, — a cairn containing a chamber divided into compartments, and furnished with a passage opening to the outside of the cairn. The general character and relations of this type of structure will become apparent when we have reached a stage at which we shall be able to deal with a number of examples of cairns that are similarly chambered.
In the meantime I call attention to the occurrence of this small chambered cairn in association with a great stone circle, because it is the great stone-setting, and not the small cairn, which is plainly the principal member of the composite structure, and because the form which here appears in a subordinate character is a cairn which is chambered, and not a cairn which covers a cist Hereafter, when we
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 123
come to deal with the chambered cairn as the typical form of the Stone Age burial structure, we shall find them occasionally encircled by stone-settings or circles of standing stones, but we shall find the relative positions of the two members of the composite structure reversed — the cairn being then the principal object, and the stone circle its sub- ordinate adjunct. In this instance at Callernish we have to do with a composite structure which is principally a stone- setting, that is, a structure in which the idea of the cairn has given way to the idea of the circle. We have already seen that when the circle is associated with a cisted cairn — which is a structural form of a lower type than the chambered form — the circle always appears as the principal member. Hence it appears that the circular stone- setting, which originally arose as an adjunct to the chambered cairns of the Stone Age, acquired its dignity and importance in the subsequent period by the degradation of the cairn structure which it encircled, and came at last to stand alone, as the most distinguishing and characteristic mark of a Bronze Age burial. In this capacity it sometimes appears entirely alone, at other times it is itself surrounded by a trench, or by a trench and rampart or ring-fence of earth. But whether it may be the surrounding enclosure of a cairn, or whether it may be itself enclosed by a trench and rampart, or whether it may stand alone, the concurrent testimony of all the investi- gations of its actual phenomena results in this, that in every case in which the investigation has disclosed evidence of purpose or of use, it has always been evidence of included burials. No other evidence indeed exists, and the conclusion which is unavoidable is therefore not assailable on the ground that it is not according to evidence.
It is not possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to proceed further than this with certainty. We are now deal- ing with typical characteristics, that are not exclusively
1 24 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
confined to a limited area of Scotland or of Britain, or even of Europe. Burials associated with overground phenomena that are in the main similar to those that have now been described are found over a wide area of Northern and Western Europe. But over this wide area of their known occurrence, the nature and character of their underground phenomena are by no means constant. For instance, although stone circles occur in considerable numbers in Scandinavia,1 and although in that area they are also found enclosing burials after cremation, yet the essential characteristics and accompaniments of the interments assign them to the Early Iron Age, while in Britain they are exclusively of the Age of Bronze.
From these facts it appears, that while a certain uniformity in the phenomena of the burials exists in smaller areas, there
1 In Norway and Sweden stone circles are relatively of very much rarer occurrence than grave mounds. They are not generally remarkable, either for the size of the circles themselves, or for the massiveness of the stones of which they are composed, and they do not present the jteculiarity which has been so often noted among the circles of the north- eastern districts of Scotland, of having the south-west side of the circle distinguished by a great recumbent stone tilling the space between two up- rights. The common Scandinavian form is that of a simple circle composed of from eight to thirteen stones ; occasionally there are two concentric circles, one within the other, and sometimes, as in some of the Scottish examples, the inner circle is composed of small flat stones set on their edges, end to end, and scarcely showing themselves above the turf. Sometimes also the whole space within the circle is paved with small flat slabs. Occasionally there is a central stone within the circle, and not unfrequently the form of the external stone-setting, instead of being circular, is square or oblong, or even triangular. The circles of Scandi- navia are popularly imagined to have been dom-rings or thing-steads, and but few of them have as yet been systematically explored. The results of their investigation, however, have been similar to the results of the investigation of the Scottish circles, with this difference, that where burials have been found within them, they have been invariably burials of the Iron Age. — See Nicolay sen's Sbratt Fornlevninger, under the word kred* ; and see also the Foreningen for Nortke Mindtsmaerkerg Bevaring—Aarsberttning for 1868, p. 139; 1869, pp. 13, 119, and 120; 1872, p. 12; and 1877, p. 230.
CIECLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 125
is a wide diversity exhibited in more extended areas. As our knowledge of the facts increases in its range and specialty, as the nature of these variations is gradually ascertained, and their limits defined with precision, the time will come when their significance with relation to the areas in which they are manifested may be determined. At present we are unable to define with any degree of accuracy the limits of the area over which stone circles are found, and equally unable to say within what limits they are found to contain burials assignable to the Ages of Bronze or Iron. But this we are in a position to say, from existing evidence, that, so far as they have yet been investigated in Scotland, their nature and purpose has been clearly determined to be sepulchral; and that in so determining their nature and purpose, we draw this conclusion from the same evidence and by the same process by which we determine the nature and purpose of urns, or cists, or cairns, or any unrecorded and uninscribed variety of sepulchral monu- ment.
The same conclusion appears to be deducible with reference to another class of monumental stone-settings, con- sisting of groups of upright stones which are not arranged in a circular form. These are much more rarely met with than the circular groups ; l and the available evidence regarding their period and purpose is therefore drawn from a basis of investigation which is less extensive, although, so far as it goes, it is quite as definite and distinct in its indications of
1 So far as we know at present, their occurrence in Scotland is confined to the counties of Caithness and Sutherland, but there is reason to be- lieve that they also occur in Wales. On a ffrid or mountain enclosure called Ffrid-can-awen, in the neighbourhood of Pentrevocles, there were recently discovered three cists containing burnt bones, and near them a number of parallel rows of erect stones. Another series of parallel rows of erect stones, consisting of sixteen rows, is situated about a mile and a half distant from those already mentioned.
126 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
sepulchral associations. Their area, so far as is yet known, is chiefly confined to the extreme northern part of the mainland of Scotland.
On the north side of a small valley in the Yarhouse Hills, in the parish of Wick, Caithness, and near the Hill Fort of Brochwhin or Garrywhin, which I have already described, l there is a series of rows of small grey slabs (Fig. 133), like the headstones of a country churchyard, call set with their broad faces looking across the lines. They lie on the slope of the valley, the lines ascending towards the crown of the slope, and coming closer together as they ascend, so that, when looked at from above, they present the appearance of a radiating or fan-shaped group. A few feet from the termination of the narrow end of the group there was a small circular knoll, about 35 feet in diameter, and 5 feet high in the centre, thickly covered with turf and heather. When its interior had been laid bare, it was found to be a sepulchral cairn, in the centre of which was a cist, placed slightly below the original surface, and measuring 3 feet 5 inches in length, 2 feet 4 inches in width, and 1 foot 9 inches deep. The sides were composed of four slabs set on edge, but on one side a thin slab was inserted with about 4 inches of rubble between it and the outer slab, thus narrowing the internal breadth to 1 foot 10 inches. The cist lay nearly east and west It had an enormous covering-stone, and the bottom was simply the subsoil on which the whole cairn rested. At the east end lay the fragments of a bowl-shaped urn, ornamented with impressed markings of a twisted cord, and at the same end of the cist we found the enamel crowns of a few human molars. The burial had been unburnt, and so complete had been the decay of the bones that the only vestiges of the whole skeleton remaining were the enamel crowns of the teeth. Two roughly-shaped flint flakes, with
1 Scotland in Pagan Times : The Iron Affe, p. 273.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 127
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128 SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
secondary working on the edges, were found beside the frag- ments of the urn. Although there was no evidence of the presence of bronze, the form of the urn and the general characteristics of the interment were precisely those which have been so often remarked as occurring in association with implements of bronze. The cairn, taken by itself, thus differed in no respect from many smaller and larger cairns of the Bronze Age which have been described in the preced- ing Lecture. But taken in connection with the associated group of standing stones, it certainly presented a striking dissimilarity of external feature. Yet this dissimilarity was only on the surface ; the essential features of the burial were those of the general group of Bronze Age burials. Even in the features that were dissimilar, there was a recognisable relationship of type. The cairn was associated with a setting of standing stones, although that setting had not been arranged in the circular form with which we have now be- come so familiar. The cairn was small, and the stones of the setting which was thus associated with it were also small in comparison with the great monoliths of some of the larger circles ; but they were not smaller than .the stones of many circles, and though they assumed this peculiar arrangement, they were — like the circles — found in apparent association as the adjuncts to a sepulchral cairn. From this cairn the group of standing stones extended in six diverging lines to a distance of 200 feet. Close to the cairn the width across the whole six lines was about 50 feet, while at the further extremity the whole width was 100 feet. The stones were mostly small flattish slabs, .few of them exceeding 2 A feet in height and the same in width, irregular in form, and placed at irregular intervals from each other. They were firmly fixed in the ground, being frequently wedged between two smaller stones placed at either side in a shallow pit which had been dug to receive their bases. The whole
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES.
129
number of stones in the group is now less than fifty, but originally it was probably much greater.
On the other side of the valley there is another cairn of similar character, having a central cist of somewhat larger dimensions, which had been long previously opened and rifled. The cist, which lay north-west and south-east, was beautifully constructed of four large slabs, and measured internally 5 feet long, 2 J feet wide, and 2 1 inches deep. The stones of the cairn had been partially removed for utilitarian purposes, but what remained of it showed a diameter of at least 18 feet. From the cairn there extended the broken remains of a group of lines of standing stones, which had been apparently at one time of even greater extent than that on the north side of the valley. Enough remained to demon- n
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At Camster, in the same county, there is another group of stones set in rows (Fig. 134), apparently in connection with a cairn. The group consists of six lines running nearly north and south, with an extreme length of 105 feet, the width across the whole of the lines at the head being 30
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feet, and at the further extremity 54 feet. As in the other instances, the stones are small flattish slabs, none of them exceeding 2| feet in height, placed with their flat sides 9
130
SCOTLAND IN PAGAN TIMES.
looking across the direction of the lines. At a little distance from the head or narrow end of the group are the remains of a small cairn with a central cist, in which were the remnants of an unburnt skeleton.
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1 This is the line to the right of the group, which extends much further to the north than is shown on the plan.
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Pig. 186.— Stone-setting of eight parallel rows at Yarhouse, Caithness.
CIRCLES, AND SETTINGS OF STANDING STONES. 131
appearance of a cairn or cist in connection with the group, and excavation at different parts of the lines failed to yield any evidence of associated interments.
On the hillside of the Many Stanes at Clyth, also in Caithness, is the most remarkable group of this description (Fig. 1 3 6). It consists of twenty- two rows of small flat stand-
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