m 
 
 ' MHBR5HB 
 
 PREHISTORIC 
 SCOTLAND 
 
 M.D., F.R.S.E
 
 PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND
 
 PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND 
 
 AND ITS PLACE 
 
 IN EUROPEAN CIVILISATION 
 
 BEING A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 "COUNTY HISTORIES OF SCOTLAND" 
 
 ROBERT MUNRO, M.A., M.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'PREHISTORIC PROBLEMS;' 'THE LAKE-DWELLINGS OF EUROPE; 
 
 'RAMBLES AND STUDIES IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 
 
 AND DALMATIA;' ETC. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXCIX 
 
 
 All Rights reserved
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE primary object of this book is to lay before the 
 public a short account of the methods and means by 
 which archaeologists are endeavouring to elucidate that 
 obscure period in the history of Scotland vaguely 
 defined as the prehistoric. From the very beginning 
 I foresaw that this would be a labour of some difficulty, 
 owing to the varied and comprehensive materials which 
 had to be dealt with. A preliminary coup -d? ceil of the 
 subject disclosed a population occupying a small, but 
 well-defined, geographical area amidst diversified sur- 
 roundings. As soon, however, as the superficial crust 
 was broken, it became apparent that both people and 
 environments were subject to progressive changes not 
 always emanating from causes inherent to the restricted 
 locality under review. I had thus to look beyond 
 the Scottish area, and to trace these exotic elements 
 to their proper sources. At the present time direct 
 
 b
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 evidence, either as regards the physical qualities of 
 the people or the fluctuations and peculiarities of 
 their environments during the earlier portion of the 
 prehistoric period, is both scanty and fragmentary. 
 Nor are the stray objects of the less perishable 
 materials, such as stone and metal, 'altogether un- 
 impeachable witnesses in the inquiry ; for even these 
 in many instances, betray their foreign origin. More- 
 over, 'the earliest inhabitants were themselves immi- 
 grants. These imperfections in the archaeological 
 record had therefore to be considerably supplemented 
 from collateral sources. Thus on all hands the field 
 of inquiry became enlarged in proportion as the 
 materials were carefully scanned. Hence, in the com- 
 pilation of this work the same ground had to be 
 traversed as if I were engaged in writing an intro- 
 duction to the prehistoric archaeology of the whole of 
 the British Isles. To bring such diffuse evidence 
 within the narrow compass of one small volume is 
 a kind of tour de force which is bound to disclose 
 many shortcomings and errors of judgment. 
 
 From these inherent difficulties in connection with 
 the selection and arrangement of the materials it is 
 pleasant to turn my thoughts to those who have 
 supplied me with so many beautiful illustrations, with- 
 out which the work would be shorn of much of its 
 value. On this score I have to thank the Councils
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 of the following Societies : Society of Antiquaries of 
 Scotland for most of the woodcuts illustrating the re- 
 mains of the prehistoric fauna, as well as for a number 
 of other objects, such as the massive bronze armlets, 
 which are peculiar to the Scottish archaeological area ; 
 Ayrshire and Galloway Archaeological Association for 
 a considerable number of the woodcuts of stone and 
 bronze implements ; Society of Antiquaries of London 
 (figs. 1 66 and 1/5-177); Royal Irish Academy (figs. 
 123 and 162-164); Royal Society of Antiquaries of 
 Ireland (figs. 141, 211, 213, and 257) I am also in- 
 debted (through my publishers) to Messrs Macmillan 
 & Co. for a few woodcuts from Sir Daniel Wilson's 
 'Prehistoric Annals of Scotland' (figs. 4, 89, 130, 138, 
 258, and 259), and to John Murray for the illustrations 
 of Maeshowe and New Grange (figs. 192-196) from 
 Fergusson's 'Rude Stone Monuments.' Of the large 
 number of illustrations specially prepared for this 
 work, many are mere sketches taken from objects in 
 various museums, and have no claim to any artistic 
 effect. But, as they are accurate in outline and reduced 
 to a uniform scale, I preferred to retain them in their 
 crude form rather than to have them touched up by 
 a skilled artist. Indeed, a mere outline is all that is 
 necessary for many of the objects which illustrate pre- 
 historic archaeology. On every occasion that I found it 
 necessary or advisable to appropriate the results of other
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 workers I have done so, when practicable, by quoting 
 the ipsissima verba of the authors ; and all such obli- 
 gations are duly acknowledged in their proper place 
 throughout the work, or in the list of illustrations. 
 
 Professor Sir William Turner, F.R.S., has kindly 
 read the proof- sheets of the chapter on Ethnology ; 
 and James Macdonald, Esq., LL.D., has done the 
 same for the other chapters. While cordially thank- 
 ing these gentlemen for their valuable services, I have 
 only to say of each of them, Niliil quod tetigit non 
 ornavtt. 
 
 48 MANOR PLACE, EDINBURGH, 
 3*/ July 1899.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION THE HISTORIC BORDERLAND. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Allusions by classical writers to the British Isles Voyages of Himilco 
 and Pytheas Julius Cassar's invasion of Britain Agricola in North 
 Britain Battle of Mons Graupius The Emperor Severus marches 
 as far as the Moray Firth The Druids Historic Borderland Plan 
 of work explained .......... 1-18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES ARBORESCENT 
 GROWTHS AND PEAT-BOGS. 
 
 The Glacial Period Alterations in relative level of sea and land Ancient 
 sea -margins Marl -deposits in lakes Arborescent growths Peat- 
 bogs Great trees found in peat Hatfield Moss and forest Woods 
 formerly in Orkney and Shetland Chronological data Destruction 
 of the forests I 9 - 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ALTERATIONS IN THE RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND SUBSE- 
 QUENT TO THE APPEARANCE OF MAN IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 The MacArthur Cave and rock-shelter at Oban Shell-heap of Cais- 
 teal-nan-Gillean, Oronsay. 2. Implements of deer-horn associated 
 with the skeletons of whales in the Carse of Stirling, 3. Other relics 
 of man in Carse-lands and alluvial deposits Kitchen-middens at 
 Inveravon Canoes and other relics found at Falkirk, Friarton brick- 
 clay-pit, Lochar Moss, and Moss of Cree. 4. Canoes in basin of the 
 Clyde. 5. Evidence from raised beaches, sand-dunes, caves, rock-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 skelters, &c. Flint factory and camping-ground at Campbeltown 
 Hoard of bronze axes at " The Maiden's " Cave near the mouth 
 of the North Esk House and kitchen-midden on Ghegan Rock 
 Rock -shelter at Ardrossan Chronology and the rock -shelter of 
 Schweizersbild 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NOTES ON THE PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 Reindeer Elk Irish Elk Red-deer Urus Celtic Shorthorn Beaver 
 
 Wild Boar Great Auk General remarks Domestic animals 84-136 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CULTURE AND CIVILISATION OF THE STONE AGE PEOPLE. 
 
 Preliminary remarks Prehistoric man already a toolmaker The three 
 ages : i. The Raw Materials Flint, jade, obsidian, jet and cannel- 
 coal, amber, bones, stones, and organic materials. 2. The Workshop 
 and its Tools Chipping, polishing, and boring of stones Tubes 
 not used in Scotland for boring holes Anvils, fabricators, borers, &c. 
 3. Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments Axes, chisels, and hammers 
 Knives, saws, and scrapers Weapons Clothing and ornaments 137-176 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROGRESS IN CULTURE AND CIVILISATION DURING THE BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Axes, chisels, &c. Knives, saws, sickles, and razors Weapons Objects 
 
 of toilet and personal ornaments Art of the Bronze Age . . 177-225 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL PHENOMENA OF THE EARLY IRON AGE LATE 
 CELTIC PERIOD. 
 
 The supersession of Bronze by Iron in cutting implements. LATE CELTIC 
 PERIOD Shields Helmets Swords and sword -sheaths Daggers 
 Horse-trappings Personal ornaments. Special Finds of the Late 
 Celtic Period : Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire Mount Batten, 
 Plymouth Trelan Bahow, Cornwall Site of yEsica on the Roman 
 Wall Gold hoard found in Ireland Barrows at Cowlam, Yorkshire 
 Urn field at Aylesford, Kent Hunsbury Camp, Northamptonshire 
 Military accoutrements at Lisnacroghera, Ireland Caldron with 
 iron implements from Carlingwark Loch, Kirkcudbrightshire 
 General remarks . 226-277
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ABODES AND MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 More important than those of the living Various methods of classifying 
 sepulchres Forms of Barrows Cairn of Achnacree Cairns at 
 Largie, Kilchoan, and Kilmartin, Argyllshire Stone circle at 
 Ballymenach Horned cairns of Caithness Variety of structural 
 remains in Orkney Standing stones of Stennis Maeshowe The 
 "Knowe" of Unstan Chambers at Quanterness and Wideford 
 Chambers on Papa Westray, and at Quoyness on the island of Sanday 
 Stone circle of Callernish in the island of Lewis Stone circles 
 and chambered cairns at Clava Cairn at Collessie, in Fife, and 
 Gilchorn, near Arbroath Bronze-Age cemeteries at Kirkpark and 
 Magdalen Bridge, Mid-Lothian Cemeteries at Pitreavie, near Dun- 
 fermline Mr C. E. Dalrymple's discovery of burials in stone circles 
 in the counties of Kincardine and Aberdeen Stone circles of 
 Mauchrie Moor, Arran Standing stones Contents of graves 
 Urns, implements, ornaments, &c. General remarks . . 278-328 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING SOCIAL LIFE. 
 
 Wooden huts Beehive houses Earth-houses in Scotland Underground 
 chambers in Ireland and Cornwall. Indications of Social Life : 
 Factories for the manufacture of Flint implements Division of 
 labour North Britons in time of Tacitus were a pastoral people 
 Coracles and canoes Civilisation of people indicated by the char- 
 acter of grave-goods ......... 329-362 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WORKS OF DEFENCE FORTS, CAMPS, AND BROCKS. 
 
 I. FORTS, CAMPS, &c. The classification and distribution of Forts 
 Division into earthworks and stoneworks Moats or Motes, and 
 Moothills The Caterthuns in Forfarshire Barmekyne of Echt 
 East Fort of Bennachie Midhill Head, Mid -Lothian Forts of 
 Abernethy, Forgandenny, Burghead, and Seamill Fortifications on 
 the Laws, Forfarshire Dunbuie fort, relics from Distribution of 
 Hill-forts. Vitrified Forts Discussion on their structure, age, and 
 distribution. II. BROCKS. Peculiar structures found only in Scot- 
 land A number of specimens examined Secondary buildings at- 
 tached to them Relics point to post- Roman times as the earliest 
 date of their construction Discussion as to their origin Recent 
 investigations in Caithness 363-403
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 i. Sketch of Lake-dwelling Researches: First discovery at Lagore Dis- 
 covery of Swiss pile-dwellings at Ober-Meilen Further discoveries 
 in Europe Discoveries in Loch of Dowalton Researches of Ayr and 
 Galloway Archaeological Association The more recent discoveries 
 at Lochan Dughaill, Hyndford, and Ashgrove Loch Discoveries in 
 England Glastonbury Lake-village. 2. Structure of Lake-dwell- 
 ings : (i) Pile-dwellings, Pfahlbauten, Palafittes (2) Cellular base- 
 . ments (3) Crannogs. 3. Marine dwellings : Terpen in Holland 
 Structures in Loch Crerar, Beauly Firth, Clyde (Dumbuck), and at 
 Ardmore Bay, Ireland Pile-dwellings still used in various parts of 
 the world 404-441 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Importance of the subject, i. Craniology : Modern researches Kjok- 
 kenmoddings in Portugal French archaeologists on Neolithic 
 crania in Gaul Dolichocephalic and brachycephalic skulls. 2. 
 General Anthropological Data : Linguistic researches and the 
 Aryans Religiosity and Funeral Rites Cremation and the Bronze 
 Age in Britain Early Iron Age. 3. General Conclusions : Early 
 people of the British Isles were non-Aryan First Aryan immigrants 
 (Goidels) were Bronze-Age people Second wave of Aryans (Bry- 
 thons) were the importers of Late Celtic Art Non-Celtic speech 
 Goidelic and Brythonic tongues were Celtic Huxley on dark whites 
 and fair whites A monopoly of intellectuality not peculiar to any 
 form of skull 442-487 
 
 INDEX 489-502
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. 
 
 FIGS. PAGE 
 
 1-3. Bronze caldrons, found in Scotland .... 38-40 
 
 4. Bronze beaded torque and bowl, Lochar Moss ... 41 
 
 5, 6. Bone pin and borer, MacArthur Cave, Oban ... 49 
 
 7-9. Implements of bone and deer-horn, MacArthur Cave, Oban . 50 
 10-12. Bone implement and harpoons of deer-horn, MacArthur Cave, 
 
 Oban ........ 51 
 
 13-17. Harpoons from different localities 55 
 18, 19. Hammer-axe and implement of deer-horn found with whales' 
 
 skeletons, Carse of Stirling ..... 58, 63 
 
 20. Five bronze axes, Ayrshire ..... 77 
 
 21-23. A needle, a comb, and an ornament of bone, Ghegan Rock . 80 
 24-26. Portions of reindeer horns found in brochs . . .87, 88 
 
 27. Skull of elk, Whitrig Bog, Berwickshire ... 92 
 
 28. From a painting in oil of elk's skull, Forfarshire . . 94 
 
 29. Elk's horn, Strath Halladale, Sutherlandshire ... 95 
 
 30. Skull of elk, Willie Struther's Loch, Roxburghshire . . 97 
 
 31. Elk's horn, river Cree, Wigtownshire .... 98 
 
 32. Irish elk (from Prof. A. Nicholson's ' Palaeontology') . . 100 
 33, 34. Horns of red-deer found in " The Meadows " and at Ashkirk 106, 107 
 35, 36. Skull of Bos primigenius, Fifeshire . . . 113, 114 
 
 37. Two teeth of Bos primigenius . . . . .114 
 
 38. Portion of skull and horns of Bos longifrons . . . 118 
 
 39. Bronze implement, Kinleith . . . . .119 
 
 40. Axe-hammer, West Kilbride ..... 149 
 41,42. Stone anvil and hammer-stone, Skelmuir . . . 151 
 
 43. Hammer-stone, with circular depressions . . . 152 
 
 44. Fabricator of flint from the cairn of Unstan . . . 153
 
 xiv ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 45. 46, Flint borers or drills ...... 154 
 
 47. Axe-hammer-head, Ardrossan . . . . 155 
 
 48. Axe-hammer-head, Crichie . . . . .156 
 49, 50. Stone hammer and urn, from cairn at Glenhead . . 157 
 
 51. Stone axe-head, Tarbolton ..... 158 
 
 52. Polished stone celt or adze, Slains . . . .159 
 
 53. Whetstone with stone axe, Stoneykirk . . . 160 
 
 54. Polygonal grinding-stone, Lamberton Moor . . . 160 
 
 55. Various methods of mounting stone implements . . 161 
 56-58. Trimmed flint knives, Wigtownshire . . . 162, 163 
 
 59. Flint knife with ground edge, Butterlaw . . . 163 
 
 60-63. Flint saws from Glenluce and Culbin .... 164 
 64-67. Flint scrapers, Wigtownshire .... 165, 166 
 
 68-74. Flint arrow-heads, Wigtownshire and Ayrshire . 167, 168 
 
 75, 76. Stone bracers, Wigtownshire and Ross-shire . . . 169 
 
 77. Flint javelin-head, Wigtownshire .... 170 
 
 78. Ornamented stone ball, Aberdeenshire . . . 171 
 79,80. Buttons of jet, Lanarkshire and Forfarshire . . . 173 
 
 81. Portion of knitted fabric, Yorkshire .... 175 
 
 82, 83. Flat bronze axe-heads, Ayrshire . . . 182, 183 
 
 84, 85. Bronze axes, winged type, Ayrshire .... 184 
 
 86. Socketed bronze axe, Ayrshire . .... 185 
 
 87. Ornamental bronze axe in miniature, Wigtownshire . . 186 
 
 88. Bronze knife-dagger . . . . . .188 
 
 89. Bronze knives . . . . . . .188 
 
 90, 91. Bronze sickles, Scotland and Ireland .... 189 
 
 92-95. Ornamented bronze blades, Scotland .... 190 
 
 96-100. Various kinds of bronze weapons, Scotland . . . 191 
 
 101-105. " " " ii ... 192 
 
 106. Knife dagger of bronze, Forfarshire .... 193 
 
 107. Tanged dagger, Ayrshire ..... 194 
 108-115. Bronze swords, found in Scotland . . . 195 
 
 116. Rapier sword-blade, Ayrshire ..... 197 
 
 117. Bronze dagger-blade, Ayrshire .... 197 
 118-120. Bronze shield, Ayrshire . 198, 199 
 
 121. Portion of a side-blast trumpet, Wigtownshire . . 201 
 
 122. The Caprington bronze horn, Ayrshire . . . 202 
 
 123. Ornamental disc of a bronze trumpet, Ireland . . 203 
 124, 125. Head of a bronze pin, and a bronze button, Edinburgh . 204 
 126, 127. Bronze armlets of penannular and ring forms, Scotland . 206 
 
 128. Bronze armlet of a peculiar type, Argyllshire . . . 207 
 
 129. Penannular ring of bronze with cup-shaped ends, Ross-shire 208 
 
 130. ii gold M Inverness-shire 209
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 
 
 131. Coiled armlet of gold, Mid-Lothian . . . . 210 
 
 132. Gold armlet or torque, Perthshire .... 211 
 133-135. Necklace of jet beads, and urn, and portion of a trepanned 
 
 skull, found in a Bronze Age burial, Bute . . 212, 213- 
 
 136. Gold ear-ring, one of a pair found in a stone cist, Morayshire 214 
 
 137. Entrance to great cairn at New Grange, Ireland . . 220 
 
 138. Cover-stone of a cist at Coilsfield, Ayrshire . . .. 221 
 
 139. ii it Carnwath, Lanarkshire . . 222 
 
 140. Sculptured stone at Monzie Castle, Perthshire . . 222 
 
 141. Sculptured stone in Knockmany Cairn, Ireland . . 223. 
 142, 143. Cup-marked rock surface at High Banks, Kirkcudbrightshire 224, 225 
 
 144. Bronze with horns, supposed to be a helmet or mask, Torrs, 
 
 Kirkcudbrightshire (now at Abbotsford) . . . 239 
 
 145. Bronze sword-sheath found at Hunsbury Camp, Northampton 242 
 
 146. Bronze sword-sheath, Ayrshire . . . 245 
 
 147. ii M Lisnacroghera, Ireland . . 244 
 
 148. it ii Pentland Hills .... 245 
 
 149. Iron dagger with bronze sheath from the river Witham . 246 
 
 150. Enamelled ring, Westhall, Suffolk .... 248 
 
 151. Enamelled ornament, Norton, Suffolk . . . 249 
 
 152. Ornament with trumpet-shaped spaces, Loch of Dowalton . 249. 
 
 153. Bridle-bit, ornamented with enamel and Late Celtic ornamen- 
 
 tation, Birrenswark ...... 250- 
 
 154. Portion of a supposed beaded torque, Hyndford Crannog . 253. 
 
 155. Bronze collar, Stitchel, Roxburghshire . . 253 
 
 156. Bronze armlet, Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire . . . 254 
 
 157. ii Auchenbadie, Banffshire . . . 255 
 
 158. M Seafield Tower, Fife . . . .256 
 
 159. M Castle-Newe, Aberdeenshire . . . 257 
 
 160. Bronze spiral armlet, Grange of Conan, Arbroath . . 258 
 
 161. Bronze snake-headed armlet, Wigtownshire . . . 259 
 162-164. Bronze fibulae found in Ireland .... 260 
 
 165. Bronze fibula, Falkirk ...... 261 
 
 166. Late Celtic ornament, Northamptonshire . . . 262 
 
 167. Upper stone of a quern, Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire . 263 
 168, 169. Bronze mirror and crescent, Kirkcudbrightshire . . 263 
 
 170. Ornamented plate on mirror, Kirkcudbrightshire . . 264 
 
 171. Back and side views of a bronze fibula, Mount Batten . 264 
 
 172. Bronze armlet opening by a hinge, Mount Batten . . 265 
 
 173. Two handles of bronze mirrors, Mount Batten. (Last three 
 
 are after drawings in ' Archceologia, ' vol. 40) . 265 
 
 174. Bronze mirror from St Keverne, Cornwall. ('Arch. Journal," 
 
 vol. xxx.) ....... 266
 
 xvi ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 175, 176. Fibulae from Aylesford ...... 270 
 
 177. Tankard with bronze mounting, Elveden . . . 271 
 
 178. Fragment of pottery, Hunsbury Camp . . .272 
 
 179. Iron dagger and saw, bone combs, and fibulae, Hunsbury 
 
 Camp ........ 273 
 
 180. Bronze caldron, Carlingwark Loch .... 274 
 
 181. Objects found in caldron, Carlingwark Loch . . . 275 
 
 182. Ornamented bronze ball, Walston, Lanarkshire . . 277 
 
 183. Section of the cairn of Achnacree. (After plan by Dr Angus 
 
 Smith, ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. ix., PI. xxiii.) . . 284 
 
 184. Urn from cairn at Largie, Argyllshire . . . 287 
 185, 186. Urns found at Ballymenach and Kilmartin . . . 289 
 
 187-191. Ground-plans of cairns in Caithness. (Reduced from plans 
 accompanying papers by Dr Joseph Anderson and others in 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. vi., PI. 27, and vol. vii., PI. 60-62) 292-297 
 
 192. View of the central chamber, Maeshowe . . . 299 
 
 193. Ground-plan and section of Maeshowe . . . 300 
 194,195. Dragon and " Wurm-knot " in Maeshowe . . . 301 
 
 196. View of the great cairn at New Grange . . . 302 
 
 197. Ground-plan of cairn at Unstan. (Reduced from plan by Mr 
 
 Clouston, ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. xix. p. 343) . . 303 
 
 198. Ground-plan of cairn at Quanterness. (Reduced from plan 
 
 in 'Scotland in Pagan Times," p. 288) . . . 305 
 
 199. Ground-plan of sepulchral chamber in Holm of Papa Westray. 
 
 (From plan by G. Petrie, ibid., vol. ii., PI. iii.) . . 307 
 
 200. Ground-plan and section of stone circle at Crichie. (After 
 
 plan by C. E. Dalrymple, ibid., vol. xviii. p. 320) . . 317 
 201-208. Specimens of urns, various localities . . . 3 I 9'3 2 3 
 
 209. Dolmen at Ballymascanlan, Ireland .... 326 
 
 210. Spinsters' Rock, Chagford, Devonshire . . . 327 
 an. Clochan-na-Cnrraige, North Island, Aran . . . 337 
 
 212. Ground-plan and section of beehive house (restored) in South 
 
 Uist. (After Captain Thomas, R.N., ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' 
 
 vol. vii. p. 166) ...... 339 
 
 213. Oratory of Gallerus, Ireland ..... 342 
 
 214. Ground-plan and sections of earth-house, Forfarshire. (After 
 
 Mr Jervise, ibid., vol. iv. p. 493) .... 350 
 
 215. Ground -plan and sections of earth -house, Berwickshire. 
 
 (Ibid., vol. viii. p. 21) ..... 352 
 
 216. Currach or coracle used on the Boyne . . . 360 
 217, 218. Bronze finger-ring and fibula, Abernethy fort . . . 372 
 219, 220. Ring of lignite and stone axe, Abernethy fort . . . 373 
 
 221-224. Objects of shale, bone, and bronze, Seamill fort . 376-378
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. XVJi 
 
 225. Ground-plan and sections of broch of Ousdale, Caithness. 
 
 (After plans by Mr James Mackay, ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' 
 
 vol. xxvi. p. 352) ...... 392 
 
 226. Bone comb from the Knowe of Saverough, Orknty . . 399 
 
 227. Bronze object, broch of Harray .... 400 
 
 228. Quartz pebble from the broch of Kintradwell . . 401 
 
 229. Bronze patella, crannog in the Loch of Dowalton . . 410 
 
 230. Glass beads, crannog in the Loch of Dowalton . . 411 
 
 231. Bronze brooch, crannog in the Loch of Dowalton . . 411 
 
 232. Portion of leather shoe, crannog in the Loch of Dowaltcn . 412 
 
 233. Two spiral finger-rings of gold, Buston crannog . . 412. 
 234-236. Gold coin (Buston), glass bead, and ornament of rock-crystal, 
 
 Lochspouts crannog ...... 413 
 
 237. Stone with cup-and-ring markings, Lochlee crannog . 413 
 
 238. Jet ornament, Lochspouts . . . ... 413. 
 
 239. Fringe of moss, Lochlee ..... 414 
 
 240. Bridle- bit, Lochlee ...... 414 
 
 241. Bone comb, Buston ...... 415 
 
 242. Bronze fibula, Lochlee ...... 415 
 
 243. Bronze ornament, Lochspouts ..... 415 
 244-247. Flint scraper, jar, handle, and crucible, from crannog of 
 
 Lochan Dughaill ...... 417 
 
 248. Stone axe from Hyndford crannog .... 418 
 
 249-254. Various objects, Hyndford crannog .... 419 
 
 255, 256. Fibulae and handle of mirror, Glastonbury lake-village . 425 
 
 257. View of piles at Robenhausen, Switzerland . . . 429 
 
 258, 259. Views of prehistoric skulls ..... 446 
 
 260-262. Views of a skull from MacArthur Cave, Oban . 453'455 
 
 PLATE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 I. VARIOUS FORMS OF BRONZE RAZORS FOUND IN WESTERN 
 
 EUROPE 191 
 
 i. South Lodge Camp, Rushmore Park (after General Pitt- 
 Rivers, ' Excavations in Cranborne Chase,' vol. iv., PI. 238, fig. 
 4). 2. Wor Barrow, Hudley Down, found along with Romano- 
 British remains (ibid., PI. 258, fig. 16). 3. Bowerhouses, Dunbar, 
 associated with sepulchral urns (' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. vi. 
 p. 361, and ' Scotland in Pagan times,' p. 26). 4. Terramara 
 (Museo Civico di Reggio d'Emilia). 5. Found in Thames near 
 Wallingford (Ancient Bronze Implements, fig. 269). 6. Found 
 in the Shannon (Cat. R. I. Acad., fig. 433). 7, u. Lake-dwelling 
 of Moeringen (Keller's 7th Rep., PI. vi., figs. 3 and 6). 8. Basin
 
 xviii ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 of the Sa6ne (Museum of St Germain). 9, 10. Lake of Bourget 
 ('Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' fig. 20, Nos. 22 and 23). 12, 14. 
 Scandinavian types (Bromealderen ved S. Mliller, figs. 294 and 
 188). 13. Lake Garda (see ' Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' fig. 63, 
 Nos. i to 6). 15. Found with an iron sword in a tumulus in 
 Lorraine (Barth<Hemy, ' La Lorraine avant 1'Histoire,' p. 132 and 
 fig. 60). 
 
 II, III. These are photographic illustrations by Mr R. Welch of the 
 late Canon Grainger's collection of Irish antiquities (now in 
 the Belfast Museum). They were taken shortly before his 
 death, and the author was among those privileged to receive 
 copies .......... 196, 197 
 
 IV. VARIOUS FORMS OF PREHISTORIC ROCK-SCULPTURING IN 
 
 WESTERN EUROPE 218 
 
 Nos. i to 10 are mere diagrammatic illustrations after Sir 
 James Simpson's types of the more common cup-and-ring mark- 
 ings, ii. Stone found at Bakerhill, near Dingwall, Ross-shire 
 (Simpson, op. cit., PI. xiv., fig. i). 12. Stone at Cargill, Perth- 
 shire (' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. xviii. p. 314). 13. Stone in the 
 dolmen of " Manner Hroeg," about 3^ feet in length. 14. Stone 
 in dolmen at Locmariaquer with incised figure like a fort, size -ff 
 (L. de Cusse 1 , ' Des signes sculpte's sur les monuments mega- 
 lithiquesdu Morbihan,' Vannes, 1886). 15,16. Sculptured on the 
 chalk walls of the Neolithic caves of Petit-Morin (Baron de Baye, 
 ' Arch6ologie prehistorique '). 17. Stone in Loughcrew cemetery 
 (' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. xxvii., fig. 39). 18. This figure, repro- 
 duced from Fergusson's ' Rude Stone Monuments' (fig. 149), has 
 done duty for many years as the representation of a mounted 
 stone axe on the roof of the dolmen called "Table des Mar- 
 chands." The original is about 4 feet in length, rudely carved 
 and very unlike this outline (see phot, illustration of the stone in 
 4 Revue Mensuelle,' 1899, p. 164). 19. On a stone in the 
 dolmen of Petit Mont (Arzon). The foot-marks are about 9^ 
 inches long (De Cuss6, op. cit.) 
 
 V. BRONZE SHIELD FOUND IN THE THAMES (BRITISH MUSEUM) 236 
 VI. OBJECTS FOUND IN THE BOG OF LISNACROGHERA . . 274 
 
 Nos. i, 2. Iron swords. 3. Iron spear-head. 4, 5. Axe and 
 adze of iron. 6-9 and 17. Bronze rings. 10. Bronze dish, 
 n, 12, and 14. Glass beads. 13. Amber bead. 15, 16. Bronze 
 objects. 18, 19, 20, and 22. Bronze ornaments. 21. Top of a 
 bronze rivet. 23-25. Bronze ferrules. 26. Bronze rivet serrated. 
 27. Bronze ornament for handle. 28-30. Bronze knobs for the 
 butt-end of spear-handles. 
 
 VII. THE RING OF BROGAR, ORKNEY 297 
 
 VIII. THE CIRCLE OF STENNIS, ORKNEY 298 
 
 IX. THE TUMULUS OF MAESHOWE, ORKNEY .... 299
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. xix 
 
 X. STONE CIRCLE OF CALLERNISH, LEWIS . . . 309 
 XI, XII. CHAMHERED CAIRNS AT CLAVA .... 310, 311 
 
 (From sketches by Cosmo Innes, ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' 
 vol. iii., PI. vi. and vii.) 
 
 XIII. STONE CIRCLE OF AUQUHORTHIES, NEAR INVERURY . 318 
 
 It contains eleven stones one lying horizontally, called 
 the altar stone. 
 
 XIV. GIANT'S RING AND DOLMEN, NEAR BELFAST . . 328 
 
 The ring is an earthen circular mound 580 feet in diameter. 
 
 XV. BROCH OF MOUSA, SHETLAND 389 
 
 XVI. BROCH OF CLIKAMIN, NEAR LERWICK . . . 398 
 XVII. EDENSHALL, COCKBURN LAW, BERWICKSHIRE . . 399 
 
 (From ' Proc. Berwickshire Nat. Club,' 1879-81.) 
 XVIII. GENERAL VIEW OF PILE-DWELLINGS NEAR SINGAPORE 441
 
 PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION THE HISTORIC BORDERLAND. 
 
 RIOR to the occupation of Britain by the 
 Romans vague reports of the British Isles 
 had found their way into the literature of 
 Greece and Rome, but of these only a 
 few have come down the stream of time 
 to our day. Such historical data are now 
 valuable chiefly for comparison with deductions derived from 
 archaeological and other sources. The Phoenicians, as early 
 as the twelfth century B.C., founded colonies on the western 
 shores of the Mediterranean, as well as on the coast of the 
 Atlantic beyond the Pillars of Hercules ; and after the conquest 
 of Phoenicia by the Assyrians, about the middle of the ninth 
 century B.C., these colonists acquired greater influence, more 
 especially the Carthaginians, who organised commercial enter- 
 prises to distant lands. They sent expeditions in quest of tin, 
 then so much in demand in the East, to the Cassiterides, 
 or Tin Islands, identified by some authorities as the Scilly 
 Isles, and by others as a group of islands on the north coast 
 
 A
 
 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Spain. Herodotus candidly confesses his ignorance of the 
 whereabouts of the Cassiterides, "from whence," he says, 
 " our tin comes." During the last few years there seems to 
 be a consensus of opinion among English scholars that there 
 is no evidence that the Phoenicians ever traded for tin as 
 far as Britain. But, however this may be, there can be 
 no question that they held for a long time a monopoly of 
 navigation and trade in the Mediterranean, so that they 
 must have played an important part in the early civilisation 
 of Europe. 
 
 At a subsequent date (600 B.C.) the Phocaeans founded 
 Massilia (Marseilles), which speedily became an important 
 station for the tin trade of Britain by means of a land-route 
 across France. It was through this source that the Greeks 
 became first aware of the existence of the British Isles, and 
 henceforth we find the two largest of the group incidentally 
 referred to by various classical writers under the distinctive 
 names Albion and lerne. Much of their information appears 
 to have been derived from the narratives of the voyages of 
 Himilco and Pytheas, but, unfortunately, only a few frag- 
 mentary passages of these narratives have survived to the 
 present day as extracts incorporated in other works. 
 
 Himilco was a Carthaginian who, about 500 B.C., set out 
 from Gades, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, on a voyage of 
 discovery. Coasting along the shores of Spain and Portugal, 
 he crossed the Bay of Biscay and arrived at the islands of the 
 GEstrymnides, described as rich in tin and lead, and inhabited 
 by a numerous population who were in the habit of using skin 
 boats (coracles). It would appear from 'Ora Maritima' of 
 Festus Avienus that Himilco knew of the plains of the 
 Britons, the distant Thule, the grass-green " Insula Sacra " 
 inhabited by the race of the Hibernians, and the adjacent 
 island of the Albiones.
 
 PHOENICIAN COLONIES. 3 
 
 About 150 years later the Romans, then aspiring to be 
 rivals to the Carthaginians in the tin trade, but unable to pro- 
 cure any definite information in regard to the Cassiterides, 
 instigated the merchants of Marseilles to fit out an expedition 
 to ascertain the whereabouts of these mysterious islands. 
 Pytheas, an eminent mathematician of that town, and a con- 
 temporary of Aristotle and of Alexander the Great, accom- 
 panied the expedition, and on his return home published an 
 account of his adventures. His story, though received both at 
 the time and by subsequent classical writers with the greatest 
 distrust Strabo, indeed, going so far as to characterise him as 
 a charlatan and his statements as utterly untrustworthy is 
 now recognised to be singularly accurate. 
 
 Entering the Atlantic by the Straits of Gibraltar, Pytheas 
 sailed round Spain to Brittany, and thence crossed over to the 
 neighbouring shores of Britain and the estuary of the Thames. 
 From Britain he sailed to the mouth of the Rhine, and after 
 coasting along the shore northwards, rounded Jutland and 
 entered the Baltic, going as far east as the mouth of the 
 Vistula. Here he turned back and proceeded along the coast 
 of Norway as far as the Arctic circle and the island of Thule. 
 On his return journey he touched at the north of Scotland, 
 and finally reached Brittany and the mouth of the Garonne, 
 whence he travelled to Marseilles by land. Although Pytheas 
 does not appear to have visited the tin districts of Cornwall, 
 his statements made known, for the first time, the three pro- 
 montories of Cantium (Kent), Belerion (Land's End), and 
 Orcas (North of Scotland). From his time the overland trade- 
 route to Britain was permanently established, a fact which 
 satisfactorily accounts for the earliest coins struck in the 
 island being modelled after Greek coinage, especially the gold 
 stater of Philip II., king of Macedonia. 
 
 It was not till the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar,
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in 55 B.C., that the Romans came into actual contact with 
 the tribes inhabiting that mysterious and, hitherto, to them 
 inaccessible island. The reasons which induced Caesar to 
 fit out this expedition at such an advanced season (August) 
 are thus stated in his Commentaries (book iv. chap, xx.) : 
 
 " During the short part of summer which remained, Caesar, 
 although in these countries, as all Gaul lies towards the 
 north, the winters are early, nevertheless resolved to pro- 
 ceed into Britain, because he discovered that in almost all 
 the wars with the Gauls succours had been furnished to our 
 enemy from that country ; and even if the time of the year 
 should be insufficient for carrying on the war, yet he thought 
 it would be of great service to him if he only entered the 
 island, and saw into the character of the people, and got 
 knowledge of their localities, harbours, and landing-places, 
 all which were for the most part unknown to the Gauls. 
 For neither does any one except merchants generally go 
 thither, nor even to them was any portion of it known, 
 except the sea-coast and those parts which are opposite to 
 Gaul. Therefore, after having called up to him the mer- 
 chants from all parts, he could learn neither what was the 
 size of the island, nor what or how numerous were the nations 
 which inhabited it, nor what system of war they followed, 
 nor what customs they used, nor what harbours were con- 
 venient for a great number of large ships." 1 
 
 With the military exploits of Caesar in Britain during that 
 and the following year we are not here concerned, beyond 
 the glimpses of British civilisation which they disclose thus 
 summarised in the Commentaries (book v. chaps, xii.-xiv.) : 
 
 " The interior portion of Britain is inhabited by those of 
 whom they say that it is handed down by tradition that they 
 were born in the island itself; the maritime portion of those 
 1 Bohn's Classical Library.
 
 THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN. 5 
 
 who had passed over from the country of the Belgse for the 
 purpose of plunder and making war ; almost all of whom are 
 called by the names of those states from which being sprung 
 they went thither, and having waged war, continued there 
 and began to cultivate the lands. The number of the people 
 is countless, and their buildings exceedingly numerous, for 
 the most part very like those of the Gauls ; the number of 
 cattle is great. They use either brass (bronze) or iron rings, 
 determined at a certain weight, as their money. Tin is 
 produced in the midland regions ; in the maritime, iron, but 
 the quantity of it is small ; they employ brass, which is 
 imported. There, as in Gaul, is timber of every description 
 except beech and fir. They do not regard it lawful to eat 
 the hare, and the cock, and the goose ; they, however, breed 
 them for amusement and pleasure. The climate is more 
 temperate than in Gaul, the colds being less severe. . . . 
 
 "The most civilised of all these nations are they who 
 inhabit Kent, which is entirely a maritime district, nor do 
 they differ much from the Gallic customs. Most of the 
 inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and 
 flesh, and are clad with skins. All the Britons, indeed, 
 dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish colour, 
 and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They 
 wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved 
 except their head and upper lip." 1 
 
 Caesar bears testimony to the courage with which the 
 Britons fought against his troops, sometimes fearlessly en- 
 countering them in the open in war -chariots, and at other 
 times rushing upon them from their places of concealment 
 in woods and fortifications. 
 
 Strabo (book iv. c. v.) supplies some additional particulars 
 as to the manners and customs of the Britons. According 
 1 Bohn's Classical Library.
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to him their country produced corn, cattle, gold, silver, iron, 
 skins, slaves, and dogs sagacious in hunting. The natives 
 carried on a trade in these commodities with the Kelts, who 
 exported ivory bracelets and necklaces, amber, vessels of glass, 
 and small wares. The manners of the Britons were in part 
 like those of the " Kelts " of Gaul, but more simple and 
 barbarous ; insomuch that some of them, though possessing 
 plenty of milk, had not skill enough to make cheese. They 
 were also unacquainted with horticulture and other matters 
 of husbandry. Strabo informs us that there were four pas- 
 sages commonly used for crossing over into Britain viz., 
 from the mouths of the rivers Rhine, Seine, Loire, and 
 Garonne ; but for such as sailed from the parts about the 
 Rhine the passage was not exactly from its mouths, but 
 from the country of the Morini, in which also was situated 
 Itium, which Caesar used as a naval station when about to 
 pass over into the island. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus makes mention of the tin-miners near 
 the promontory of Belerion, and characterises them as more 
 civilised than the other inhabitants, owing to their intercourse 
 with strangers. Those who were regarded as the aborigines 
 are represented as living in mean dwellings made of reeds 
 or timbers, and leading a simple, frugal, and virtuous life. 
 With regard to the method of harvesting, he makes the 
 curious statement that they merely cut off the ears of corn, 
 which were stored in underground cellars till required to 
 be dressed for food. This suggests a speedy method of 
 preparing a meal a method which was probably the same 
 as that practised on emergencies in Scotland up to recent 
 times. 1 
 
 Not till the year 79 A.D. did the Romans extend their 
 conquests as far north as the borders of Scotland. In 
 
 1 See 'The Past in the Present,' by Sir Arthur Mitchell, pp. 46, 238.
 
 AGRICOLA IN NORTH BRITAIN. J 
 
 that year the famous commander, Julius Agricola, moved 
 his forces northwards through the territories of the Brigantes 
 in the direction of the Solway Firth, with the intention of 
 carrying out his deliberately formed plan of subjugating the 
 warlike tribes of North Britain, who had hitherto maintained 
 their independence. The story of his invasion of Scotland, 
 embracing a period of five years, is concisely told by the 
 historian Tacitus. Sir Herbert Maxwell 1 has already so 
 well and thoroughly reviewed the Roman operations in the 
 south of Scotland during that period that nothing remains 
 to be done. And as other writers of the County Histories 
 Series may probably do the same for the other provinces 
 occupied by the Romans, it is unnecessary for me to enter 
 on this part of the subject. I shall therefore restrict myself 
 to giving a few extracts from the narrative of Tacitus illus- 
 trative of the topography of the country and the methods 
 of warfare adopted by the natives. 
 
 During the two succeeding years Agricola continued his 
 victorious career northwards. Penetrating the hilly regions 
 north of the Solway, he reached the valleys of the Forth 
 and Clyde. Struck by the narrowness of the neck of land 
 which separates these two estuaries, he seemed to regard it 
 as the most natural boundary of the new province, and so 
 he erected a chain of forts along its entire length as an 
 effective means of defence. Having thus secured the parts 
 of the country already subjugated, Agricola transferred his 
 operations to the regions on the north of the Firths of 
 Forth and Clyde. In this enterprise he was assisted by 
 his navy, which entered the Firth of Tay. The appearance 
 of the fleet, as it were in the heart of the country, caused 
 great consternation among the Caledonians, and so they 
 resolved to take up arms, with the view of compelling the 
 1 Dumfries and Galloway, chap. i.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Romans to retire from that part of the country. Tacitus 
 thus describes the events which led to this rising : 
 
 " In the summer which began the sixth year of Agricola's 
 administration (A.D. 83), extending his views to the countries 
 situated beyond Bodotria, as a general insurrection of the 
 remoter nations was apprehended, and the enemy's army 
 rendered marching unsafe, he caused the harbours to be 
 explored by his fleet, which, now first acting in aid of the 
 land-forces, gave the formidable spectacle of war at once 
 pushed on by sea and land. The cavalry, infantry, and 
 marines were frequently mingled in the same camp, and 
 recounted with mutual pleasure their several exploits and 
 adventures ; comparing, in the boastful language of military 
 men, the dark recesses of woods and mountains, with the 
 horrors of waves and tempests ; and the land and enemy 
 subdued, with the conquered ocean. It was also discovered 
 from the captives that the Britons had been struck with 
 consternation at the view of the fleet, conceiving the last 
 refuge of the vanquished to be cut off, now the secret re- 
 treats of their seas were disclosed. The various inhabitants 
 of Caledonia immediately took up arms, with great prepara- 
 tions, magnified, however, by report, as usual where the 
 truth is unknown ; and by beginning hostilities, and attack- 
 ing our fortresses, they inspired terror as daring to act 
 offensively ; insomuch that some persons, disguising their 
 timidity under the mask of prudence, were for instantly 
 retreating on this side the firth, and relinquishing the 
 country rather than waiting to be driven out." 1 
 
 To prevent being surrounded Agricola distributed his army 
 
 into three divisions, an arrangement which induced the 
 
 Britons to make a sudden attack in the night-time on the 
 
 9th Legion, it being the weakest. So skilfully was this 
 
 1 Life of Agricola, chap. 25 (Bohn's Classical Library).
 
 BATTLE OF MONS GRAUPIUS. 9 
 
 manoeuvre carried out that, having killed the sentinels, they 
 were actually fighting inside the camp when Agricola, who 
 had received information from his scouts of the movement 
 of the enemy, came up just in time to save his friends. The 
 enemy was routed ; and, according to the historian, " had not 
 the woods and marshes sheltered the fugitives, that day would 
 have terminated the war." 
 
 This victory completely restored the drooping spirits of 
 the Roman soldiers, and henceforth they became eager "to 
 penetrate into the heart of Caledonia." 
 
 In the beginning of next summer (A.D. 84) both armies 
 prepared for the impending struggle. Agricola, having sent 
 his fleet to various parts along the coast in order to cause 
 alarm among the natives, advanced northwards as far as a 
 hill called "Graupius," where the enemy, to the number of 
 upwards of 30,000, was already encamped. There being no 
 description of Agricola's march, nor of the locality in which 
 the hostile armies met, we have no clue to the precise 
 situation of the field of conflict, beyond the vague topo- 
 graphical allusions in the account of the battle. We need 
 not be surprised, therefore, to find that historians differ on 
 this point. General Roy places Agricola's headquarters at 
 the camp of Ardoch, while Dr Skene contends that they 
 were at Cleaven Dyke, on the peninsula formed by the 
 junction of the Isla with the Tay. 
 
 Agricola arranged his troops as follows : 8000 auxiliaries 
 occupied the centre, supported right and left by 3000 horse, 
 while the legions were stationed in the rear before the in- 
 trenchments. "The British troops, for the greater display 
 of their numbers, and more formidable appearance, were 
 ranged upon the rising grounds, so that the first line stood 
 upon the plain, the rest, as if linked together, rose above 
 one another upon the ascent. The charioteers and horse-
 
 IO INTRODUCTION. 
 
 men filled the middle of the field with their tumult and 
 careering." 
 
 The following extract is interesting as showing that the 
 Highland broadsword dates to pre - Roman times : " The 
 Britons, armed with long swords and short targets, with 
 steadiness and dexterity avoided or struck down our missile 
 weapons, and at the same time poured in a torrent of their 
 own. Agricola then encouraged three Batavian and two 
 Tungrian cohorts to fall in and come to close quarters a 
 method of fighting familiar to these veteran soldiers, but 
 embarrassing to the enemy from the nature of their armour ; 
 for the enormous British swords, blunt at the point, are unfit 
 for close grappling, and engaging in a confined space. When 
 the Batavians, therefore, began to redouble their blows, to 
 strike with the bosses of their shields and mangle the faces 
 of the enemy, and, bearing down all those who resisted 
 them on the plain, were advancing their line up the ascent, 
 the other cohorts, fired with ardour and emulation, joined in 
 the charge, and overthrew all who came in their way." 
 
 Professor Rolleston, 1 in narrating a somewhat similar in- 
 cident 2 in a contest between the Romans and the Gauls, 
 makes the following remarks on the Gaulish method of fight- 
 ing with their long pointless broadswords : " The same tactics 
 succeeded at Culloden, as the tactic of thrusting and giving 
 point always will succeed when masses of men in rows, not 
 isolated individuals merely, are pitted against each other on 
 the thrusting versus the slashing plan, though the slashing 
 sword at Culloden was of good steel enough." That the 
 Caledonians should be defeated at Mons Graupius and Cul- 
 loden the first and last of their battles since they appeared 
 
 1 " On the Iron, Bronze, and Stone Ages," p. 3 : reprint from ' Trans, of 
 the Bristol and Gl. Arch. Society.' 
 
 2 Polyb., Hist. ii. c. 33
 
 SEVERUS AMONG THE CALEDONIANS. II 
 
 in history through a peculiarity of their celebrated claymore 
 is certainly very remarkable. 
 
 The actual result of the memorable battle of Mons Graupius 
 was that Agricola withdrew his entire army to winter quarters 
 south of the line of forts which he had erected between the 
 Firths of Forth and Clyde, thus relinquishing all the fortresses 
 previously held by his soldiers to the north of this line. It 
 does not therefore appear that the victory was such a crush- 
 ing defeat of the Caledonians as might, prima facie, be in- 
 ferred from the words of the narrative. Whatever may have 
 been the motive for abandoning the garrisons north of the 
 firths, it is only natural that Tacitus, being the son-in-law of 
 Agricola, would give as much renown and Mat to the battle 
 as possible. The recall of Agricola, shortly after the defeat 
 of the Caledonians became known in Rome, owing, according 
 to his biographer, to the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian, 
 was quickly followed by the abandonment of all the fruits of 
 his northern victories. How the Caledonians settled their 
 affairs is not known, but we do know that~ when Hadrian 
 became emperor, thirty -three years afterwards, he had to 
 resort to the construction of a wall across the island, from 
 the Solway to Newcastle, in order to check the ravages of the 
 northern barbarians : nor was it till about the year 142 A.D. 
 that the Roman frontier was extended to Agricola's original 
 line of forts between the Forth and Clyde. 
 
 The remarkable march of the Emperor Severus (208 A.D.), 
 in the course of which he penetrated as far north as the 
 shores of the Moray Firth, appears to have been on so 
 large a scale as to preclude the natives from contesting the 
 progress of his army in any pitched engagement ; but yet, 
 according to Dio, he lost 50,000 men during that expedi- 
 tion. He explains, however, that this loss was caused by 
 the hewing of woods, the building of bridges, the draining
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of marshes, and especially by the ambuscades of the natives, 
 who kept up a kind of guerilla warfare against the parties 
 so engaged. The same author also states that the Romans 
 were often entrapped into the lifting of cattle which had been 
 purposely put in their way by the Caledonians themselves ; 
 and while the former were thus occupied the latter fell upon 
 them from their ambuscades, so that the Romans, rather 
 than become a prey to these people, often entreated their 
 own companions to slay them. 
 
 At this time we read of the North Britons being divided 
 into two tribes, the Mceatce and Caledonii^ the former inhabit- 
 ing the parts near the Roman Wall and the latter the regions 
 beyond. It was a century and a half later before the Picts 
 and Scots made their first appearance in history. 
 
 As to the religion of the Britons, little is said directly by 
 any of the earlier classical writers. Caesar (book vi. chaps. 
 xiii.-xvi.) informs us that throughout Gaul there were two 
 orders among the people of rank and dignity viz., the 
 Druids and the Knights the commonality being held in 
 the condition of slaves. The institution of the Druids he 
 regarded as devised in Britain and brought over from it 
 into Gaul; and he states that those who desired to gain a 
 more accurate knowledge of the system were generally in 
 the habit of going to Britain for the purpose of studying 
 it. He represents these Druids as having great influence, 
 both in religious and civil affairs. They conducted public 
 and private sacrifices, gave decisions in all controversies, 
 decreed rewards and punishments, and had the power of 
 excommunicating criminals and law-breakers from all social 
 and religious privileges. 
 
 The description given by Tacitus l of an attack, made by 
 the Roman army under Suetonius Paulinus, on the Isle of 
 1 Annals, book xiv. chaps, xxix., xxx. (Bohn's Classical Library).
 
 THE DRUIDS. 13 
 
 Mona, and the destruction of the Druids who accompanied 
 the native forces, throws a lurid light on the ceremonies of 
 this mysterious cult : 
 
 " He therefore prepared to attack the Isle of Mona, re- 
 markable for the valour of its inhabitants, and a common 
 receptacle for fugitives ; he built, for that end, boats with 
 flat bottoms, to meet the difficulties of a sea abounding in 
 shallows and subject to variations ; in these the foot were 
 embarked ; the horse followed, partly by fording and partly 
 swimming by the side of their horses, where the water was 
 deep. 
 
 "On the shore stood the forces of the enemy, a dense 
 array of arms and men, with women dashing through the 
 ranks like furies ; their dress funereal, their hair dishevelled, 
 and carrying torches in their hands. The Druids around 
 the host, pouring forth dire imprecations, with their hands 
 uplifted towards the heavens, struck terror into the soldiers 
 by the strangeness of the sight ; insomuch that, as if their 
 limbs were paralysed, they exposed their bodies to the wea- 
 pons of the enemy, without an effort to move. Afterwards, 
 at the earnest exhortations of the general, and from the 
 effect of their own mutual importunities that they would 
 not be scared by a rabble of women and fanatics, they 
 bore down upon them, smote all that opposed them to 
 the earth, and wrapped them in the flames themselves 
 had kindled. A garrison was then established to overawe 
 the vanquished, and the groves dedicated to sanguinary 
 superstitions destroyed ; for they deemed it acceptable 
 to their deities to make their altars fume with the blood 
 of captives, and to seek the will of the gods in the entrails 
 of men." 
 
 That the Britons practised mystic ceremonies of a religious 
 character is also stated by Pliny, as may be seen from the
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 following passage : l " There is a plant in Gaul, similar to 
 the plantago in appearance, and known there by the name 
 ' glastum ' ; with it both matrons and girls among the people 
 of Britain are in the habit of staining the body all over, when 
 taking part in the performance of certain sacred rites ; rivalling 
 hereby the swarthy hue of the Ethiopians, they go in a state 
 of nature." 
 
 The result of the above clippings from historical sources 
 is to show that the whole island of Britain was thickly popu- 
 lated, prior to the Roman invasion, by the descendants of 
 different races of people distinguished, even then, from each 
 other by racial and physical characteristics. From the small 
 swarthy Silures to the large red-haired Caledonians there 
 was a wide gap, which may have been since filled up by 
 cross-breeding, and may thus account for the intermediate 
 physiognomic shading of the present day. There appears 
 also to have been a difference in degree in their culture, the 
 people of the south and east being more refined than the 
 aborigines. Their villages are described as wooden huts, 
 located within woods, and rudely fortified with stakes and 
 felled trees. The Caledonians depended for their living on 
 finding pasturage for cattle rather than on the cultivation 
 of the soil. On the whole, the British people were brave, 
 proud, and superstitious. They fought in chariots with 
 shield, sword, spear, and dagger, and painted or tattooed 
 their bodies, especially when going to battle. The stories 
 about cannibalism and laxity of morals are probably mere 
 gossip, deriving at any rate little or no support from archae- 
 ological evidence. 
 
 Within the historic borderland the historian and the archae- 
 ologist meet on a common platform, and their respective 
 researches become for a short time contemporary ; and as 
 1 Nat. Hist., book xxii. chap. ii. (Bohn's Classical Library).
 
 SCOPE OF THE WORK. 15 
 
 the methods of the historian do not conduct him beyond the 
 historic fringe, the archaeologist is bound to bring his general 
 conclusions into harmony with the most approved interpre- 
 tations of the historical materials. Both investigators are 
 virtually dealing with one and the same subject viz., the 
 story of the culture and civilisation of the people of Scot- 
 land since their arrival on its shores up to the present time 
 the only break in the narrative being due merely to the 
 different means by which the information is gathered. 
 But with the advent of written records the true starting- 
 point of the historian the methods of the archaeologist are 
 not necessarily to be discarded, and, indeed, they may be 
 continued profitably, part passu with the former, a long way 
 down the stream of human progress. 
 
 Having thus parted from my fellow-workers the historians 
 it may be well to cast a coup-d'ceil on the special work 
 before us. Half a century ago the unwritten records of man 
 were scarcely recognisable through the impenetrable mists 
 which had settled on the prehistoric horizon. Now, through 
 the industry, researches, and scientific methods of modern 
 archaeologists, this happily is no longer the case. Numerous 
 explorers have made incursions into the domain of prehistoric 
 archaeology, with the result that its highways and by-ways are 
 being rapidly opened up. Already much of its materials has 
 been gathered together, carefully surveyed, and parcelled out 
 into the pigeon-holes of progressive civilisation. Definite 
 landmarks in the various phases of culture have been laid 
 down as on a chart ; and the chronological sequence in the 
 evolution of primitive tools and weapons is steadily pursued 
 with increasing means of precision. 
 
 Although the prehistoric materials collected and annotated 
 within the Scottish area do not comprise objects of any 
 striking or exceptional character such as hieroglyphs, archi-
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tectural ornamentation, art products like those of the Dordogne 
 Troglodytes, &c. yet, rude and commonplace as many of 
 them are, they have yielded some deductions of the greatest 
 importance to the history of Scottish civilisation. During 
 the centuries covered by the prehistoric period that por- 
 tion of Britain now known as Scotland differed greatly 
 as regards the social condition of its inhabitants, and even 
 in its physical features. The vegetative garb which clothes 
 its more permanent skeleton of mountain-ridges and wind- 
 ing river - valleys, has varied from time to time with the 
 vicissitudes of climate and other changes in the environ- 
 ments. The low-lying plains of sedimentary deposits which 
 stretch along the shores of our river estuaries, and the 
 numerous filled-up lake basins, are comparatively recent ad- 
 ditions to the cultivable soil. Immense fields of heath and 
 peat-bogs have taken the place of equally extensive areas 
 of primeval forests. Between the flora, fauna, and physical 
 conditions of all these successive panoramas there has 
 always been a close relationship. To such fluctuations 
 of his environment man, being the most adaptable of all 
 animals, readily accommodated himself. But, en revanche, the 
 environment affected him most powerfully, not only partially 
 moulding his organic constitution but to some extent regu- 
 lating his actions. Scotland is only part of an island, and 
 that the most distant from the old-wor!d civilisations on the 
 eastern shores of the Mediterranean ; hence it is manifest that 
 many of the physical and social changes which have taken 
 place within its area were common to the whole island. The 
 southern portion of Britain having been first occupied by the 
 Neolithic immigrants, it took them some time to extend their 
 hunting expeditions to the primeval forests and mountain re- 
 cesses of its northern extremity. No description of the pre- 
 historic inhabitants of Scotland which excludes their previous
 
 SCOPE OF THE WORK. I/ 
 
 wanderings and relationship to contemporary races can, there- 
 fore, be regarded as adequately dealing with the ethnological 
 problems involved. And this remark applies a fortiori to 
 their handicraft products and racial characteristics. There 
 is, therefore, no alternative but to treat the whole subject in 
 its wider aspects. Accordingly, the first few chapters of this 
 volume are devoted to a review of the physical phenomena 
 which obtained in North Britain when the first Neolithic 
 wanderers appeared on the scene. Concurrent and subse- 
 quent changes, such as the natural decay of forests, the 
 growth of peat, and the alterations in the relative level of 
 sea and land, are briefly described. After a few notes on 
 the contemporary fauna we pass on to the more important 
 subject of the culture and civilisation of the people who, 
 by degrees, settled in these regions. Both in the inception 
 of the work and in the filling in of the details, the twofold 
 object of describing the salient features of the archaeological 
 materials found within the present Scottish border, and of 
 showing their connection with analogous remains in outside 
 areas, has been steadily kept in view. Western Europe was 
 partitioned in Neolithic times among various races and 
 nationalities, whose spheres of influence may still be traced by 
 their well-defined antiquarian remains ; but the areas thus 
 defined do not correspond with the political divisions of the 
 present day. Also within the range of these wider influences 
 there were often smaller archaeological areas, whose charac- 
 teristics depended on local developments. From the latter 
 point of view it is possible that a few Scottish relics may 
 present some local peculiarities ; but, in their tout ensemble^ 
 they cannot be separated from the wider area of early 
 British civilisation. This volume is not, therefore, intended 
 to be a handbook to Scottish archaeology, nor does it en- 
 croach on the domain of special treatises on that subject. 
 
 B
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It goes further afield, and deals with the antiquarian dtbris 
 of a bygone civilisation and the sources from which its 
 culture elements were deiived. The picture which exhibits 
 the prehistoric people of Scotland in the foreground is not 
 less instructive because we have also figured in the back- 
 ground those from whom they inherited their culture and 
 civilisation. 
 
 Antiquaries who restrict their investigations to mere local 
 relics may look askance at the wide range thus extended to 
 the field of our inquiry. But let me remind such critics that 
 the unwritten records of man have no defined limitations, for 
 they spread their absorbent radicles into all departments of 
 knowledge. Consequently, no evidence bearing on any of 
 the past phases of human civilisation can be of permanent 
 value until it has been subjected to, and tested by, the side- 
 lights and methods of comparative archaeology.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES ARBORESCENT 
 
 GROWTHS AND PEAT-BOGS. 
 
 TYMOLOGICALLY, the word prehistoric 
 includes the entire past of a country 
 prior to the starting-point of the his- 
 torian ; but, practically, it has come to 
 be regarded as only that portion of the 
 indefinite past during which the country 
 has been inhabited by man. Had the Romans found Scot- 
 land in the possession of wild beasts, without any evidence 
 of the presence of man then or previously, the phrase 
 " Prehistoric Scotland " would have no relevancy in the sense 
 in which it is used in these pages. The physical and topo- 
 graphical features of a country do not, per se, contain the 
 elements with which the archaeologist concerns himself, but 
 upon the faintest indication that man moved on the scene 
 they become invested with the highest interest. In follow- 
 ing up the trail of prehistoric man, we have to investigate 
 not only his ordinary haunts rocks, caves, woods, mountain 
 recesses, &c. but also his entire environments, the flora 
 and fauna, climatic changes, &c. in short, everything capable 
 of influencing or of modifying the conditions of human life.
 
 2O CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 i . Climatic and Topographical Features. 
 
 There is one notable landmark which, as it fixes an ab 
 initio limit to archaeological researches in Scotland, must be 
 here briefly touched upon viz., the Glacial period. The 
 extension of a vast sheet of ice over the entire surface of 
 the country, during the Quaternary period, excludes the 
 possibility of its having been then the abode of man. The 
 extreme and fluctuating climatic changes which accompanied 
 this remarkable phenomenon gradually supervened on a sub- 
 tropical climate, and as gradually disappeared, not, however, 
 without leaving profound traces on the contour of the 
 country. The breaking up and final dispersion of the sub- 
 tropical world of North Britain, by the intervention of what 
 may truly be called an Ice Age, and the subsequent reversion 
 to a more genial climate, together with the incoming of a new 
 flora and fauna, are phenomena of absorbing interest to those 
 who study the civilisation and environments of Palaeolithic 
 man. But they lie outside the scope of this work. Scotland 
 was not a congenial home for prehistoric man until its icy 
 mantle had given place to a covering of herbaceous growths, 
 and its primeval glens and forests had become stocked with 
 a numerous and varied fauna. Nor, on the supposition that 
 the Ice Age consisted of a succession of alternately cold 
 and genial periods, is this statement likely to be modified; 
 for, among the organic remains hitherto found in its inter- 
 glacial deposits, there are no indications of the presence of 
 man. The gradual shrinking backwards of the ice-sheet is 
 the most probable explanation of the fact that in Scotland 
 and Scandinavia localities where the ice lingered longest 
 remains of Palaeolithic man have not been found. 1 But 
 
 1 The Rev. Fred. Smith, Cromlix, claims to have discovered stone im- 
 plements of Palaeolithic types, manufactured from the ordinary quartzite
 
 GLACIAL PERIOD. 21 
 
 although the field of our inquiry is thus lightened and 
 limited by the exclusion of palaeolithic controversies, we 
 have still to go hand - in - hand with the geologist, whose 
 deductions are often essential in determining the relative 
 position of sporadic finds in the scale of chronological 
 sequence. Thus, at both ends of the prehistoric period, 
 the materials and methods of archaeology interdigitate with 
 those of the collateral sciences. 
 
 When the last ice-sheet dissolved, under the effect of a 
 more genial climate, its nourishing rootlets remained as a 
 series of local glaciers, at first filling the great glens, but 
 gradually diminishing, till finally they disappeared altogether. 
 This transformation carried in its train corresponding changes 
 in the fauna of the surrounding seas, as well as of the land 
 surface. So long as Scotland was enveloped in an ice-sheet, 
 whose limits extended far beyond its present area, it is im- 
 possible to say what might have been the relative level of 
 the land to the surrounding sea ; but when the diminution 
 of the ice allowed the water to come into contact with the 
 land, we find the country submerged at least 100 feet more 
 than it is at the present time. The waters of this sea 
 were inhabited by an arctic fauna, remains of which can 
 still be detected in the marine clays then deposited on the 
 shores. Icebergs, shed by the glaciers which protruded 
 into the estuaries, and other floating ice, deposited morainic 
 debris over the submerged area. As the lands in the 
 interior became exposed to atmospheric agencies arctic 
 plants took root on them, and the numberless hollows 
 which studded the moraine profonde became converted into 
 
 and schistose rocks of the district, in the river and coast gravels of the 
 Tay, Forth, Clyde, &c. The most suggestive specimens are water-worn 
 pebbles which, he thinks, were used as implements, and subsequently 
 transported from above the 5o-feet sea-margins. See ' Brit. Association 
 Report,' 1892, p. 896; and 'Phil. Soc. Glasgow,' 3<Dth November 1898.
 
 22 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 lakelets, whose flora and fauna tell the same story of arctic 
 conditions. 
 
 Concurrent with the amelioration of climate which followed 
 the gradual disappearance of the ice, there is now a new 
 element to be considered viz., a process of land elevation 
 which henceforth became an important factor in determin- 
 ing the physical environments of man. The result of this 
 movement was that the land rose much above its present 
 level. The British Isles became part of the Continent, and 
 the arctic climate gave place to a temperate one probably 
 more genial than that of the present day. Great forests of 
 oaks, pines, and other trees covered the country, and ex- 
 tended to latitudes and altitudes far above those in which 
 a similar vegetation is now to be found. The extent to 
 which the land rose is not accurately known, as it is difficult 
 to make researches below the sea ; but judging from the 
 evidence supplied by the submerged forests, and the wide 
 distribution of the post-glacial flora and fauna, it must have 
 been adequate not only to join Britain to Europe, but to 
 connect it with Ireland, the Hebrides, and other islands in 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 While these changes were in progress, the deposits of clay, 
 sand, silt, shells, &c., which were left in the estuaries as the 
 sea retired from the loo-feet level, became exposed to the 
 ordinary disintegrating and denuding agencies. The large 
 rivers and frequently flooded streams cut through them, wash- 
 ing away the finer ingredients and strewing the coarser gravel 
 here and there at lower levels. As already mentioned, organic 
 life was equally active in its varied manifestations, and cul- 
 minated in the great forests of oaks and pines. How long 
 this arborescent age continued it is almost impossible to say. 
 The first check to its development seems to have been coin- 
 cident with the commencement of another oscillation in the
 
 GLACIAL PERIOD. 23 
 
 land the reverse of the former. The sea now again began 
 to encroach on the land, and continued to do so until it 
 reached 45 or 50 feet higher than it stands at present. 
 This movement seems also to have been concurrent with 
 a cold humid climate, favourable to the growth of peat and 
 injurious to forest-trees ; the upshot of which was the re- 
 appearance of valley-glaciers, which extended in some parts 
 of Scotland down to the sea, as we find terminal moraines 
 deposited on the 5o-feet raised beach. The cold of this 
 period was, however, not excessive, nor had it induced any 
 marked change in the flora and fauna of the country. A 
 partial destruction of the forests, caused chiefly by the in- 
 creased growth of peat and a diminution of the altitudes 
 at which they formerly flourished, are the principal changes 
 to be noted. Professor James Geikie, to whom we owe so 
 many advances in this department of research, makes the 
 following remarks on the period in question: "That many 
 of our mountain - valleys contained glaciers at this time 
 cannot be doubted; but, had it not been for the fortunate 
 circumstance that some of these glaciers reached the sea 
 and deposited their moraines on the beaches of the period, 
 we should probably have assigned all the valley -moraines 
 to the closing stages of our epoch of district ice -sheets. 
 We should, in short, have considered these later moraines 
 to have been dropped during the final retreat of the valley- 
 glaciers of the earlier epoch. . . . But the intercalation 
 of the beach - deposits shows clearly that we are dealing 
 with the detritus of a later and less important glaciation." * 
 The 5o-feet raised beach, which marks the turning-point 
 of this post-glacial submergence, coincides with the maximum 
 cold of the period. As the sea again began to retreat the 
 country passed through climatic conditions analogous to those 
 1 Great Ice Age, 3rd ed., p. 312.
 
 24 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 which obtained during the previous period of forest growths. 
 Whether this re-elevation of the land to the extent of 50 feet 
 has been effected at a uniform rate, it is difficult to say, as 
 about half-way in its progress there appears to have been a 
 prolonged period of stagnation, now indicated on the land by 
 the 25-feet raised beach. Professor Geikie maintains that 
 this beach was due to another cycle of depression and eleva- 
 tion, with corresponding changes in climate and forest 
 growths. 1 On what grounds he comes to this conclusion I 
 am unable to ascertain. According to his own description of 
 the successive geological phenomena observed in the estuaries 
 of the Forth and Tay, I find no data for such an interval. 
 The carse-clays, beneath which lies the forest-bed, correspond 
 with the submergence which left behind it the "mud silt, 
 clay, and sand, with beds of recent shells," which constitute 
 the 5o-feet raised beach. " When these carse-beds," he 
 writes, "are followed down the valleys to the shores of the 
 present estuary, the level of the carse- lands falls more or 
 less gradually away to a height of 25 or 30 feet, and still 
 lower terraces succeed down to the more recent alluvium." 2 
 I cannot see where in this sequence the deposits and pheno- 
 mena of a still later glacial epoch come in, or how they are 
 to be distinguished from the former? In my opinion the 
 upheaval corresponding to the 25-feet raised beach was due 
 to a local earth-movement which had probably nothing to do 
 with glacial phenomena. I have elsewhere 3 attempted to 
 prove that it took place during the interval since Neolithic 
 man appeared on the scene, and some time prior to the 
 occupation of the country by the Romans, and that it was 
 contemporaneous with an opposite movement in the south of 
 England and other localities. 
 
 1 Great Ice Age, 3rd ed., pp. 313, 612. 
 2 Prehistoric Europe, p. 400 3 Arch. Journal, September 1898.
 
 POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. 25 
 
 In tracing more minutely the successive changes in the 
 appearance of the country since the ice-sheet vanished, down 
 to the development of the arborescent growths and their 
 peculiar fauna, two sets of concomitant phenomena have to 
 be observed. First, the change from an arctic to a temperate 
 climate, with corresponding changes in the flora and fauna ; 
 and second, the alteration in the relative level of sea and land 
 which transformed the British Isles from a series of semi- 
 submerged islands of arctic sterility into part of a vast con- 
 tinent with a luxurious inland vegetation. At the beginning 
 of this transformation, clays, sands, and gravels would be 
 washed into all the hollows left on the surface of the moraine 
 profonde ; but as the ice melted away, and the surface-water 
 became diminished, the rivers and streams would also be- 
 come less muddy. The smaller lakes thus became stagnant 
 pools of clear water, and even those fed by the streams had 
 much less sediment washed into them. The vast reservoirs 
 of spongy peat which now supply a perennial flow were as yet 
 in an incipient stage. Such topographical and meteorological 
 conditions were favourable to the development of a peculiar 
 fresh-water fauna, which have left their remains to this day 
 as shell-marl in most of the lakes of Western Europe. Ever 
 since I began to study the phenomena of lake-dwellings, I 
 have been struck with the number of settlements which had 
 been founded immediately over the marl-deposits (weisser 
 Grund) blanc fond} of the Swiss lakes. Such was the case 
 with the settlement of Moosseedorfsee. Mr Lee states that 
 Dr Uhlmann, one of its investigators, informed him that many 
 of the specimens of Limncea palustris and L, stagnalis in the 
 shell-marl were larger than those of the present day ; and that 
 it contained L. auricularis, and a species of Paludina now 
 extinct in the smaller lakes. 1 Immediately above the shell- 
 1 Lake-Dwellings, 2nd ed., p. 36.
 
 26 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 marl deposits in Scotland, as well as on the Continent, comes 
 the peat, often without any appearance of a transition stage 
 a fact which may be partly accounted for by the latter spread- 
 ing over the bottom of the lake from its margin. As a rule, 
 the stratigraphical succession of lake-deposits, especially in 
 the smaller lakes of this country, is first clay, then shell-marl, 
 and finally peat all reposing on glacial till or bare rock. 
 Doubtless, we have in these successive strata a record of the 
 climatic conditions which obtained in post-glacial times. The 
 suggestion that the period of maximum development of the 
 fresh-water testacea which produced the shell-marl deposits in 
 Scotland correspond, chronologically, with that of the forest 
 growths, is not, therefore, unreasonable. Small stagnant lakes 
 of clear water, fed by calcareous springs, appear to have 
 supplied the most favourable conditions for their develop- 
 ment. The icy water of glaciers was too muddy, and prob- 
 ably too deficient in calcareous matter, to be a congenial 
 habitat to these organisms. Nor do they appear to have 
 successfully held ground against the steady increase of peat 
 in the succeeding ages. Sir Charles Lyell states that marl- 
 deposits do not occur in countries whose geological formations 
 consist of granite, gneiss, mica, slate, clay-slate, and greywacke, 
 but are most numerous in sandstone districts, such as Forfar- 
 shire, where they are exceptionally abundant. 1 
 
 From geologists we learn that in its main outlines Britain 
 has not greatly altered since prehistoric times, and that its 
 mountains, valleys, and river-courses have retained nearly the 
 same relative positions during the whole of the post-glacial 
 period. But it is the minor elements and their ever- changing 
 combinations that furnish the most striking features in a 
 landscape. The view from the Abbey Craig, when the school 
 of whales got stranded on the slimy mud of the inland sea (see 
 1 Geological Transactions, 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 79.
 
 ARBORESCENT GROWTHS. 2/ 
 
 chap, iii.) which then occupied the site of the present carse- 
 lands, to the west of Stirling, would be as great a contrast to 
 the primeval forest which subsequently took possession of the 
 bed of the vanished sea, as either scene would be to the 
 present condition of the Forth valley. Such variations in 
 Scottish scenery are always more or less in progress, owing 
 to the unceasing activity of their natural causes; but since 
 man appeared on the scene still greater changes have taken 
 place. One thing is certain, that without the hand of man 
 these carse-lands would have still been covered with a vast 
 peat-bog, such as they were a few centuries ago. The scenery 
 which met the gaze of prehistoric man when he first wandered 
 as far north contained neither stone-built houses, nor culti- 
 vated fields, nor trimmed hedges, nor roads, nor dykes. 
 Human interference had not yet set bounds to the primeval 
 forests which clothed the lower hills and the banks of the 
 meandering rivers, nor fettered the roamings of their wild 
 animals. Nature alone regulated the outcrop of the organic 
 world, and the only check to the exuberance of life was the 
 internecine contests of the various animals and plants which 
 there struggled for existence. 
 
 2. Arborescent Growths and Peat-bogs. 
 
 The actual extent of surface covered by arborescent growths 
 at any given time must always remain a matter of uncertainty. 
 It is probable that it was long before man became an 
 inhabitant of Scotland that the first great post-glacial forests 
 spread over the country, as no human relics, to my know- 
 ledge, have ever been identified as belonging to that period. 
 By the time man took possession of the country it would 
 appear that the age of great forests had already passed 
 its zenith, and that the trees were getting into a death-
 
 28 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 struggle with the peat which ultimately entombed many of 
 them. 
 
 Since the last glaciers disappeared extensive surface changes 
 have taken place in the valleys and river-courses. The areas 
 of lake-basins have become contracted, and many of the 
 smaller ones are now entirely obliterated, in consequence of 
 aquatic growths and the amount of disintegrated materials 
 carried into them through the agency of streams and floods : 
 upland plateaux and hillsides have become carpeted with the 
 decayed remains of successive crops of heather and other 
 plants : the prostrate trunks of trees, which had succumbed 
 either to storms or to the inevitable natural decay, initiated 
 peat-bogs, and so transformed the soil that it no longer formed 
 a suitable habitat for the recurrence of the same species. This 
 is an important point in considering the phenomena of suc- 
 cessive vegetations, as it partly explains the frequent changes 
 that take place in this respect. In the fresh morainic dlbris 
 of a glacier the Pine at once finds a congenial home, but with 
 a slight amelioration of climate the Oak would as readily take 
 possession of the same ground. Oak does not grow on peat, 
 and when the peat-cutter encounters its roots he finds them 
 invariably implanted in the virgin soil. But birch, hazel, 
 alder, and Scotch fir are found in the upper deposits of peat, 
 in succession to the buried oaks. Thus nature may be said 
 to work on the system of rotation of crops, so universally prac- 
 tised by experienced farmers of to-day. On these principles 
 the Danish antiquaries have shown that there has been a 
 regular chronological sequence in the forests of their country, 
 beginning with the Pines, which sprung up on the wane of the 
 glaciers, then the Oaks, and lastly the Beeches. Nay more, 
 they have attempted to correlate these successive forests with 
 the three ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. 1 
 
 1 See ' Lyell's Antiquity of Man,' p. 9.
 
 PEAT BOGS. 29 
 
 As evidence of the scenic and organic changes thus effected 
 we can still point to the stools of huge trees, at the bottom of 
 extensive tracts of moorland peat, in localities where not a 
 vestige of a living forest is now to be found. Early in June 
 1897, while staying at the Carrick Hotel in the west of 
 Donegal, I became greatly interested in the remains of one of 
 these ancient forests which had been exposed by peat-cutters 
 on the hillside to the east of the hotel, and overlooking the 
 Atlantic Ocean. Here the stumps of huge trees in situ, chiefly 
 pines and oaks, could be counted in hundreds, and were as 
 fresh looking as if they had been of a comparatively recent 
 growth. The peat reposes on the original glacial debris of 
 the metamorphic rocks of the neighbourhood, in which these 
 widespreading roots had taken a deep hold. I could find no 
 evidence of two forests, an upper and a lower, but occasionally 
 the contorted roots of stunted shrubs were to be seen half-way 
 up in the sections. Similar remains of forests may be seen in 
 nearly all the glens of that neighbourhood. At the present 
 time small shrubs and willows grow in the district, but only in 
 the vicinity of houses. 
 
 Those who are conversant with phenomena of this kind, 
 so abundantly met with over the British Isles, especially in 
 districts where peat -cutting is still carried on, as between 
 Shapwick and Glastonbury in England, Lochar Moss in 
 Scotland, and the Bog of Allen in Ireland, may regard 
 further evidence on this subject as superfluous. However, 
 for the benefit of those who are denied these outdoor privi- 
 leges, the following extracts from old documents, selected 
 almost at random from a large number of similar records, 
 may be interesting : 
 
 " It may be a matter of surprise," says a writer on North 
 Uist," 1 that though no trees now grow at present in this 
 1 Sinclair's Stat. Account of Scotland, vol. xiii. p. 321.
 
 3O CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 parish, the time has been when the whole face of it was 
 covered with wood. The truth of this assertion is evident 
 from the circumstance that the roots of trees are found in 
 peat -mosses in different parts, and even below high -water 
 mark : where the sand is washed away by the sea or blown 
 away by the wind they plainly appear in a kind of black 
 soil, or rather moss. This is the case particularly in the 
 island of Vallay." After expressing the opinion that the 
 spray of the ocean prevents the growth of forests at the 
 present time, he continues thus : " Though it is evident 
 that the island was once covered with trees, it must have 
 been at a period when the ocean was at a greater distance 
 that is to say, when the land extended a great deal farther 
 to the westward." 
 
 The topographical conditions, on which this writer so 
 judiciously comments, existed when Great Britain, Ireland, 
 and all these western islands, formed part of the continent 
 of Europe. The presence of deer -bones in the peat, as 
 mentioned in an unquoted portion of the same article, and 
 of most of the present flora and fauna of the island, can 
 only be accounted for on the supposition that the British 
 Isles were formerly the central parts of an extensive land 
 area now submerged. 
 
 Another writer describes analogous phenomena on the 
 mainland of Scotland as follows : " Of old in the parish 
 of Croy, Inverness -shire, and before the records of the 
 kingdom, there were extensive forests of oak, birch, 
 fir, and hazel, which have been converted into moss, in 
 some places upwards of 20 feet deep. In a moss 400 
 feet above the level of the sea, oaks of extraordinary size 
 are dug up, some of them measuring from 50 to 60 feet. 
 Where the parish joins the Strathdearn hills large blocks 
 of fir are found, where now, from cold and storm, the
 
 GREAT TREES IN PEAT. 31 
 
 dwarf willow can scarcely raise its downy and lowly 
 head." l 
 
 A moss in the parish of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, from 
 7 to 9 feet in depth, is thus described : " The soil below is 
 a deep white clay, where has formerly been a forest. The 
 oak is perfectly fresh ; the other kinds of timber are rotten. 
 The stumps in general are standing in their original position. 
 The trees are all broken over at about the height of 3 feet, 
 and are lying from south-west to north-east. So, whenever 
 you see a stump, you are sure to find a tree to the north- 
 east. How an oak-tree could break over at that particular 
 place I never could understand. But we may be allowed 
 to form a conjecture, that before the tree fell the moss 
 had advanced along its stem and rotted it there." 2 
 
 Sir John Clerk 3 in one of his letters thus refers to magni- 
 ficent oaks found at Drumcrief: "Here in a mosse of small 
 extent, I believe 40 or 50 fathoms at least above the level 
 of the sea, I saw the finest oak my eyes ever beheld. It 
 lay 6 feet under the surface, straight, and above 70 feet 
 in length, all fresh from the root to the top, though it no 
 doubt had lain there 1500 years; near to it were a great 
 many other oaks, and above, near the surface, a whole 
 wood of birch trees, which have grown up after the catas- 
 trophe of the oaks." 
 
 Mr Aiton, 4 in an excellent introduction to his treatise 
 on moss earth, says : " Trees of enormous dimensions have 
 grown spontaneously in many parts of Britain where it 
 would baffle the ingenuity of man to rear a tree of the 
 tenth part of the size. The mosses in all parts of the island 
 
 1 New Stat. Account, vol. xiv. p. 449. 
 
 2 Old Stat. Account, vol. xv. p. 484. 
 
 3 Reliquiae Galeanse, p. 333. 
 
 4 A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss Earth, 
 1811.
 
 32 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 abound with trees of much greater dimensions than any now 
 to be found growing in this country." In support of this 
 statement he instances a number of huge trees dug up from 
 peat-bogs in various localities throughout Scotland. 
 
 In a letter dated November 19, 1701, in the 'Philo- 
 sophical Transactions' (vol. xxii. p. 980), describing a buried 
 forest exposed when Hatfield Moss (Chace), Yorkshire, was 
 being reclaimed, the author, Mr Abraham de la Pryme, 
 after mentioning various trees, firs and oaks, from 20 to 
 35 yards in length (one oak was 120 feet long, 12 feet in 
 diameter near the root, and 1 1 feet in the middle), thus 
 writes : 
 
 "It is very observable, Sir, and manifestly evident, that 
 many of those trees of all sorts have been burnt, but especi- 
 ally the Pitch or Firr trees, some quite through, and some 
 all on a side ; some have been found chopped and squared, 
 some bored through, otherwise half riven with great wooden 
 wedges and stones in them, and broken ax - heads, some- 
 what like sacrificing axes in shape, and all this in such 
 places, and at such depths, as could never be opened from 
 the destruction of this forest, until the time of the drainage. 
 Near a great root in the parish of Hatfield were found 8 
 or 9 coins of some of the Roman Emperors, but exceedingly 
 consumed and defaced with time ; and it is very observable 
 that upon the confines of this low country, between Burning- 
 ham and Brumby in Lincolnshire, are several great hills of 
 loose sand, which, as they are yearly worn and blown away 
 with sand, are discovered under them many roots of great 
 Firrs or Pitch trees, with the impresses of the ax as fresh 
 upon them as if they had been cut down a few weeks, 
 which I have several times with pleasure taken notice of, 
 as I have rid that way. 
 
 "Hazle nuts and acorns have frequently been found at
 
 HATFIELD FOREST. 33 
 
 the bottom of the soil of those Levels and Mores, and Firr 
 or Pitch tree apples or cones in great quantities by whole 
 bushels together. And at the very bottom of a new river 
 or drain, that the drainers cut, were found old trees squared 
 and cut, rails, stoups, bars, old links of chains, horse-heads, 
 an old ax somewhat like a battle-axe, two or three coins 
 of the Emperor Vespatian, one of which I have seen in 
 the hands of Mr Cornelius Lee of Hatfield, with the Em- 
 peror's head on one side and a spread eagle on the other ; 
 but that which is more observable is, that the very ground 
 at the bottom of the river was found in some places to lye 
 in Rigg and fur, manifesting thereby that it had been 
 plow'd and tilled in former days. . . . 
 
 "That which is also very strange, is that about 50 years 
 ago, at the very bottom of a turf-pit, was found a man lying 
 at his length, with his head upon his arm, as in a common 
 posture of sleep, whose skin being as it were tann'd by the 
 More Water preserved his shape entire, but within, his flesh 
 and most of his bones were consumed and gone, an arm 
 of whom one of the workmen cut off, and brought home 
 to his master, which is now in the possession of my honoured 
 friend and great antiquary Dr Nat. Johnson, whose antiqui- 
 ties of this county are earnestly expected by all ingenious 
 men." 
 
 The opinion of the writer was that the Hatfield forest 
 had been destroyed by the Romans, and that the prostrate 
 stems and branches of the trees, by preventing the flow of 
 water, had converted the locality into a peat-bog. Among 
 other examples of great trees buried under peat and asso- 
 ciated with the remains of human industry, he instances 
 (loc. cif., p. 984) the following : " Dr Leigh (in his late 
 learned and ingenious history of Cheshire) observes that in 
 the draining of Martin Meer (which was performed but a 
 
 c
 
 34 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 few years ago) was found multitudes of the roots and 
 bodies of great Pitch trees commonly called Firrs, in their 
 natural postures, with great quantities of their cones, 8 
 canoes, such as the old Britons sailed in ; and in another 
 More was found a brass kettle, beads of amber, a small 
 millstone, the whole head of an Hippopotamus, and human 
 bodies entire and uncorrupted, I suppose he means to 
 outward appearance." 
 
 The Orkney and Shetland Islands are at the present time 
 absolutely destitute of woods or trees of any kind ; but yet 
 we are informed, on trustworthy authority, that decayed 
 timbers of considerable size are frequently found in the 
 peat -bogs on these islands. In June 1896, while on a 
 short visit to Shetland, I made an excursion to an exten- 
 sive peat-moor in the vicinity of Lerwick for the purpose of 
 satisfying myself on this question. The peat - deposits in 
 this locality have been utilised as fuel by the inhabitants of 
 Lerwick from time immemorial, and so I had no difficulty 
 in rinding numerous sections exposing the structure of the 
 peat down to the virgin clays. These showed two distinct 
 layers, a lower and an upper, of nearly equal thickness. 
 The former was a black, dense, heavy material, which, when 
 cast into peats and dried, looked almost like a piece of 
 coal ; the latter was a spongy, fibrous substance, of a brown- 
 ish colour, with a tendency to lamination. Between these 
 different deposits I noticed in several places an aggregation 
 of the remains of shrubs, and also beneath the lower 
 bed. The bogwood was much decayed, and looked like 
 scraggy contorted stems and roots of stunted hazel or 
 willow. The largest pieces I found measured only 14 and 
 1 6 inches in circumference. I visited another peat -bog 
 on the road to Scalloway, where peat - cutting was going 
 on ; but there I could find no trace of wood in the sections,
 
 BOGWOOD IN ORKNEY AND SHETLAND. 35 
 
 although the two qualities of peat were much the same as 
 in the former. 
 
 Mr George Low, 1 more than a century ago, puts on record 
 the following observations on this subject : " Crossed the 
 Parish of Belting, thro' deep moss grounds, for Yell. Ob- 
 served near the kirk of Scalsta, in the bank where the sea 
 had wore away the earth, a continued stratum of large 
 pieces of wood, in a horizontal position, a few inches 
 above the hard gravel, covered with about 10 feet of moss. 
 This stratum is continued as far as I could search the 
 whole length of this worn bank, and, probably, round the 
 bay ; it consists of pieces from 8 inches to half an inch in 
 diameter, roots, stocks, and, in a word, all parts of a tree ; 
 seems Hazel and Aquatick woods, but so much rotten that 
 no part can be moved. This, however, is a proof of trees 
 having been here at some period, but this seems to have 
 been very ancient, if we compute from the vast dispropor- 
 tion there is between the thickness of moss below the 
 stratum with that above, and at the same time consider 
 the length of time the latter would require to grow, both 
 in height and solidity, both which it has in a great degree, 
 particularly towards the bottom. The horizontal position 
 seems to indicate that they have all fallen at the same 
 time, or have subsided after some terrestrial convulsion, a 
 partial or universal flood ; but however this is, are a plain 
 proof of wood having been here of old, and might be a 
 lesson to the inhabitants to enquire what woods are fittest 
 for, and would be most valuable in, their country." 
 
 While the existence of bogwood in the Outer Hebrides, 
 
 and in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, demonstrates the 
 
 wider geographical distribution of forests in former times, 
 
 its presence in the peaty uplands of the mainland is equally 
 
 1 Tour thro" Orkney and Shetland, 1774, p. 146.
 
 36 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 conclusive as to the greater altitudes at which they flourished. 
 The most stunted Scotch fir at the present time rarely grows 
 above 1 800 feet above sea-level, but in the peat-bogs its roots 
 are found up to 3000 feet, as has been observed at Glen- 
 avon, 1 Banffshire, and other localities. 
 
 The inferences to be derived from these and similar obser- 
 vations on peat-bogs and their buried forests, throughout 
 Scotland, are somewhat conflicting. There can be no doubt 
 that the climatic conditions which permitted oaks to flourish 
 on the uplands of Scotland, and trees of considerable size to 
 grow in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, where scarcely 
 a stunted shrub is now to be seen in a wild state, were more 
 favourable to the growth of forest trees than those which 
 now obtain. On the other hand, the large pines found in 
 some of the Lowland mosses would seem to indicate a colder 
 climate. The probable explanation of this is, that the pines 
 and oaks, though sometimes found associated in the same 
 bog, belong to slightly different periods of time. 
 
 3. Chronological Data. 
 
 Nothing, in my opinion, can be more certain than that an 
 extensive forest of oaks and other trees sprang up after the 
 sea retreated from the valley of the Lochar and the Carse of 
 Stirling, and that both of them subsequently succumbed to 
 the growth of peat. In the south portion of Lochar Moss I 
 have seen stems and trunks of oak-trees which grew on the 
 subjacent marine clays. Farther inland, where the marine 
 deposits are light and gravelly, the roots of the fir are said to 
 be more abundant a difference which is readily explained by 
 the nature of the deposits, the oak preferring a clayey soil. 
 These facts are in accordance with the experience of peat- 
 1 Old Stat. Account, vol. xii. p. 451.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL DATA. 37 
 
 cutters and others who have recorded their observations from 
 practical knowledge. Nor can there be any doubt that a 
 forest preceded the formation of the Blair Drummond Moss 
 in the Carse of Stirling. A wooden roadway, exposed in the 
 early part of this century, is thus described: "The mosses 
 preserved the remains of an ancient forest chiefly of oak-trees, 
 which had occupied the plain but little above the surface of 
 the river during ordinary floods, part whereof appears to have 
 been lower and marshy, across which a road had been formed 
 of trees laid longitudinally, with a second laid transversely. 
 The depth of Blair Drummond Moss (in which this road 
 occurs), prior to the operations, was 8 feet, extending to 14 
 towards the upper extremity. Some of the roots of the trees 
 were very large, and occupied their natural position in the 
 soil, their trunks being extended horizontally, many retaining 
 distinct impressions of the axes employed in felling them an 
 operation commonly referred to the period of the Roman 
 conquest." l 
 
 The surmise that this wooden pavement was part of a 
 Roman road is not at all improbable, and if this could be 
 substantiated it would disprove the theory advanced by Sir 
 Archibald Geikie and others, that the 25-feet raised beach 
 had been formed since the Romans visited Scotland. 2 That 
 these peat-deposits in the Forth and Lochar valleys, as well 
 as those of the Cree, Solway, and others within the 25-feet 
 zone of submergence, are comparatively recent, there can be 
 little doubt from the evidence of man's presence in the 
 localities long before their formation. A bronze caldron 
 (fig. i), now in the National Museum, was discovered in 
 the Kincardine Moss in 1768 "upon the surface of the 
 clay buried under the moss." It is made of thin plates of 
 
 1 Mem. Wern. Soc., vol. v. p. 426. 
 
 2 Edin. New Phil. Journal, vol. xiv. p. 102.
 
 38 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 bronze riveted together the rounded bottom portion being 
 shaped from one plate and measures 25 inches in diameter 
 and 1 6 inches in depth. The everted rim, which is formed 
 of a couple of bands of sheet-bronze fastened to the upper 
 edge of the vessel, bears marks of the rivets by which a 
 pair of ring-handles had been attached. Another caldron 
 
 Fig. i. Bronze caldron found in the Moss of Kincardine (25 inches 
 diameter). 
 
 (fig. 2) of the same type, said to have been found in the 
 west of Scotland, is also in the National Museum. 1 A 
 third caldron (fig. 3), showing the same style of workman- 
 ship, but differing from the former in being bucket-shaped 
 with a flat bottom, was found at Cardross, in a small camp 
 on the north-west corner of Flanders Moss, in the valley of 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xix. p. 315.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL DATA. 
 
 39 
 
 the Forth. 1 The globular- and round-bottomed forms are 
 more commonly met with in the British Isles, whereas on 
 the Continent the reverse of this is the case. Both kinds 
 have, however, been found on the Oppidum La Tene. (See 
 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' p. 290, and fig. 92, Nos. 18 and 
 19.) These vessels appeared in Britain in pre-Roman times, 
 
 Fig. 2. Bronze caldron from fhe West of Scotland (25 inches 
 diameter}. 
 
 probably in the late Bronze or early Iron Age ; but never- 
 theless the Kincardine caldron might have been a " Roman 
 camp-kettle," as described in the Museum list of 1782. It 
 was apparently abandoned in the depths of a forest, which 
 had already shown symptoms of decay, and ultimately got 
 covered over with the growing peat. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxii. p. 37.
 
 40 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 Another beautiful object of the Late Celtic period was 
 found in Lochar Moss inside a bronze bowl (fig. 4). This 
 is a beaded torque, consisting partly of ornamented beads and 
 partly of a solid portion elegantly chased with- a pattern of 
 " late Celtic " design. 1 Other relics reported to have been 
 found in buried forests have already been mentioned ; and it 
 may be observed that all of them, so far as the circumstances 
 of their discovery can now be recalled, support the theory 
 
 that man was an eyewitness of 
 the successive transformations 
 of sea, forest, moss, and wheat- 
 lands which have taken place in 
 the Carse of Stirling. If the 
 facts regarding the Culzean 
 hoard (p. 77) be of any value, 
 the sea had not retired in the 
 early Bronze Age much be- 
 yond the 2 5 - feet level. But 
 this evidence could be entirely 
 negatived on the supposition 
 that a severe storm would suffice 
 to throw up gravel on a gently 
 shelving beach to that height. 
 
 That the relative level of sea and land during the Bronze Age 
 was not much different from what it is at the present time 
 is proved by the position of a small cemetery of the Bronze 
 Age found at Magdalen Bridge, near Joppa, and described 
 by Mr W. Lowson. 2 The surface of the ground was only 
 12 to 14 feet above high -water mark. On the top was 
 ordinary soil, and beneath that a layer of sea-sand, 4 to 8 
 feet thick (in which urns and a bronze blade were found), 
 
 Fig. 3. Bronze caldron (19 inches 
 in height) found at Cardross. 
 
 1 Wilson's Preh. Annals, vol. ii. p. 140 ; Plate IX. vol. i. p. 465. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 419.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL DATA. 41 
 
 resting on a bed of gravel. This conclusively shows that 
 the sea had then retreated to near its present limits. 
 During Roman times it would appear that the sea had for- 
 saken the Carse of Stirling and Lochar Moss sufficiently 
 
 Fig. 4. Bronze beaded torque and bowl found in I^ochar Moss. 
 
 long to admit of forests to grow on areas which in Neolithic 
 times had been sea. 
 
 Outside the 5o-feet zone of submergence the older and 
 newer peat - deposits cannot be readily distinguished, as the 
 two periods are in a certain measure continuous ; but within
 
 42 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 it they are often separated by beds of clay, as may be seen 
 in the valleys of the Forth and Tay. 1 It is possibly to the 
 older forest-bed that many of the large trees found in the 
 Cree, and described by Sir Arthur Mitchell, must be as- 
 signed. He has recognised their existence in "two distinct 
 positions " one " on the surface of the clay," and the other 
 in the channel of the river, with "from 10 to 15 feet of 
 sandy clay" above them (see p. 69). It is also probable 
 that many of the great oaks found in peat-bogs, as well as 
 the pines in the higher altitudes, belong to the same older 
 period. 
 
 Many of these consecutive changes on the earth's surface 
 are as legible to the geologist as the seasonal indications of 
 flowering-plants, autumn tints, and snowy wreaths are to the 
 country peasant. They are indeed hour shadows on the 
 dial of time. Like the dies and the annus, the intervals be- 
 tween one ice age and another were measured by precise 
 movements of the heavenly bodies ; and they had their con- 
 secutive phases dawn, noon, and evening distinguished 
 in the book of Nature by concurrent phenomena in the 
 physical and organic environments. The evolutionary phases, 
 which preceded the vegetative garb, now clothing the rugged 
 contour of our country, are also valuable factors in decipher- 
 ing the history of past ages. But space will not admit of 
 discussing this interesting subject at greater length. 
 
 To whatever causes the disappearance of the great forests 
 may be assigned, there can be no doubt that North Britain 
 was more extensively wooded in prehistoric times than at the 
 present day. Roman historians agree in representing the 
 climate of Britain as humid and favourable to luxuriant 
 vegetation, and sufficiently mild to permit of the natives 
 going about in a semi-nude condition. Caesar states that all 
 1 Geikie, Great Ice Age, 3rd ed., p. 291.
 
 DECAY OF FORESTS. 43 
 
 kinds of trees grew on it, with the exception of the fir (silver 
 fir) and the beech, and that its climate was more temperate 
 than that of Gaul. Tacitus also describes the climate of 
 Britain as always damp with rains, and overcast with clouds, 
 without, however, the cold being extremely rigorous. He 
 speaks of cutting down woods and draining bogs ; and 
 represents the natives, when beaten, as flying for shelter 
 to the woods and marshes. Another writer (Dio Cassius) 
 describes the Caledonians as dwelling in tents, naked, and 
 without shoes ; enduring hunger, cold, and all manner of 
 hardships with wonderful patience ; and capable of remain- 
 ing in bogs for many days immersed up to the neck, and 
 without food. In the woods they lived on the bark of trees 
 and roots, and had a sort of food always ready, of which, if 
 they took but the quantity of a bean, they would be neither 
 hungry nor thirsty for a long time after. Herodian de- 
 scribes them as going about partially naked to prevent the 
 beautiful figures painted on their bodies from being hidden. 
 According to him, they wore neither coat of mail nor helmet, 
 to prevent them being encumbered in their marches through 
 bogs and morasses whence such a quantity of vapours was 
 exhaled that the air was always thick and cloudy. 
 
 According to tradition and the annals, the Romans are 
 credited with being the prime movers in the destruction of 
 the British forests ; and certainly the quoted extract, about 
 the drainage of Hatfield Moss, supports that view. But 
 however destructive they may have been on the forests, 
 while clearing a way for their legions, it is impossible to 
 assign to this agency more than a nominal value. Forests 
 have equally disappeared in countries and districts never 
 visited by the Romans. That the natives themselves partly 
 contributed to the clearance of the woods and jungles, as they 
 became habituated to the systematic tillage of the land, is
 
 44 CLIMATIC AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
 
 probable. But whatever may have been the real agency of 
 their destruction, whether the growth of peat, the varia- 
 tion of climate, or the hand of man, the change was not 
 effected all at once. The numerous place-names, such 
 as Woodlands, Woodend, Woodside, Linwood, Fulwood, 
 Oakshaw-side, Oakshaw-head, Walkingshaw, &c., &c., prove 
 that the south of Scotland was well wooded after the Saxon 
 language had ousted the Celtic. On the other hand, in medi- 
 eval times wood was becoming scarce. Cosmo Innes thus 
 alludes to the subject : " At the earliest period illustrated 
 by the Melrose Charters there is sufficient evidence that the 
 southern division of Scotland was not a well-wooded country. 
 On the contrary, the right of cutting wood was carefully re- 
 served when pasturage or arable land was granted : and when 
 that right was conceded for some particular purpose, such as 
 for fuel for a salt-work, or for building, the use was limited in 
 express terms. The high grounds of Ayrshire may be an ex- 
 ception, where there seems to have existed an extensive forest ; 
 but elsewhere wood was a scarce and valuable commodity." 1 
 
 1 Sketches of Early Scottish History, p. 100.
 
 45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ALTERATIONS IN THE RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND 
 SUBSEQUENT TO THE APPEARANCE OF MAN IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 HAT there is a remarkable parallelism 
 between the repeated land-submergences 
 and the glacial epochs, as partially 
 described in the last chapter, has been 
 frequently pointed out by geologists. 
 The most probable explanation of this 
 coincidence of two apparently independent phenomena is 
 that they were the effects of one common cause viz., cosmic 
 or astronomical cycles. But the operation of such causes 
 would not destroy the effects of other agencies capable of alter- 
 ing the relative level of sea and land. The result of a local 
 i.e., terrestrial element coming into play, synchronously 
 with a cosmic movement, would be either to intensify the 
 action of the latter, if they were acting in one direction, 
 or to counteract it, if in opposite directions. The 25-feet 
 raised beach in Scotland may, therefore, be accounted for 
 on the supposition that while the land was gradually rising 
 in obedience to an astronomical cause, it became arrested 
 by a terrestrial movement of depression, the apparent result 
 being a cessation of all movement. But my object is not
 
 46 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 to explain the physical causes of land oscillations, but to 
 chronicle their existence and effects on the career of man. 
 Without, therefore, taking into consideration local volcanic 
 disturbances, such as Sir Charles Lyell describes as having 
 occurred at Puzzuoli since the temple of Jupiter Serapis 
 was built, there are other obscure land oscillations whose 
 effects have to be investigated. The first evidence of this 
 nature which falls to be discussed is that which proves that 
 the shore-lands of Scotland have risen some 25 or 30 feet 
 since Neolithic man appeared in Central Scotland. As the 
 facts on which this conclusion is based are derived from 
 sources of investigation which have little or no connection 
 with each other, there is no necessity for marshalling them 
 in any particular order. Accordingly, I begin with one of 
 the most recent discoveries bearing on this subject, viz. : 
 
 i. The MacArthur Cave and Rock- Shelter at Oban. 
 
 The MacArthur Cave was discovered in December 1894 
 by quarrymen while removing stones, for building purposes, 
 from a cliff facing the bay of Oban, long regarded by 
 geologists as marking the line of an old sea-beach. In the 
 course of these operations a cavity was exposed in the rock 
 which turned out to be a cave 2 5 feet long (north to south) 
 and from 16 to 20 feet broad. This opening was made near 
 the back of the cave, but its natural entrance, which had been 
 most effectually concealed by an old talus of earth and stones, 
 was at the other or north end. Before the discovery came 
 under the notice of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the 
 whole of the roof had been removed by the quarrymen ; but 
 as the floor, already ascertained to be an accumulation of 
 relic-bearing debris, remained practically undisturbed, it was 
 decided by the Council of the Society to have it thoroughly
 
 MACARTHUR CAVE AT OBAN. 47 
 
 excavated. A full report of the investigation was read at 
 a meeting of the Society nth March 1895 by Dr Joseph 
 Anderson, who, with the co-operation of a number of local 
 gentlemen interested in the antiquities of their neighbour- 
 hood, superintended the excavations. 
 
 The contents of the cave consisted, first, of a layer of black 
 earth, the presence of which was accounted for by a slanting 
 shaft filled with a similar material, which extended from the 
 wall of the cave to the surface of the ground above. This 
 shaft was formerly an open-air passage, by means of which, 
 it was conjectured, surface -soil had been washed into the 
 interior of the cave. In this layer, besides the bones of 
 various animals, the following human remains were found, 
 the relative positions of which are thus stated : " Towards the 
 back of the cave, and under a projecting part of the roof 
 which remained on the east side, a human skull was found 
 on the surface of the black earth. A few feet farther north, 
 on the same side of the cave, another skull was found em- 
 bedded in the black earth, almost on the top of the shell-bed 
 underneath. Still farther north, and only a few feet distant, 
 were a good many other bones of a human skeleton. Two 
 lower jaws were also separately found near these remains on 
 the same side of the cave." 
 
 Professor Sir William Turner gave a report on these human 
 remains, but it is unnecessary here to dwell on their special 
 characters, as, from their superficial position in the cave, their 
 owners had probably no relationship with the cave-dwellers 
 who left the implements and weapons among the subjacent 
 deposits. 
 
 The next deposits in descending order are thus described : 
 " It was found that underneath the layer of black earth there 
 was a bed of shells, varying from 27 inches to about 3 feet in 
 thickness, extending over the whole floor of the cave, and
 
 48 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 showing little or no intermixture of black earth or gravel, but 
 here and there patches of ashes mixed with wood-charcoal, 
 and charred splinters of bone. Under this shell-bed was a 
 bed of fine clean gravel, composed entirely of small water- 
 rolled stones. In this gravel, at a depth of about 18 inches 
 (where the section was first made), there was intercalated a 
 deposit of shells, which we at first spoke of as the lower shell- 
 bed, but which proved to be of partial extent and unequal 
 thickness, thinning out towards the sides and towards the 
 mouth of the cave, and in several places presenting an 
 irregular or patchy appearance in the section, as if the shells 
 had been deposited in heaps or pockets in the gravel. Under- 
 neath this intercalated layer of shells the gravel extended for 
 about 4 feet or more to the cave bottom, where it was mixed 
 with large and small fragments of loose rock. The whole 
 thickness of the gravel-bed under the upper deposit of shells 
 was thus about 6 feet, including the intercalated lower deposit 
 of shells." 
 
 Both the upper and lower shell-beds were composed of the 
 shells of edible species found on the neighbouring shores and 
 of the bones of land and marine animals, the entire mass being 
 a true refuse-heap, evidently the result of a lengthened occu- 
 pation of the cave by people who fed on the fauna represented 
 in it. The bones were, for the most part, broken into 
 splinters both for the purpose of extracting the marrow and 
 of manufacturing bone implements, of which a large number 
 was collected. 
 
 All the implements recovered were made of bone or deer- 
 horn, with the exception of three hammer-stones, and twenty 
 flints (three being natural nodules), mostly flakes and chips, 
 "a few of which show secondary working, though none are 
 really implements in the sense of being fashioned and 
 finished."
 
 MACARTHUR CAVE. 49 
 
 The bone and horn implements consist of three pins (fig. 
 5) ; three borers (fig. 6), together with a few bones of 
 nondescript characters, being merely pointed or flattened at 
 the end; 140 "round-nosed, chisel-ended implements having 
 an extraordinary likeness to each other" (figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10) ; 
 and seven harpoons (two being entire) made of deer-horn. 
 The larger of the entire harpoons (fig. n) (6 inches in length) 
 
 Fig. 5. Bone pin (}). Fig. 6. Bone borer ({). 
 
 has four barbs on each side and a perforation at the butt- 
 end. The other (fig. 12) differs from it only in being 
 smaller (4^ inches in length) and having no perforation at 
 
 the butt-end. 
 
 i 
 
 The animal remains from the respective deposits were 
 identified by Mr James Simpson, assistant to Sir William 
 Turner, as follows : 
 
 " (i) In the upper layer of black earth were bones or teeth 
 
 D
 
 5O RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 of the red -deer and of a species of ox, also of the pig, 
 dog, and badger (Meles taxits). Some bones of birds, fish, 
 claws of crabs, and shells of patella, solen, and whelk were 
 recognised. 
 
 " (2) In the shell-bed underneath the black earth, in addition 
 to bones of badger, red-deer, and ox, a part of the jaw of a 
 roe -deer (C. capreolus) was recognised; also bones of small 
 
 Figs. 7, 8, 9. Implements of bone and deer-horn (}). 
 
 birds and of fish, claws of crabs, and shells of patella, pecten, 
 and solen. 
 
 " (3) In the deeper shell-bed and pockets underneath the 
 gravel below No. 2 were portions of two frontal bones of an 
 ox, probably Bos longifrons, antlers, and bones of red-deer, 
 one of which had been a large stag, the burr being 80 mm.' 
 (about 3 inches) in diameter, bones of roe-deer, the humerus 
 of an otter (Lutra vulgaris\ the humerus of a cat, the lower jaw 
 of a young pig, the upper jaw of a badger ; also bones of small 
 birds, jaw and vertebrae of fish, crabs' claws, and shells of
 
 MACARTHUR CAVE. 51 
 
 molluscs. Some of the bones were blackened and calcined 
 from the action of fire." 
 
 It is fortunate that the record of archaeological phenomena 
 
 Fig. 10. Bone implement 
 made of the leg-bone of a 
 dttr. 
 
 Fig. 12. Har- 
 poon of deer- 
 horn (f ). 
 
 Fig. it. Harpoon of deer-horn (J). 
 
 found in this cave fell to be described by such experienced 
 and accurate observers as Sir William Turner, Dr Anderson,
 
 52 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 and Mr J. H. Cunningham, C.E. (the last having made a 
 plan of the cave and determined its height above the Ordnance 
 datum line), as the conclusions arrived at with regard to 
 the relative level of sea and land, then and now, are of 
 exceptional importance. 
 
 Dr Anderson, after discussing with great clearness and 
 precision the possibilities as to how the upper and lower 
 shell-beds became separated by a layer of sea-gravel, leaves 
 it undecided whether it was deposited by the action of the 
 waves after man had taken up his abode in the cave, or, as 
 he suggests, was due to that of man himself incidentally 
 treading down the gravel previously heaped up in it. " There 
 is," he writes, " no absolutely decisive evidence for either of 
 these suppositions : and even though my objection be found 
 to have little value, there is no escape from the conclusion 
 that, if the upper gravel was washed into the cave after its 
 occupation by men, it must have been during or subsequent 
 to Neolithic times, for archasologically the fauna and imple- 
 ments of the cave must be classed as Neolithic at the earliest." 
 I need hardly observe that the acceptance of Dr Anderson's 
 hypothesis, as an adequate explanation of the phenomena in 
 question, would entirely eliminate the chronological problem 
 from the field of discussion. But in my opinion this hypothesis 
 is untenable, for the very cogent reason that it fails to ex- 
 plain the facts. Morever, the alternative view, so forcibly 
 described by Dr Anderson that in reality he is its advocate, 
 is not only consistent with archaeological deductions derived 
 from other sources, but offers a natural and probable explan- 
 ation of the entire set of phenomena. 
 
 With respect to the inadequacy of the treading-down pro- 
 cess to account for the presence of the upper layer of gravel, 
 it is only necessary to make an effort to picture to the mind's 
 eye any conceivable modus operandi by which this could be
 
 MACARTHUR CAVE. 53 
 
 effected to be convinced that the hypothesis must be aban- 
 doned as unpracticable. When the upper shell -bed was 
 cleared off we are told that there was exposed beneath it " a 
 layer of clean washed gravel or small-sized pebbles extending 
 over the whole floor of the cave," underneath which, at a 
 depth of from 6 to 1 8 inches, was embedded a lower shell-bed. 
 Now is it probable, or indeed possible, that this intermediate 
 layer of clean washed gravel had been so placed by the tread 
 of the people who from day to day frequented the cave, and 
 here cooked and ate their food, throwing the refuse anywhere 
 around them ? This treading process must have gone on, 
 even to a greater degree, from the very beginning of the 
 occupancy of the cave, and consequently the gravel would 
 become mixed more or less uniformly with the shells ; but 
 we have no evidence to show that any intermingling of this 
 kind had taken place in the upper gravel. Again, while we 
 would expect to find the gravel largely mixed with the shells 
 at the bottom, and becoming less so as the accumulation in- 
 creased, it is inconceivable that any unintentional treading 
 would spread over the whole shell-heap a clear bed of gravel, 
 nowhere less than 6 inches in depth. Besides, we must bear in 
 mind that this lower shell-bed " was mixed with broken bones 
 of animals," and contained " the same shells and bones of 
 the same animals," as well as " the same varieties of bone 
 implements," as the upper shell-bed. The only distinction 
 between them was that the shells and bones of the former 
 " were more decomposed and friable " than those of the 
 latter. Also the " patches of shells intercalated in the gravel 
 still retained among them the smaller and lighter shells as 
 well as the heavier, and occasional deposits of charcoal and 
 ashes." 
 
 To me it seems obvious that this layer of clean washed 
 gravel, which so completely separated these two shell-beds,
 
 54 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 was the result of some sudden coup, some specific action, 
 which came into operation a considerable time after the 
 people had taken possession of the cave. The facts would 
 be quite consistent with the idea that the Troglodytes aban- 
 doned the cave for a time, and that, on coming back, they 
 purposely spread this layer of gravel over the former refuse- 
 heap, so as to start, as it were, with a clean floor and 
 hearth. There is, however, no natural process which, to my 
 mind, accounts for it more satisfactorily than the supposition 
 that during a severe storm the waves were forced into the 
 cave, carrying with them a certain amount of shingle, which 
 henceforth became the floor of the cave, and over which the 
 cave-dwellers, after the abatement of the storm, again took 
 up their quarters as formerly. 
 
 If this opinion be correct, the importance of the Oban cave 
 cannot be exaggerated, as it proves that man was an inhabitant 
 of the district when the opening to the cave was on the sea- 
 beach, and sufficiently near the water to permit the waves to 
 enter it during a storm. But the beach of to-day is i oo yards 
 distant, and the lower shell-bed lay fully 30 feet above the 
 present high-water mark. 1 
 
 At the beginning of May 1898 another discovery was made 
 at Oban which yielded similar remains of human industry, 
 associated with a refuse- heap of shells and broken bones 
 precisely analogous to those from the MacArthur Cave. This 
 was a rock-shelter, situated at the base of a steep rock called 
 Druimvargie, and overlooking a marsh in which, some years 
 ago, the remains of a lake-dwelling were found. The area 
 of the shelter was some 10 feet square, and the debris which 
 lay in it had been covered over for ages by a deep talus. It 
 was while clearing away this talus, preparatory to laying the 
 
 1 In addition to Dr Anderson's Report, see ' Proc. Soc. A. Lond.,' May 
 21, 1896.
 
 DRUIMVARGIE ROCK-SHELTER. 
 
 55 
 
 foundations of a house, that the shell-heap became exposed. 
 Among the relics were a few stone implements of water-worn 
 pebbles of an elongated shape and slantingly abraded at one 
 end, two or three bone borers, a portion of a deer-horn 
 broken across a circular perforation, a number of " round- 
 nosed " chisels of bone, and the front portions of two har- 
 poons (figs. 13 and 14) made of deer-horn, and of the same 
 
 15 i6 17 
 
 Figs. 13-17. Harpoons from Druimvargie , Caisteal-nan-Gillean, and 
 Newcastle-ttpon-Tyne (j). 
 
 character as those found in the MacArthur Cave, differing 
 from them only in having the barbs three in each case 
 on one side. M. Piette also records unilateral barbed 
 harpoons from the cave of Mas-d'Azil in France. Hence 
 the discovery of this variety at Oban only strengthens the 
 remarkable analogy between these relics in the French and 
 Scottish caves, the significance of which I have elsewhere 
 fully discussed. 1 
 
 1 Prehistoric Problems, pp. 60-77.
 
 56 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 Bone harpoons and implements of bone and stone, similar 
 to those from the MacArthur Cave and the rock-shelter of 
 Druimvargie, have also been found at Caisteal-nan-Gillean, 
 Oronsay, explored by Mr Symington Grieve and the late Mr 
 William Galloway. These investigations have been described 
 by Mr Grieve in his work on ' The Great Auk or Garefowl,' 
 and recently by Dr Joseph Anderson in the Proceedings of 
 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. xxxii. Caisteal- 
 nan-Gillean is a sand-hill, about 150 feet in diameter, with an 
 average height of 2 5 feet. Its surface was covered with grassy 
 turf, having blown sand underneath to a depth of from i 
 to 5 feet. " Below this covering," writes Dr Anderson, " an 
 accumulation of shells and bones, in a series of layers mingled 
 with sand and ashes, extended downwards for a total depth of 
 about 8 feet. Underneath this refuse-heap the substance of 
 the mound consisted of blown sand in layers, the upper part 
 of each layer defined by a thin line of dark mould, with a few 
 sea and land shells intermixed, but no implements or other 
 remains of human occupancy." The bone and horn imple- 
 ments found in this shell-heap consisted of eleven harpoon- 
 heads (figs. 15 and 1 6), three bone awls, and 150 "round- 
 nosed," chisel-like implements, similar to those from the caves 
 at Oban. The stone implements, which numbered over 200, 
 were elongated water-worn pebbles worked at one end into 
 "round -nosed" endings precisely similar to the bone chisels. 
 They are supposed to have been utilised by the people who 
 formed this midden as " limpet hammers." Besides the 
 above-named objects there were eight fragments of perforated 
 implements of deer-horn, and others roughly cut round the 
 circumference and then broken across ; two small anvil-stones 
 measuring about 4 by 3 inches and i^ inch thick; fifty 
 chips and splinters of flint, but none which can be charac- 
 terised as a worked implement. With the exception of bones
 
 CAISTEAL-NAN-GILLEAN. 57 
 
 of the Great Auk, the organic remains were those of the 
 existing fauna of the West Coast. 
 
 Two other shell-heaps in Oronsay were excavated by Mr 
 Galloway, whose contents were apparently similar to those of 
 Caisteal-nan-Gillean. Also Dr T. B. Sprague exhibited at a 
 meeting of the Scottish Natural History Society, in 1898, a 
 large quantity of broken bones found in a shell-heap or 
 kitchen-midden on the island of Inchkeith, among which I 
 observed a few round-nosed chisels similar to those of Oban 
 and Oronsay. 
 
 Recently, when on a visit to the Antiquarian Museum at 
 Newcastle - upon - Tyne, I saw a bone harpoon labelled as 
 having been picked up on the shore at Whitburn in 1852. 
 As will be seen from figure 1 7, it is very similar to the Oban 
 specimens. Another of the same class of weapon was found 
 in the Victoria Cave, Yorkshire, 1 which has the peculiarity of 
 having two reverse barbs, one at each side, for the purpose of 
 fastening the string, instead of a hole as in the Whitburn 
 specimen. 
 
 2. Implements of Deer-horn associated with the Skeletons of 
 Whales in the Carse of Stirling. 
 
 On the 1 7th September 1889 Professor Sir William Turner 
 read a paper at the British Association, then held at New- 
 castle-upon-Tyne, " On Implements of Stag's horn associated 
 with Whales' Skeletons found in the Carse of Stirling." In 
 this paper the author describes a perforated horn implement 
 shaped like a hammer-axe head, n inches long and 6^ 
 inches in its greatest girth (fig. 18). It was found in 1877, 
 resting on the skull of the skeleton of a Balsenoptera exposed 
 in the course of drainage operations on the estate of Meikle- 
 1 Cave Hunting, p. 112.
 
 55 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 wood, a few miles west of Stirling. In 1819 and 1824 it is 
 recorded that implements of deer-horn, two of which are 
 described as being perforated with a round hole about an 
 inch in diameter, were found also associated with whales' 
 skeletons, but they appear to have been lost. 1 
 
 In his introductory remarks Sir William writes as follows : 
 "Those who are acquainted with the valley of the Forth 
 know that the river Forth winds for many miles through an 
 extensive plain called the Carse of Stirling. This plain is a 
 raised sea-beach, which reaches from 5 or 10 to 30 feet above 
 the present level of high-water. Geologists regard this beach 
 
 Fig. 18. Hammer-axe head of stag's horn found with a whale's skeleton at 
 Meiklewood, near Stirlin 
 
 as a post-glacial accumulation of marine origin, for the shells 
 which it contains are not Arctic but those of molluscs now 
 extant in the seas of Scotland. In the subsoil of the raised 
 beach the skeletons of large whales have from time to time 
 been found, and as many as seven well authenticated speci- 
 mens have been recorded. They were all got under almost 
 similar conditions imbedded in a blue silt which underlay a 
 former peat moss, at a depth of usually 3 to 5 feet below the 
 present surface of the ground, and at levels varying, it is said, 
 from 5 feet to 25 feet above the present high-water mark. 
 At the time when those whales were stranded the estuary of 
 the Forth would have extended some 8 or 10 miles to the 
 
 1 See Mem. Wern. Soc., vol. v. pp. 437-441.
 
 WHALES' SKELETONS. 59 
 
 west of the site of the town of Stirling, and there must have 
 been a sufficient depth of sea to permit, with a flowing tide, 
 large whales to swim many miles farther west than is now 
 possible, with the risk, however, of becoming stranded as the 
 tide receded. It has been customary to speak of these whales 
 as Greenland whales ; by which term, I presume, has been 
 meant the right whale Baltzna mysticetus which is an 
 Arctic species. But the skeletons which I have examined 
 did not belong to the genus Balsena, but to the genus 
 Balsenoptera, or the Finner whales, several species of which 
 now frequent the British seas. I have identified one skeleton 
 as that of Balanoptera musculus." 
 
 The deer-horn implement is here figured from a drawing 
 kindly made for the author by Miss Turner. It consists of a 
 portion of the beam, n inches in length and 6}^ inches in 
 greatest girth. It is perforated by a hole, oval on one side 
 and round on the other, the former orifice measuring i ^ by 
 ^ inch, and the latter ^ inch in diameter. When found 
 there was a portion of a wooden handle in the hole. The 
 implement is truncated at one end and bevelled into a flat 
 cutting edge at the other, and the perforation is not in the 
 middle but about 2 inches nearer the truncated extremity 
 than the cutting edge. Sir William sums up his report of 
 these discoveries as follows : " The discovery of those horn 
 implements proves that, when the fertile land now forming 
 the Carse of Stirling was submerged below the sea-level, the 
 surrounding highlands were inhabited by a hardy Caledonian 
 race, who manufactured from the antlers of the red-deer useful 
 tools and weapons. I have already stated that there is nothing 
 in the form of these implements to lead one to suppose that 
 they could be used in the chase of the whale as lances or 
 harpoons. It is probable that the whales, by the side of 
 which they were found, had been stranded during the ebb of
 
 60 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 the tide, and that the people had'descended from the adjacent 
 heights, and, with the aid of their chisels of horn, had spoiled 
 the carcass of its load of flesh and blubber. In support of 
 this view, I may state that the three skeletons along with 
 which the implements were found were lying in proximity to 
 the edge of the Carse-land, where it approached the adjacent 
 high ground." 
 
 One of the previously recorded whale skeletons was found 
 in July 1819 immediately adjoining the east gate to Airthrey 
 Castle. The following account of this discovery was given 
 at the time by Mr Robert Bald in the ' Edinburgh Philo- 
 sophical Journal' for 1819 (vol. i. p. 393): "The skeleton 
 is evidently that of a whale, and the animal appears to have 
 been about 72 feet in length. The greater part of the bones 
 were found at the depth of about 4^ feet, but some were 
 nearer the surface. The head was lying across the march 
 ditch, the jawbones projecting a few feet over Sir Robert 
 Abercromby's march-line into the estate of Powis. The tail 
 lay in a westerly direction from the head. Though the bones 
 were a little disjoined, yet they lay, upon the whole, in a 
 regular position. The bones which have been preserved 
 consist of the cranium, numerous vertebrae, several ribs, the 
 jawbones, and the bones of the swimming paws, with some 
 smaller bones ; likewise some bones of the ear, particularly 
 the mastoid process, which is remarkably hard, and some- 
 what of the shape of a large shell of the genus Cypraea, for 
 which it was at first mistaken. Some of the ribs are 10 
 feet in length ; and it is remarkable that one of them had 
 been broken and healed again, being, as usual, much thicker 
 at the place of fracture. The bones are in general firm, 
 and in a state of good preservation, excepting the jawbones. 
 These last were immured chiefly in the dry bank upon the 
 side of the ditch, and upon exposure to the air the cellular
 
 IMPLEMENTS WITH WHALES' SKELETONS. 6l 
 
 structure speedily fell to powder. Bones of equally open 
 structure which lay in the sludge remain very entire. There 
 were found close by the skeleton two pieces of stag's horn, 
 one perforated. The lovers of natural history are under 
 great obligations to Sir Robert Abercromby for the attention 
 he paid in searching for and securing the bones of the 
 skeleton. It may be added that he has in the most polite 
 and handsome manner presented the whole to the Museum 
 of the University of Edinburgh, where they are now 
 deposited." 
 
 The other recorded l whale skeleton, which had associated 
 with it perforated implements of stag's horn, was unearthed 
 in 1824 in the barony of Burnbank, about three-quarters of 
 a mile from Kincardine Church. The ground was originally 
 covered with peat, which had been artificially removed for 
 improving the land, and it was while digging a ditch in the 
 underlying clay that the bones were encountered. The clay 
 here was only 4 feet thick, and beneath it there was a 
 stratum of peat, which cropped up to the surface at the 
 edge of the carse. It was on this peat layer, but imbedded 
 in the clay above, that the skeleton lay. " It is a very singular 
 circumstance that, along with these bones," says the writer 
 (Mr H. H. Drummond), " there should have been found 
 a fragment of a stag's horn similar to that found along with 
 the Airthrey whale, and having a similar round hole bored 
 through it. This piece of horn is also deposited in the 
 Museum [of the College of Edinburgh]. The peat stratum 
 was 6 feet thick, and contained wood, particularly alder, 
 and various water-plants." 
 
 The limits of this work prevent me from continuing the 
 history of these stranded whales further ; but to those who 
 have a desire to do so I heartily recommend an article by 
 1 Mem. Wern. Soc. , vol. v. p. 440.
 
 62 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 Mr David B. Morris on the subject, 1 in which he gives the 
 records of ten other well authenticated whale remains, in 
 addition to the three above described. To the writings of 
 Mr Morris 2 I am indebted for the following facts in regard 
 to a recent discovery, in these Carse-lands, of whale remains 
 associated with at least one primitive implement. 
 
 It appears that in May and June 1897 the County 
 Council of Stirlingshire carried out a scheme of drainage 
 for the village of Causewayhead. A drain track leading 
 from the village to the river Forth was cut into the clays 
 of the Carse to a depth of 13 or 14 feet, and in it the 
 following relics were found : 
 
 1. Portion of a rib of a whale, 3 feet long, which was 
 unfortunately broken into three pieces after being found. 
 
 2. Several bones, which are in the possession of Mr 
 Morries Stirling at Gogar. These have not been identified, 
 but they are probably bones of a whale. 
 
 3. Portion of a rib of a whale, measuring 29^ inches 
 along its convexity, and split in two in the greater part of 
 its length. 
 
 4. Fragment of a rib of a whale, 6^ inches long, and 
 the same in circumference, which corresponds to the whole 
 thickness of the rib. This is an interesting specimen, as it 
 is supposed to show traces of human workmanship. 
 
 5. Portion of horn of red-deer (Cervus elaphus), which 
 had been used by man as an implement for boring (fig. 19). 
 
 6. Right horn core attached to fragment of the frontal 
 bone of a small ox of an extinct species, Bos longifrons. 
 
 7. Similar right horn core of a smaller animal of the 
 same species. 
 
 8. Numerous marine shells, of which a selection is placed 
 in the Smith Institute. 
 
 1 Stirling Nat. Hist, and Arch. Soc., 1892. 3 Ibid., 1897.
 
 DEER-HORN IMPLEMENT. 63 
 
 In the course of cutting the drain the following sections 
 were noted, the first by Mr Morris and the second by Mr 
 
 Fig. 19. Implement of deer-horn associated -with whale remains in 
 Carse of Stirling (). 
 
 Kidston, but, unfortunately, the position of the relics in the 
 different layers is only occasionally given : 
 
 Section I. About 300 yards east from Causewayhead Inn. 
 
 Feet. 
 Soil ..... I 
 
 Yellow " brick clay " ... 4 
 Blue mud or " sleech " ... 9 
 
 Sand . . '. depth unknown
 
 64 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 Section II. In the village. 
 
 Feet. 
 Road metal I 
 
 Soil ..... 2 
 
 Yellow clay .... 4 
 Blue clay .... 4 
 
 Sand with shells ... 2 
 
 Clay . . ,\ depth unknown 
 
 " Sir William Turner states that the ribs are thicker than 
 the ribs of Balcenoptera rostrata and B. borealis, and are more 
 of the size of B. musculus or B. Sibbaldii, which had not 
 reached full growth. The whale remains were not all found 
 together, but were scattered over a distance of 100 yards. 
 The locality is on the public road, from 300 to 400 yards east 
 of the inn. This is just at the old coast-line of the 5o-feet 
 raised beach, where a whale would readily become stranded in 
 the shallows. The carcass would in time be broken up by the 
 prehistoric men who inhabited the shore, and by the beating 
 of the waves, and so the bones, being scattered over a space 
 and cast up on the beach, would be left in just such a position 
 as that in which we have found them now." 
 
 The deer-horn borer was found " within a short distance of 
 the fragments of the whale's ribs, and at the junction of the 
 blue clay and the subjacent sand. It is the right frontal 
 process broken off from the frontal bone, with the burr and 
 nearly two inches of the beam of the antler continuous with 
 it. Springing from the beam, close to the burr, is the curved 
 pointed tine of the brow antler, five inches long, following the 
 convexity." 
 
 With regard to a portion of a whale rib, Sir William Turner, 
 to whom these interesting relics were submitted for examin- 
 ation, writes as follows : " One end of this fragment showed 
 an irregular fractured surface ; the opposite end was cleft, and 
 the lateral boundaries or lips of the cleft were formed by the
 
 KITCHEN-MIDDENS AT INNERAVON. 65 
 
 inner and outer surfaces of the rib. The surface of bone 
 forming each lip was smooth as if from rubbing. When the 
 clay was picked out of the cleft, its depth varied from 1 2 to 
 26 mm., and in its deepest part the cancellated tissue of the 
 bone was exposed. The appearance presented by this end of 
 the bone was not natural to the rib, but was obviously due to 
 some artificial process. It is difficult to account for it on the 
 supposition that it was produced by accidental friction in the 
 soft mud or blue carse clay in which the bone was found ; 
 rather it gives one the impression that it had been artificially 
 fashioned into shape by the hand of man, so as to adapt it for 
 use as a rude bone implement." 
 
 Such are the main points of interest in the Causewayhead 
 discoveries, as described by Mr Morris and Sir William Turner. 
 I have seen the larger portion of the relics, and find no reason 
 to differ from the opinion of these two experienced observers 
 that the stag-horn was used as an implement by the whale- 
 hunters of the period ; but as to the portion of the whale- 
 rib the evidence of human workmanship seems to me more 
 doubtful. The position of the former, at the junction of 
 the blue clay and subjacent sand, points to a time long 
 before the tidal waters ceased to flow over the Carse-lands. 
 
 3. Other Relics of Man in Carse-Lands and alluvial Deposits. 
 
 But the association of implements with cetaceous remains is 
 not the only evidence we have that prehistoric man wandered 
 about the shores of these old inland seas. Accumulations of 
 sea-shells in conjunction with fireplaces have been observed 
 along the bluff of the old coast-line on both sides of the Avon, 
 just where it enters the Carse a locality which, singularly 
 enough, is still called Inveravon, although the present mouth 
 of the river is several miles distant. The following extract from 
 
 E
 
 66 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 the Memoirs of the Geological Survey (sheet 31) is quite 
 explicit on this point. " A section," writes Mr Peach, F.R.S., 
 " across a heap 50 yards long by 20 wide was exposed in a 
 road cutting, and showed many successive layers of shells 
 principally oysters to a depth of 3 feet without the bottom 
 being visible. The remains of fireplaces were plentiful among 
 the shells. Oysters seemed to have been preferred by the 
 makers of the midden, though they had also used the Anomia, 
 the big ' horse-mussel ' (Modio/a), the common mussel (Mytilus 
 edulis),t\\Q wheik(2?tMErtttt*i undatuni), and periwinkle (Littoritia 
 littored). Fragments of the large edible crab ( Cancer Pagurus) 
 were also present. All the valves of the oysters were separate 
 except such as had been empty, and which still had bar- 
 nacles or zoophytes in their interior. The mussel and other 
 shells were found in separate nests, and not indiscriminately 
 throughout the mound. Layers of sand were also found 
 among the shells. All the middens observed occur on the 
 bluff itself or just at its base, as if, when it was the limit 
 of high water, the people who formed the middens, after 
 searching the shores during low water, had retreated thither 
 to enjoy their feast while the tide covered their hunting- 
 ground. Few or no oysters are now found in the Forth 
 above Borrowstounness." 
 
 The finding of canoes in the Carse-lands is well authenti- 
 cated. Sir John Clerk in ' Reliquiae Galeanae ' 1 informs 
 his correspondent that " a very ancient curiosity " was found 
 in the Carse of Falkirk in the month of May 1726. "The 
 washings of the river Carron discovered a boat, 13 or 14 
 feet underground ; it is 36 feet in length and 4^ in breadth, 
 all of one piece of oak. There were several strata above it, 
 such as loam, clay, shells, moss, sand, and gravel ; these 
 strata demonstrate it to have been an antediluvian boat. 
 1 Bib. Top. Brit., No. II., p. 24.
 
 LOCHAR MOSS. 67 
 
 The tree of which it was made was, no doubt, very big, 
 but still no bigger than one which is yet alive not far from 
 that place, which is about 12 or 13 feet in diameter." To 
 this he adds a cutting from a contemporary newspaper, in 
 which the boat is described as finely polished and having 
 a pointed stem and a square stern. At a later period another 
 writer 1 mentions that a canoe was found near Falkirk, 5 
 fathoms deep in the clay, and that anchors were dug up 
 in the ground between Alloa and Stirling. These instances 
 are given as a proof, in the opinion of the writer, that these 
 lands were formerly under sea. 
 
 Professor James Geikie gives a description of a canoe 
 made of pine-wood found in a brick clay-pit at Friarton, 
 Perth. It lay on its bottom over a bed of peat, under- 
 neath 10 or ii feet of clay, and measured 1 5 feet in length, 
 $y 2 in breadth, and 3 feet in depth. This clay, according 
 to the Professor, belongs to the second series of terraces 
 forming the raised beaches in the carse- lands of the valley 
 of the Tay, rising from 25 to 45 feet above mean -tide 
 mark. 2 
 
 Another locality which has yielded evidence of the same 
 nature is Lochar Moss, in Dumfriesshire, long utilised as 
 a storehouse of fuel for the neighbouring inhabitants. This 
 moss extends to the Solway, over an area of twelve miles 
 in length and in some places three miles in breadth, with 
 a fall of only about 30 feet. A couplet from an old 
 rhyme, quoted by Sir Daniel Wilson, 3 
 
 " First a wood, next a sea, 
 Now a moss, and ever will be," 
 
 reveals the facts, as they appeared to the unsophisticated 
 
 1 Beauties of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 419. 
 
 2 Scot. Naturalist, vol. v. p. 167. 
 
 3 Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 44.
 
 68 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 peat-cutter's mind, long before they became the subject 
 of geological investigation. 
 
 The Rev. James Laurie, writing in Sinclair's ' Statistical 
 Account ' (vol. i. p. 1 60), thus describes the opinion current 
 about this moss in the end of last century : " There is a 
 tradition universally credited, that the tide flowed up this 
 whole tract above the highest bridge in the neighbourhood. 
 In the bottom of the moss sea-mud is found ; and the banks 
 are evidently composed of sea-sand. A few years ago a 
 canoe of considerable size, and in perfect preservation, was 
 found by a farmer when cutting peats, 4 or 5 feet below 
 the surface, about four miles above the present flood-mark ; 
 but it was destroyed before any antiquarian had heard of 
 it. Near the same part of the moss, and about the same 
 depth, a gentleman found a vessel of mixed metal, con- 
 taining about an English quart. . . . Antiquities of various 
 kinds are found in every part of this moss where peats are 
 dug, even near its head, such as anchors, oars, &c. ; so that 
 there is no doubt of its having been navigable near a mile 
 above the highest bridge, and fully twelve miles above the 
 present flood-mark. Near the manse there is a narrow gut, 
 between two sandy hillocks, called Collyveat^ supposed to 
 be a corruption of Collin's boat, where it is thought there 
 was a ferry, which indeed would be very necessary, on the 
 supposition of the tide flowing there." 
 
 Previous to this Pennant (1772), while passing through 
 the country, took notice of these boats, which he thus de- 
 scribes : " Near a place called Kilblain I met with one of 
 the ancient canoes of the primeval inhabitants of the coun- 
 try, when it was probably in the same state of nature as 
 Virginia when first discovered by Captain Philip Amidas. 
 The length of this little vessel was 8 feet 8 inches, of the 
 cavity 6 feet 7 inches, the breadth 2 feet, depth 1 1 inches,
 
 FOREST OF CREE. 69 
 
 and at one end were the remains of three pegs for the 
 paddle. The hollow was made with fire in the very manner 
 that the Indians of America formed their canoes. Another 
 was found in 1736 with its paddle, in the same morass. 
 The last was 7 feet long, and dilated to a considerable 
 breadth at one end ; so that in early ages necessity dictated 
 the same inventions to the most remote regions." l 
 
 Sir Arthur Mitchell 2 has put on record some interesting 
 observations on the ancient forest of Cree, in Galloway. 
 According to him the mosses of Cree, Carsegown, and 
 Borrow, cannot cover less than 1500 to 2000 acres, and 
 average 7 to 8 feet in depth. The peat lies immediately 
 over the clay, the line of separation being sharply defined. 
 But I cannot do better than quote Sir Arthur's own words : 
 
 "These trees, which, as far as I know, are all oak, are 
 found in two distinct positions first, in the channel of the 
 Cree, or projecting into its channel from the banks at the 
 side, many of these last having 10 to 15 feet of sandy clay 
 above those parts of them which are on the bank, and an 
 unknown number of feet of clay below ; and secondly, under 
 the peat, on the surface of the clay. 
 
 "The existence of this ancient Cree forest does not rest 
 on our finding some half-dozen trunks. You may count 
 them by the hundred, exposed in the bed of the river, be- 
 tween Newton-Stewart and Barsalloch ; and you may reckon 
 roots by the score where the moss has been cleared away, 
 near the mouth of the Lome Burn. I say Toots in this case, 
 because such trunks as are discovered in peat-casting are 
 carted off at once." 
 
 These trees are described as of great size, and specimens 
 measuring 15 feet in girth and 50 feet in length are not 
 uncommon. The objects which are found with them, or 
 
 1 Tour, vol. ii. p. 107. 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. v. pp. 20-29.
 
 7O RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 "in such positions as lead to the possible conclusion that 
 they are coeval with the trees," are the following : Two 
 canoes, a quern, a Roman battle-axe, a couple of stone celts, 
 and one bronze celt, together with horns of deer and several 
 heads of the extinct Urus. A very large deer -horn was 
 found under 1 2 feet of clay, along with " some human bones 
 said to have been of great dimensions." Unfortunately the 
 precise localities where the heads of the Urus were found, 
 whether in the clay or in or beneath the moss, are not given. 
 In commenting on these discoveries Sir Arthur makes the 
 following remarks : " It thus appears that very interesting 
 remains are found in close association with the vestiges of 
 this forest. The country appears to have been peopled 
 when these trees were living. On the margins of this forest 
 man paddled in his canoe, and under the shade of these 
 mighty trees he pursued the red-deer and the Urus. He 
 cultivated corn in the neighbourhood, and ground it ; he was 
 of goodly stature, and carried formidable weapons of war. 
 These things at least are possible, if not probable, inferences 
 from the facts I have detailed." 
 
 4. Canoes found in the Basin of the Clyde. 
 
 It would be too great an encroachment on my space to 
 describe the number of old canoes, and the circumstances 
 in connection with their discovery, which have been disin- 
 terred from the basin of the Clyde, in localities now far from 
 the sea and at elevations considerably above its present 
 level. 
 
 Mr John Buchanan describes the rinding of not less than 
 eighteen in the environs of Glasgow prior to I854. 1 The 
 first recorded specimen, dating as far back as 1780, was 
 1 See Appendix to Smith's Newer Pliocene Geology, 1862.
 
 CLYDE CANOES. 71 
 
 found, in the course of digging the foundations of old St 
 Enoch's Church, lying in a horizontal position and at a depth 
 of 25 feet from the surface. In its interior lay a polished 
 stone celt, figured in Wilson's ' Prehistoric Annals ' (vol. i. p. 
 53). Since 1854 seven additional canoes have been recorded 
 from the bed of the Clyde, five before the 2nd of February 
 1869, as we find Mr Buchanan referring to them in an 
 address to the Archaeological Society of Glasgow of that date 
 (vol. ii. pp. 77 and 121). In this address he said: "The 
 last of the five canoes was found also last summer, a little 
 below Milton Island, near Douglas. It is 22 feet in length 
 and about 2 feet 10 inches in breadth. The interior is well 
 scooped out. Some interesting relics were got inside. These 
 consist of six stone celts, an oaken war-club, and a consider- 
 able piece of deer's horn." 
 
 In discussing the chronological problems suggested by these 
 Clyde canoes, we must bear in mind that, as boats may be 
 submerged in any depth and become afterwards silted up, 
 their positions afford no reliable data for determining the 
 relative level of sea and land at that time. It is only when 
 they are found deposited in marine beds, now above high- 
 water mark, that they have a bearing on this problem. The 
 " dug-out " does not necessarily carry us back to prehistoric 
 times, as canoes are invariably found associated with cran- 
 nogs and other medieval remains, so that it is quite probable 
 that some of those found in the Clyde basin may be com- 
 paratively modern. 1 But after discounting all such objections, 
 there is no escape from' the conclusion that some of them 
 foundered when the sea was 20 or 30 feet higher than it 
 is at present. This was the opinion of Mr Buchanan and 
 other geologists, who had better opportunities than we have 
 of examining the exact details of each discovery. 
 
 1 See notice of the Dumbuck "Crannog" and Canoe, p. 438.
 
 72 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 In 1848 Mr Robert Chambers 1 makes the following 
 pertinent observations on the evidence to be derived from 
 the canoes discovered in the Clyde basin up to that 
 time : 
 
 " The situation of the boats found under the Tontine and 
 Trades' Lands (places within a pistol-shot of each other) is 
 21 or 22 feet above high-water in the river. It forms part 
 of that extensive plain which rises from the river's brink 
 to the height of 26 feet above tide-mark, forming the site 
 of the Trongate and Argyle Street, and the numerous 
 streets to the north and south of that line. This plain is 
 composed of sand, as appears whenever the foundation of 
 an old house is dug up. . . . 
 
 "The question arises, Are the deposits such as the river, 
 while pursuing in general its present level, could have laid 
 down? The situation, be it remembered, is a quarter of 
 a mile from the river; its superficies is 21 feet above tide- 
 mark, while Mr Robert Stevenson has determined the greatest 
 recorded river floods as only 1 5. The laminated sands do not, 
 moreover, appear such a deposit as a river flood would bring 
 to the spot, even if it could reach it. It therefore appears 
 that we scarcely have an alternative to the supposition 
 that, when these vessels foundered, and were deposited 
 where in modern times they have been found, the Firth of 
 Clyde was a sea several miles wide at Glasgow, covering 
 the site of the lower districts of the city, and receiving the 
 waters of the river not lower than Bothwell Bridge. We must 
 suppose this to have been a time when already a people 
 instructed to some degree in the arts of life occupied that 
 part of the island. Taken in connection with the whales' 
 bones and perforated deers' horns of the Carse of Stirling, 
 the boat and other relics said to have been found near 
 1 Ancient Sea- Margins, p. 206.
 
 RAISED BEACHES. 73 
 
 Falkirk, the human skull at Grangemouth, and the various 
 particulars already cited with respect to the Carse of Gowrie, 
 those Glasgow canoes are objects of much greater interest than 
 any one seems yet to have thought of attaching to them." 
 
 5. Evidence from Raised Beaches, Safid- Dunes, Caves, 
 Rock- Shelters, 6<r. 
 
 Important information bearing on the problem we are 
 now discussing is occasionally derived from a careful in- 
 spection of the sand-dunes, raised beaches, &c., along our 
 shores, which yield flint implements of Neolithic types. I 
 am informed by experienced collectors that such relics are 
 not found on or near the present sea-level, but always at 
 some distance inland, which, in flat districts, may be far 
 from the actual shore. Certainly this is in accordance with 
 the little practical experience I have gained by a few visits 
 to the sand-hills of Irvine in Ayrshire, and Glenluce in 
 Wigtownshire. At the former locality the flint-bearing ground 
 is several hundred yards from the shore, and at the latter the 
 distance is still greater. 
 
 Mr Alexander Gray has communicated to the Society of 
 Antiquaries of Scotland (vol. xxviii. p. 263) some notes on a 
 discovery of urns and flint implements in sand-pits within 
 the town of Campbeltown, in Argyllshire, which I claim as 
 strong evidence in favour of the theory of land elevation 
 within the Neolithic period. This town, it appears, is built 
 on deposits of sand and gravel which gradually rise to the 
 old 5o-feet beach, and sand for building purposes is con- 
 tinually being excavated at about 30 feet above present sea- 
 level. Reports of finding urns and other relics in these pits 
 induced Mr Gray to keep an eye on the excavations. In 
 the beginning of 1894 a new pit was opened in which an
 
 74 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 urn containing some bones was found, without being pro- 
 tected by any cist. While he and others were collecting 
 the fragments of the urn they discovered that the finely 
 stratified gravel, beneath the position in which the urn stood, 
 contained numbers of worked flints, cores, and splinters ; 
 from which they concluded it had been the site of an old 
 flint factory. 
 
 Subsequently, at Millknowe, in another part of this old 
 sea-beach, and 300 or 400 yards south-west of the sand-pit, 
 similar flint implements were discovered in the beach shingle 
 which was being cleared away to make room for a new 
 bonded warehouse at Albyn Distillery. 
 
 "The section," writes Mr Gray, "as exposed at present, 
 consists of about 3 feet of rich black loam ; beach shingle, 
 with a very little sand, 2 feet ; a thin dark-coloured band 
 which extends along the face of the section for about 7 yards, 
 and is from 3 to 6 inches thick, thinning out and disappear- 
 ing on both sides. Below this is about 2 feet of shingle 
 similar to that above. The dark seam is not a former land- 
 surface, as might at first be supposed, but the site of the old 
 flint-working encampment. It is in reality a dirt-band, com- 
 posed of litter and refuse of all sorts, such as bits of charred 
 sticks, burnt bones, and innumerable chips and splinters of 
 flint, the latter all quite sharp and unworn. In some spots 
 the dirt has actually a greyish, pepper-and-salt appearance, 
 from the great number of minute bone fragments which exist 
 in it, in the last stages of decay. To separate them from the 
 other material is generally quite impossible, as they are mostly 
 so small and so far gone that a good lens is necessary to 
 convince one that they really are bone. From this dirt-band 
 I took the full of a large zinc bucket, not selected, but 
 filled with the shovel, and carefully washed it out. I found 
 that at least 80 per cent of the total bulk was made up of
 
 FLINT FACTORY AT CAMPBELTOWN. 75 
 
 the ordinary Shingle, and from the remainder I picked out 
 498 pieces of flint, mostly very small chips and scales, such 
 as fly off during the process of breaking. A few were be- 
 tween i and 2 inches long, and seemed to be broken or 
 spoiled arrow-points, knives, or flakes which had been re- 
 jected. Besides the flints, I succeeded in finding about 
 eighty fragments of bones, in a sufficiently sound condition 
 to stand washing, among them being two of what I took to 
 be the vertebrae of a small fish. The others seemed to be 
 the bones of larger animals, but are, I am afraid, too small 
 for recognition. The better-preserved fragments look as if 
 they had been burned ; the mouldering bits which fall away 
 on being touched have no such appearance. Of small bits 
 of burnt sticks I picked out 104, but a great deal of this 
 material went to mud in the washing, so that the quantity 
 found bears an insignificant proportion to the total amount 
 which must have been present. A number of those picked 
 out seem to be parts of very small twigs or branches. The 
 evidence here adduced, together with the fact that the dirt- 
 band is not continuous as it would be were it a former land- 
 surface but a mere isolated though large patch, in the 
 midst of the ancient beach, proves beyond a doubt that this 
 is the spot on which the Palaeolithic (sic) men camped for a 
 time, and dressed the flints, the refuse of which still remains 
 mixed up with the general camp debris to attest their presence 
 there. The flint-bearing gravel above the dirt-band shows 
 that the site was probably that of a summer encampment, 
 over which the storms of winter had washed the layer of 
 flint-strewn gravel, and thus preserved to us the old camp- 
 floor, which otherwise might have been entirely obliterated. 
 All through the beach which has been cleared away, and at 
 frequent intervals, the workmen found little nests of a simi- 
 lar black material, generally with a few larger stones lying in 

 
 76 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 and around them. A good many of these- stones were 
 angular lumps of the ordinary vein quartz from the schist 
 of the neighbourhood, which have lost their natural glassy 
 semi - transparency, and taken on that opaque dull - white 
 appearance, with all their natural seams opened up, and 
 of that peculiar rusty -red colour, which indicates severe 
 burning. It is quite evident that they had been built up 
 to form the backs and sides to the old camp-fires, of which 
 the black sooty material in which they now lie is the only 
 remains. The total absence of even the smallest bit of 
 pottery is very remarkable ; and still more remarkable is the 
 absence of shells, of which not a fragment has yet turned 
 up, and no recognised article of human manufacture except 
 the flints has yet been found." 
 
 It is impossible not to recognise the force of Mr Gray's 
 arguments in support of his opinion, that this was an en- 
 campment of people of the Stone Age, who here con- 
 gregated for the purpose of manufacturing such implements 
 and weapons as were required in their various social or 
 warlike duties. 
 
 Evidence of similar encampments fireplaces, flint chips, 
 and other refuse of occupancy has been observed on 
 Shewalton Moor, freshly exposed by the shifting sands. 1 
 
 After discussing the various theories to account for the 
 presence of flint nodules in the gravels of the district, Mr 
 Gray comes to the conclusion that these flints could not 
 have been obtained from local sources, and that con- 
 sequently they must have been imported in canoe-loads. 
 
 But the significant feature of Mr Gray's discovery as 
 regards this inquiry is that, while the settlement was in 
 existence, the waters of the Campbeltown bay washed the 
 
 1 Annals of Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers, 1893-94 ; and Ayr and 
 Gal. Arch. Assoc., vol. vi. p. 77.
 
 KIT OF TOOLS" AT CULZEAN. 
 
 77 
 
 surrounding shores some 30 feet higher than they do at 
 the present time. 
 
 In 1883 I contributed to the collections of the Ayr and 
 Galloway Archaeological Association (vol. iv. p. i) notes 
 on the discovery of five bronze celts, of an early type (fig. 
 20), found in an excavation near the shore of a little bay 
 called the " Maidens," in the vicinity of Culzean Castle, 
 Ayrshire. While clearing out 
 the foundations for building a 
 shipyard the workmen had to 
 slice away a portion of a whin- 
 stone rock which projected into 
 the area of the proposed build- 
 ing, and at the lowest part of 
 the trench they came upon the 
 celts and a bronze ring which 
 had apparently bound them to- 
 gether. They had been inserted 
 into a cleft in the rock facing 
 the sea ; and this cleft had been 
 subsequently covered by 2 feet 
 of sea-gravel, apparently thrown 
 up against the rock by the ac- 
 tion Of the waves. Over this [ S- 20. Five bronze celts found 
 
 together at the "Maidens," Ayr- 
 
 gravel there was a deposit of S Aire(). 
 surface -earth also 2 feet thick. 
 
 The present high-water mark was ascertained by measure- 
 ments to be 100 yards distant from the spot where the 
 bronze implements had been concealed, and 25 feet lower 
 in level. I visited the locality along with the Marquis of 
 Ailsa and Mr Smith, his factor, a few days after the dis- 
 covery ; but before this, and indeed before the implements 
 were found, the soil and gravel in front of the rock, as well
 
 78 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 as a portion of the rock itself, had been removed. After a 
 careful inspection of the spot and inquiries of the workmen 
 into all the circumstances, the conclusion to which we came 
 was thus recorded : " Unless, therefore, there had been a 
 vertical slit in the rock, of which there was no indication 
 whatever, it is difficult to form any other opinion than that 
 the ledge of rock under which the celts were concealed was, 
 at the time of their deposition, open towards the shore ; and 
 that the waves subsequently dashed against it with sufficient 
 violence to cover up the opening of the crevice with a 
 portion of this coarse gravel. Since then, however, the tide 
 has gradually receded, either in consequence of the ac- 
 cumulation of detritus or of a general rising of the sea- 
 beach. Curiously enough, the position of this find coincides 
 with the latest and best-defined of the ancient sea-margins 
 or raised beaches, the remains of which are so conspicuous 
 in the south-western districts of Scotland." 
 
 The interpretation of the phenomena of raised beaches is, 
 however, so liable to error, owing to the number and variety 
 of minor details which have to be considered, that great 
 caution is necessary in accepting such conclusions as evidence 
 of alteration in the relative level of sea and land. 
 
 To the caves along our shores, ascertained to have been 
 occupied by man, we naturally look for some additional 
 scraps of information on this subject. We know, however, 
 of very few caves which have been so used, at least as early 
 as Neolithic times. A cave becomes habitable by man only 
 after the retreat of the sea, and such an incident as a storm 
 causing the waves to enter it synchronously with man's oc- 
 cupation, as was the case in the MacArthur cave at Oban, 
 must of necessity be a most unusual occurrence. Most of 
 those which have hitherto been examined prove by their 
 relics that they became inhabited in post -Roman times.
 
 GHEGAN ROCK. 79 
 
 Such was the case with the Borness cave in Kirkcudbright- 
 shire. 1 The floor of this cave stands 19 feet above the 
 present high-water mark, but we have no means of associ- 
 ating the work of man with that of the sea. 
 
 In 1847 a cave near ^e mouth of the North Esk, in 
 Kincardineshire, was discovered and reported on, first by 
 Mr A. Bryson, 2 then by Mr W. Beattie, 3 and lastly by Dr 
 Howden, in i866. 4 According to Dr Howden the entrance 
 to the cave, which faces the south, is about half a mile from 
 the estuary of the river, and 1 5 feet above high- water mark. 
 It contained a mass of debris, including bones of various 
 animals, as well as some relics of man. Among the latter 
 were an amulet formed of the leg-bone of an ox, four chain 
 plate bolts, " evidently belonging to a small craft of about 100 
 tons," and the remains of an iron harpoon or spear. An 
 inner compartment of this cave contained only remains of 
 marine mollusca a fact which, says Mr Bryson, "seems 
 certainly to indicate the presence of the German Ocean 
 12 feet above its present highest spring - tide." Notwith- 
 standing the preciseness of this statement, it is more prob- 
 able that these shells were merely a portion of the refuse- 
 heap from the outer cave, so that no conclusion can be 
 drawn from the facts as regards land elevation. 
 
 Mr J. W. Laidlay, in describing an early habitation and 
 kitchen-midden on the "Ghegan Rock," near Seacliff, East 
 Lothian, which yielded a few relics of late- Roman times, 
 concludes by observing that this discovery goes against the 
 supposed rise of the neighbouring coasts within the historical 
 period. "Against this theory," Mr Laidlay writes, "the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. x. p. 483. 
 
 2 Edin. New Phil. Journal, vol. 49, p. 253. 
 
 3 Brit. Assoc., Aberdeen, 1859, p. 99. 
 
 4 Proc. R. Phy. Soc., vol. iii. p. 368.
 
 So 
 
 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 dwelling on the Ghegan seems to me a cogent protest ; 
 a very inconsiderable depression of the rock would render 
 habitation there simply impossible." The foundation of the 
 dwelling stood 22 or 23 feet above sea-level, and the author 
 assumed the relics to be of "an age not later than the 
 Roman, possibly before it, but extending to it, as the large 
 vase would seem to show." 1 
 
 The site of this habitation is interesting as showing the 
 foundation of a rude rectangular building of undressed stones 
 without mortar. It presented a front 39 feet long, and a 
 breadth of 26 feet at one end the other corner being 
 
 Figs. 21-23. -^ needle, a comb, and an ornament of bone found on 
 Ghegan Rock (). 
 
 demolished. From its position at the base of the slanting 
 side of the rock, it became covered up in the course of time 
 with 3 to 4 feet of soil. The relics are of the kind usually 
 found on Romano-British sites, comprising fragments of a 
 large Roman jar, and of other pottery ; a bone needle (fig. 21), 
 and some bone pins and implements ; fragments of toilet 
 combs, one double-edged made of plates fixed with iron 
 rivets, and another highly ornamented (fig. 22); a curious 
 ornament of dark bone (fig. 23) ; a small crucible ; a polished 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 377.
 
 ROCK-SHELTER AT ARDROSSAN. 8 1 
 
 disc of serpentine, one inch in diameter ; the upper and lower 
 stones of a quern-mill made of gneiss, &c. Also teeth and 
 bones of ox, horse, sheep, goat, pig, deer, dog, &c., and a 
 variety of sea-shells of the edible species. 
 
 Mr John Smith l has excavated the debris of human occu- 
 pancy in a rock - shelter close to the Ardrossan Railway 
 Station, the result of which, he thinks, "demonstrates" a 
 rise of " many feet " in the Ayrshire coast since the rock- 
 shelter was first frequented by man. The shell-heap rested 
 on a raised beach of sand and gravel containing rolled shells. 
 The evidence of alteration in the relative level of sea and land 
 is thus stated by the investigator : " That this place had been 
 occupied by man shortly after the waves left it was clearly 
 evident, as there had only been time sufficient for a layer of 
 earth, little more than half an inch in thickness, to form on 
 the top of the gravel, nor had there been time for any talus 
 of fragments from the rock-face to gather upon the gravel 
 before the inhabitants began to throw down the shells and 
 other debris upon it. In fact, the talus of rock-splinters was 
 formed on the top of the mound, as will be seen from the cross- 
 sections, demonstrating at once its antiquity, and affording 
 some guidance to the time of its commencement. Another 
 point in favour of its antiquity is the fact that many specimens 
 of a spiral mollusc, Trochus lineatus, were got in the mound, 
 and must have been common on the then existing shore. 
 This mollusc is now extinct in the Clyde and in the West of 
 Scotland, and has only been found in the Clyde district 
 before as a fossil, Mr David Robertson having got it in the 
 Raised-beach strata of Millport." 
 
 The land animals represented in the food-refuse, all of 
 
 which belong to the ordinary Neolithic fauna, are of no 
 
 special interest beyond the fact that they include the beaver. 
 
 1 Ayr and Gal. Arch. Assoc., vol. vii. p. 60. 
 
 F
 
 82 RELATIVE LEVEL OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 It is somewhat startling to find that these people were not 
 only cannibals but made implements of human bones. " A 
 great many jaws with teeth," writes Mr Smith, "and bones 
 were obtained, all the latter which had contained marrow 
 having been split open. Under the ledge of rock at a point a, 
 and imbedded in the mass of shells, was a human upper jaw 
 without teeth, which had evidently been knocked out with a 
 stone, splinters of the jaw having been broken off in the 
 process. On finding this grim relic my first impression was 
 that the people who lived here had been cannibals, the jaw 
 having evidently been thrown in the most matter-of-fact way 
 on the general shell - heap, while, probably, the teeth had 
 been kept to make a necklace or other ornament. Further 
 evidence, however, obtained during the exploration, showed 
 that, although the mound-men had feasted, probably during 
 ' hard times,' on their own species, they were not habitual 
 cannibals, for the whole human remains obtained seemed to 
 show that not more than two human beings had been 
 devoured." Part of a human lower jaw was got in a mass of 
 shells cemented together into a stalagmite " about a foot 
 above the Raised -beach bed; it had three well-preserved 
 teeth. Near the top of the same bed a well-made diamond- 
 pointed bone chisel, a rude implement made of a human 
 bone, and several human vertebrae, were obtained." Of 
 implements only a few bone pointers or awls are recorded. 
 From these and other considerations it is manifest that in 
 attempting to account for land oscillations we have to deal 
 with a complicated series of phenomena, probably due both 
 to astronomical and terrestrial causes. It is therefore not 
 impossible that while a submergence followed by a re- 
 elevation of the land has occurred over an extensive area 
 corresponding with the glacial and interglacial epochs, other 
 local disturbances may have been going on which would
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL DATA. 83 
 
 considerably modify the effects of the former. The hypothesis 
 that the 5o-feet raised-beach was contemporaneous with the 
 last glacial epoch (an event which, according to the astro- 
 nomical theory, occurred about 11,000 years ago) admirably 
 harmonises with the recent chronological deductions founded 
 on the archaeological remains in the rock -shelter of the 
 Schweizersbild in Switzerland. 1 We have no means as yet, 
 so far as I know, of dating the first appearance of Neolithic 
 man in Britain. It is, however, a significant fact that the 
 remains of his handiworks have been found in the submerged 
 forests of the south of England (Quart. Jour. Geo. Soc., 1865 ; 
 Early Man in Britain, p. 248) and in the raised beaches of 
 Scotland ; but, although it was probably the same land 
 oscillation which depressed the one and elevated the other, 
 we cannot at present identify this earth movement with any 
 archaeological phenomena which have been dated. 
 
 1 See Journal of the R. Arch. Institute, vol. Iv. pp. 259-285.
 
 8 4 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NOTES ON THE PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 O complete our survey of the environments 
 of prehistoric man, a few remarks must 
 now be made on the fauna of the period, 
 especially on the larger animals with which 
 he came in contact in the chase or other- 
 wise. Our knowledge of these animals is 
 derived mainly from the discovery of their bones in marl-pits, 
 peat, and alluvial deposits, and also, but more rarely, associ- 
 ated with human remains on inhabited sites. My labours in 
 this most interesting department of prehistoric archaeology 
 have been greatly lightened by the exhaustive monographs 
 of the late Dr John Alexander Smith, nearly all of which 
 have been published in the ' Proceedings of the Society of 
 Antiquaries of Scotland.' 
 
 According to our definition of the word "prehistoric," 
 which covers only that portion of man's existence in Scot- 
 land prior to Roman times, a distinction ought to be made 
 between it and "post-glacial," which embraces a much 
 longer period of time. Broadly speaking, Neolithic man was 
 in possession of the domestic animals ox, sheep (?), goat, 
 and dog and acquainted with the art of cultivating plants
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 85 
 
 and cereals. Perhaps, therefore, the best principle of classifi- 
 cation to follow would be that which associates prehistoric 
 man with the introduction of domestic animals into Britain, 
 as advocated by Professor Boyd-Dawkins at the International 
 Congress of Archaeology, held at Norwich in I868. 1 But 
 as the date of man's immigration into Scotland is unknown, 
 it is evident that we must here act under a kind of roving 
 commission, without assigning any precise limits to the 
 commencement of the prehistoric period. Again, by treating 
 of the remains of the prehistoric fauna, so far as they have 
 been found within the Scottish area only, we are merely 
 touching the fringe of a vast subject which embraces the 
 whole Pleistocene or Quaternary period of Western Europe. 
 It is therefore manifest that independent conclusions of any 
 great value cannot be drawn from the Scottish specimens 
 without, to some extent, correlating them with analogous 
 discoveries over the wider area. Of the post-glacial fauna 
 whose remains have been found in Scotland, some undoubt- 
 edly became extinct, or at least disappeared from Britain, 
 before Neolithic man came on the scene ; others, again, 
 such as the domestic animals, have been introduced by 
 him. Hence, for chronological purposes, it is almost as 
 important to determine what animals were not contemporary 
 with man, as it is to determine those with which he was 
 actually acquainted. 
 
 Excluding the inter- and post-glacial mammalia which were 
 the contemporaries of Palaeolithic man with the exception of 
 the Irish Elk, which is surmised to have touched the horizon 
 of Neolithic man in Ireland the chief animals which are of 
 archaeological interest in the present inquiry are the Reindeer, 
 Elk, Bos longifrons, Bos primigenius, Beaver, Brown Bear, 
 Wolf, Wild Boar, and the Great Auk. As the limits of 
 i Transactions, 1868, p. 269.
 
 86 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 this work are absolutely prohibitory of discussing the re- 
 mains of these animals on the basis of their geographical 
 and geological distribution, I shall only bring before my readers 
 as much of the collateral details from beyond the Scottish 
 area as will enable them to grasp and appreciate the import- 
 ance of the palaeontological problems raised. 
 
 REINDEER (Cervus tarandus). 
 
 Dr Smith was induced to look for horns of the reindeer 
 among Scottish archaeological remains in consequence of 
 having his attention directed, through an article by Dr 
 Hibbert, 1 to a passage in the 'Orkneyinga Saga,' to the 
 effect that, in the twelfth century, the Jarls of Orkney were 
 in the habit of crossing the Pentland Firth to chase the 
 
 roe-deer and the reindeer in the wilds of Caithness. 2 The 
 
 
 
 following tabulated statement of localities which have yielded 
 remains of this animal is compiled mainly from his re- 
 searches : 
 
 i. On the Morbhaich Mor, a sandy flat to the east of Tain, 
 Ross-shire, the Rev. Dr Joass found, at a depth of 4 feet, 
 " the skull of a young ox, several bones of a large deer, one 
 tyne of a palmated stag's horn, and the jaw of a large canine 
 animal. All these bones lay beneath the moss, and on a 
 natural shell-bed in which occurred the Scaphander lignarius, 
 believed, from its size and delicacy of structure, to indicate 
 warmer conditions of climate during its existence in such a 
 situation, as well as a considerable subsequent elevation of the 
 sea-bottom. The coast -line is now three miles distant." 
 
 1 Edinburgh Journal of Science, 1831. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 186 : see also Professor Boyd-Dawkins 
 in 'Transactions of International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology,' 
 1868, p. 287.
 
 REINDEER. 
 
 Professor Owen subsequently identified the above-mentioned 
 tyne as portion of a reindeer horn. 1 
 
 Fig. 24. Portions of reindeer s horns found at Cill~Trdlla Brock, 
 Sutherlandshire (J). 
 
 2. Several pieces of reindeer horns (fig. 24) were found 
 among a collection of bones, shells, and other dtbris of occu- 
 
 Fig. 25. Front and back view of a portion of reindeer horn found in a brock 
 at Keiss, Caithness (). 
 
 pancy, while cleaning out the ruins of Cill-Trolla Brock, 
 near Brora, in Sutherlandshire. 2 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vi. p. 387, and vol. viii. p. 187. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 188.
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 3. In the course of the investigation of the Harbour Mound, 
 Keiss, Caithness, by Mr Samuel Laing, several portions of 
 reindeer horns (figs. 25 and 26, No. i), some of which had 
 
 Fig. 26. Portions of reindeer horns found at Keiss (No. i), and at Yarhouse 
 (Nos. 2 and 3), Caithness (J).
 
 REINDEER. 89 
 
 been sawn or cut, were disinterred along with numerous relics 
 of man. 1 
 
 4. Two small tynes, and a portion of third tyne showing 
 workmanship (fig. 26, Nos. 2 and 3), were found by Dr 
 Joseph Anderson and Mr J. Shearer in a broch at Yarhouse, 
 associated with the bones of the ox, horse, pig, deer, sheep, 
 and goat, as well as a vast quantity of the ordinary debris of 
 human occupancy. This broch was situated on what was 
 formerly an island in the Loch of Yarhouse, and had attached 
 to it a number of outhouses, in one of which the fragments 
 of horn, subsequently identified as those of the reindeer, 
 were found. 2 
 
 5. Pennant states that he was assured by Dr Ramsay, 
 Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh, that the horns of 
 the reindeer "were found fossil in 1775, in a marl-pit, 5 feet 
 below the surface, near Craigton, in the shire of Linlithgow." 3 
 
 6. In 1833 the skull of Bos primigenius and fragments of 
 deer-horns were found in beds of laminated clay on the north 
 bank of the river Clyde, below the junction of the Kelvin. 
 These relics were sent to the Glasgow Museum, and after- 
 wards the horns were recognised as those of the reindeer. 4 
 
 7. A fragment of a reindeer horn in the Hunterian Museum, 
 Glasgow, was traced to sub-glacial deposit at Raesgill, Lan- 
 arkshire. 5 
 
 8. In one of the marl-pits sunk in the partially drained 
 Loch of Marlee, Perthshire, the skeleton of a beaver was 
 found, and in . another the horns of a large species of deer, 
 now supposed to have been those of the reindeer. 6 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 193. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 200 ; also Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 230. 
 
 3 History of Quadrupeds, vol. i. p. loo. 
 
 4 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 207. 5 Ibid., p. 208. 
 
 6 See Owen's Fossil Mammals, p. 482 ; Stat. Account, vol. xvii. p. 
 478 ; and Mem. Wern. Soc., vol. iii. p. 214.
 
 90 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 9. In 1856 a portion of a reindeer horn was found in 
 a railway cutting at Croftamie, Dumbartonshire, embedded 
 in blue clay underneath glacial till ; and in its close vicinity 
 arctic shells were detected. 1 
 
 10. Reindeer horns and a mammoth tusk were found while 
 removing alluvium (till) over part of the Woodhill quarry, 
 Kilmaurs, Ayrshire. 2 
 
 11. Sir W. Jardine describes the rinding of the horns of 
 a reindeer along with the remains of roe, red-deer, Bos primi- 
 genius, and the skull of a bear ( Ursus arctos) under a peat-bog, 
 while digging for marl on the Shaw property, Dumfries. 3 
 
 12. Sir Arthur Mitchell fell in with a large horn of a 
 reindeer nailed above the door of a house in Orkney, which, 
 as he was informed, had been found deep below the surface 
 of a peat-bog in the adjoining island of Rousay. 4 
 
 1 3. Professor Boyd-Dawkins states that " Sir Philip Egerton 
 met with a small fragment of an antler in the peat-bogs of 
 Ross-shire, which, beyond all doubt, belongs to this animal" 
 (reindeer). 5 
 
 1 4. Professor Rolleston identified, among the animal remains 
 sent to him from the Lochlee crannog, two fragments of rein- 
 deer horns. 6 
 
 15. Mr James Simpson read a paper at the Edinburgh 
 Geological Society (March 18, 1886), "On Reindeer and 
 other Mammalian bones discovered by Mr Macfie of Dreg- 
 horn in a rock-fissure at Green Craig, Pentland Hills." These 
 bones are deposited in the Anatomical Museum of the Edin- 
 
 1 Proc. R. Phy. Soc., vol. i. pp. 163, 247. 
 - Trans. Geo. Soc. Glasgow, vol. i. p. 71. 
 
 3 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 216, and vol. xiii. p. 360. 
 
 4 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 216. 
 
 5 International Cong. Prehistoric Arch., Norwich, p. 276. 
 
 6 Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings, p. 142, and Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. 
 xiii. p. 244.
 
 ELK. 91 
 
 burgh University, and the animals represented include the 
 reindeer, horse, dog, and deer. 
 
 1 6. Pieces of reindeer horn have recently been found in 
 a broch excavated by Sir F. T. Barry, M.P., on his estate 
 of Keiss, Caithness. They were associated with painted 
 pebbles, part of the antlers of an elk, and the canine tooth 
 of a bear. 1 
 
 THE ELK (Cervus alces}. 
 
 The elk, like the reindeer, inhabits northern regions, being 
 at the present time met with in Finland, East Prussia, Lithu- 
 ania, and some parts of Russia. Essentially a forest animal, 
 its geographical range must at all times have been largely 
 governed by the distribution of the primeval forests. The 
 spread of Neolithic civilisation, which entailed the clearing 
 of woods for tillage, curtailed the haunts of the elk. Partly 
 for this reason, and partly on account of the change in 
 climate, it would appear that in Roman times it had be- 
 come virtually extinct in Western Europe. Csesar merely 
 mentions it as one of the three wild beasts peculiar to the 
 Hercynian forest viz., Reindeer, Elk, and Urus. During 
 the Quaternary period the elk roamed over Europe from 
 the Pyrenees to the Altai Mountains, and from the north- 
 ern fringe of the forests to the south of France and North 
 Italy. 2 
 
 Its remains have been found on the sites of several of the 
 Swiss lake-dwellings, and in numerous localities throughout 
 the British Isles. The following are the instances of its dis- 
 covery in Scotland : 
 
 In 1871 Dr J. A. Smith recognised the skull and horns of 
 a reported large species of deer recently found in the Whit- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Lond., vol. xvii., 2nd series, p. 191. 
 
 2 Hamy, Paleontologie Humaine, p. 151.
 
 92 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 rig Bog, Berwickshire, as those of the elk (fig. 27). Whitrig 
 has been an old lake basin of considerable size, but it is 
 now entirely filled up and superficially occupied with a thick 
 deposit of peat. 
 
 " Below the peat," writes Dr Smith, " there is an extensive 
 bed of shell-marl ; for 3 feet in thickness you have pure marl, 
 then over a part at least of the bog there is a bed of blue 
 clay about 3 feet in thickness, and below this again there 
 are other 3 feet of marl. Under the marl is a bed of brick 
 clay, averaging 6 feet in thickness, and underneath this clay 
 you come at last to the hard till, or boulder-clay. 
 
 i 
 
 Fig. 27. Skull of the elk, found in Whitrig Bog, Berwickshire. 
 
 " Mr Hogarth told me the elk's head was found about two 
 months before my visit, at about 150 or 200 yards from the 
 northern margin of the bog. They were cutting peat at the 
 time, and there was a great abundance of water in the peat ; 
 the wall of peat, I may mention, is not cut down to its very 
 bottom, to avoid the marl, and Mr Hogarth cut a drain 
 through the bottom or remaining peat and part of the marl, 
 towards the open side of the bog, to let the water escape. 
 It was while cutting this drain in the peat, and before he 
 reached the marl, that the skull was discovered." 1 
 
 This discovery induced Dr Smith to hunt up all the scat- 
 tered notices he could find of the remains of this animal 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 298.
 
 ELK. 93 
 
 throughout the British Isles. Of those recorded in Scotland 1 
 the following is an epitome : 
 
 i. In a printed list of the first donations made to the 
 Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the horns 
 of the elk are four times included among the gifts, but un- 
 fortunately none of them have been preserved. These don- 
 ations are thus recorded. 
 
 (a) By Sir Alexander Dick of Prestonfield (1781). "A 
 quantity of Roman arms, consisting of twenty-three pieces of 
 the heads of the hasta and jaculum ; twenty pieces of the 
 blades and nine of the handles of the gladius and pugio ; a 
 ring, 3 inches in diameter, fastened to the end of a staple ; 
 and a mass of different pieces of these arms, run together by 
 fire, all of brass ; skulls and other human bones, together 
 with the horns of animals of the deer and elk species, dragged 
 out of the middle of a bed of shell-marl at the bottom of his 
 loch of Duddingston." This remarkable hoard of the Bronze 
 Age was presented, at the time, to the Antiquarian Museum. 
 
 (b) By Mr James Muirhead (1781). "A skeleton of a 
 palmated head, with very large horns, projecting both before 
 and behind, dug up lately on the farm of Greycrook, near 
 Cramond, occupied by Mr Henry Sawers, and found buried 
 8 feet below the surface, covered with 5 feet of marl, above 
 which was 3 feet of moss." 
 
 (c) By Mr George Aitkenhead (1783). "The broad upper 
 part of the horn of an elk, dug up anno 1779, 76 feet below 
 the surface of the ground, in Trinity Muir [Brechin], in the 
 heart of a marie bed, which, besides being covered with 
 several strata of earth, clay, and sand, each between 6 and 
 8 feet in thickness, had over them all a covering of moss to 
 the height of 30 feet." 
 
 (d) By Mr William Mabon,* cutler in Dunse (1783). "A 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. pp. 297-345, and vol. xvii. p. 325.
 
 94 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 large palmated horn, 27 inches in length, and 9 inches in 
 breadth." 
 
 2. A donation to the Royal Society of Edinburgh by the 
 Honourable Lord Dunsinnan, in 1788, is "a painting in oil 
 of the head and horns of an elk, found in a marl-pit, Forfar- 
 shire" 1 (fig. 28). 
 
 3. In the account to the parish of Kinloch, Perthshire, 
 the Rev. J. Brodie states : " A pair of very large deer's horns 
 
 Fig. 28. From a painting in oil of elk's skull found in Forfarshire. 
 
 were found a few years ago, in a bed of marl, in Mr Far- 
 quharson's marl-pit at Marlee. From their superior size and 
 palmated form they appear to be the horns of the elk-deer, 
 anciently the stately inhabitant of the Caledonian forests." 2 
 
 4. The circumstances in which a head and horns of the 
 elk from a marl-pit at Airleywight, Perthshire, preserved in 
 the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, were found, are thus de- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 315. 
 
 2 Old Stat. Account, vol. xvii. p. 478.
 
 ELK. 
 
 95 
 
 scribed : "They were got in the mossy hollow ground to the 
 north of this house in digging for marl. The first section was 
 moss of from i o to 12 feet in depth ; then 2 or 3 feet of an 
 inferior kind of marl ; then a bed of rich plastic red clay of 
 about i or i y 2 foot in thickness ; and last, the rich marl for 
 which the work was done. It was between the moss and 
 inferior marl strata, and partly in both, that the head and 
 
 Fig. 29. Elk's horn found in Strath Halladale, Sutherlandshire. 
 
 bones were found. The heads were pretty perfect when got, 
 and the horns almost entire, showing distinctly the species to 
 which each belonged, the one evidently of the elk kind ; the 
 other just like our present red-deer heads, but of rather 
 larger size than we now see. The bones found along with 
 the elk's head showed it to have been a very large animal ; 
 it must have been, at least, as tall as a good-sized ox." x 
 
 5. A shed palmated horn (fig. 29) of the left side of 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 320.
 
 96 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 the head of an elk " was found about forty years ago in the 
 formation of a cutting made for diverting the course of the 
 river in Strath Halladale (a river valley running north through 
 the eastern part of the country, and opening to the shores 
 of the North Sea at the bay of Melvich), and was preserved 
 by Mr Robert Rutherford, Helmsdale, in whose possession 
 it remained until it was recently presented, through the Rev. 
 Dr Joass, to the Duke of Sutherland's Museum at Dunrobin. 
 . . . The horns of a very large red-deer, Cervus elaphus, 
 were also found in the course of the same cuttings, and are 
 now in the museum at Dunrobin ; they display no less than 
 some twenty-five or twenty-six points." 
 
 On the above discovery Dr Smith makes the following 
 comments : " This horn has almost the look of the horn of 
 a recent elk, having apparently lost little or nothing of its 
 animal or mineral constituents. So that, judging from its 
 appearance, we are led to consider it must either have 
 belonged to a recent elk, or that the elk lived down to a 
 comparatively late period of time in this most northern part 
 of Scotland, and perhaps to a still later period here, than in 
 the more southern localities in which its remains have been 
 discovered." * 
 
 6. Besides the skull and horns of the elk discovered in 
 Whitrig Bog, already noticed, Dr Smith considers that a por- 
 tion of a palmated horn, found at Coldingham in Berwickshire 
 described and figured by the late Mr James Hardy, in the 
 'Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalist's Club for 1860,' 
 as belonging to the Irish elk has a much closer resemblance 
 to the horns of the elk. Mr Hardy, in a footnote, refers to 
 another instance of the discovery of what he supposed to be 
 the Irish elk in the neighbourhood of North Berwick. In 
 vol. i. of ' Hillside and Border Sketches,' by W. H. Maxwell, 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 324.
 
 ELK. 
 
 97 
 
 London, 1847, at P- 3 1 7> it 1S stated that "a medal of 
 Trajan, a fibula, a patera, and a horn of a moose-deer " were 
 discovered. 
 
 7. According to Dr Smith, the finest specimen of the true 
 elk that had yet been discovered in the British islands was 
 found, in 1828, " in a peat on the edge of a small loch called 
 Willie Struther's Loch, in the valley of the river Slitrig," in 
 Roxburghshire (fig. 30). Some other bones, including the 
 skull of a Bos longifrons, were found in this moss. 1 
 
 8. Another specimen of the cranium of an elk with its 
 
 Fig. 30. Skull of elk found at Willie Struther's Loch, Roxburghshire. 
 
 horns was discovered in a bog at Oakwood, " a few miles 
 up the river Etterick, above the town of Selkirk, and was 
 brought upwards of thirty years ago by the Hon. Francis 
 Scott to Mertoun House, Roxburghshire, where it is still 
 preserved." 2 
 
 9. In the 'Edinburgh Encylopaedia ' (1830) the following 
 statement occurs under the description of Selkirkshire : " It 
 is likely that in ancient times the urus had been common, 
 for skulls of that animal have frequently been found in the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 326. a Ibid., p. 331. 
 
 G
 
 9 8 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 marl mosses along with those of the stag, and another extinct 
 species of deer with palmated antlers, of a size which seems 
 to indicate the bearers to have been as large as a blood horse." 
 (Probably the same as the deer of Saomme of Cuvier.) 
 
 The Rev. James Russell, in his account of the parish of 
 
 Fig. 31. Horn of the elk found in the river Cree, Wigtownshire. 
 
 Yarrow, states that "the skulls of the urus, described by 
 Caesar, and an extinct species of deer with large palmated 
 antlers, have been found embedded in the marl mosses." * 
 i o. In the account of the parish of Kirkurd by the Rev. 
 
 1 NewStat. Account, of Scotland, Selkirkshire, p. 38.
 
 ELK. 99 
 
 David Anderson, it is stated that " not long ago, in digging 
 for marl in the Mount bog, several horns of the elk, in a high 
 state of preservation, were found." l 
 
 n. In 1883 Dr Smith records the finding of the horn 
 of an elk (fig. 31) in Wigtownshire. It and a fragment 
 of a large deer-horn were drawn out of the estuary of the 
 river Cree, " somewhere between Newton-Stewart and Cree- 
 town, in a salmon net," and given to the Rev. George Wilson, 
 of Glenluce, by the man who got them. 2 
 
 12. Part of the antler of an elk (Cervus alces) was found 
 recently by Sir F. T. Barry, M.P., in underground buildings 
 attached to a broch at Keiss, excavated by him. 3 
 
 England and Ireland. 
 
 The remains of the elk have also been recorded from 
 various localities throughout England and Ireland, among 
 which the following may be mentioned : Chirdon Burn, 
 Northumberland ; * Walthamstow, Essex ; 5 in a Romano- 
 Brijish settlement at Wetton, Staffordshire ; 6 Hartlepool, 
 Durham ; " Thorpe Hall and Carnaby, Yorkshire ; 8 Isle of 
 Man ; 9 in a cave at Llandebie, Caermarthen ; 10 and at 
 Stewartstown, Tyrone, Ireland. 11 
 
 1 New Stat. Account of Scotland, Peeblesshire, p. 128. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvii. p. 325. 
 
 8 Proc. Soc. A. Lond., vol. xvii., 2nd series, p. 191. 
 
 4 Trans. Tyneside Nat. Field Club, vol. v. p. in, 1863.. 
 
 5 Geo. Mag., vol. vi. p. 389. " 
 
 6 Bateman's Ten Years' Digging, &c., 1861, pp. 202, 298. 
 
 7 Trans. Tyneside Nat. Field Club, vol. v. p. 121. 
 
 8 Proc. Geo. and Polytech. Soc. of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1869. 
 
 9 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 339. 
 
 10 Ibid. 
 
 11 Proc. Zool. Soc., London, part v. p. 52, 1837.
 
 1OO 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 GIGANTIC IRISH DEER (Megaceros hibernicus). 
 
 The Irish elk (fig. 32) is remarkable, among all the species 
 of deer both living and extinct, for the great proportional size 
 of its horns. Dr Molyneux, 1 to whom we owe the first ac- 
 
 Fig. 32. Irish, elk. 
 
 count of this fossil animal, gives the length, from the extreme 
 
 tip of the right to that of the left antler, as 10 feet 10 
 
 inches; the length of each antler from the burr to the 
 
 1 Phil. Trans., vol. xxx. p. 485.
 
 IRISH ELK. 101 
 
 extreme tip, 5 feet 2 inches ; and the breadth of the 
 palmated part i foot io}4 inches. From these data he 
 infers the amount of the superiority of the bulk of the 
 animal over ordinary deer. Further discoveries, however, 
 have shown this conclusion to be erroneous, as the osteo- 
 logical modifications necessitated by the vast weight of the 
 head consisted merely in the greater strength of the limbs 
 and neck. 
 
 "The first tolerably perfect skeleton of the Megaceros" 
 says Sir R. Owen, writing in 1846,* "was found in the 
 Isle of Man, and was presented by the Duke of Athol 
 to the Edinburgh Museum ; the figure in the ' Ossemens 
 Fossiles,' torn. iv. pi. viii., is taken from an engraving of 
 this skeleton transmitted by Professor Jamieson to Baron 
 Cuvier. Another skeleton was composed and set up by 
 Dr Hart, in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, 
 from a collection of bones found at Rathcannon, in Ireland, 
 and this is figured in his ' Description of the Skeleton of 
 the Fossil Deer of Ireland.' A third engraving of a fore- 
 shortened view, by Professor Philips, of the skeleton of the 
 Megaceros, from Waterford, in the Museum of the Yorkshire 
 Philosophical Society, was published, without description, by 
 Mr Sunter of York ; and this exhibits a more natural collo- 
 cation of the bones than do either of the above -cited 
 figures. Three very complete and well -articulated skeletons 
 have since been added to English collections; one of those 
 is in the British Museum, another in the Woodwardian 
 Museum at Cambridge, and a third in the Hunterian 
 Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London." 
 
 Remains of the Megaceros are sparingly found in Britain, 
 but so abundantly in Ireland that about one hundred heads 
 have been found, during the last thirty or forty years, in 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 447.
 
 IO2 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 the small bog of Ballybetagh alone. 1 Besides Britain and 
 Ireland, it inhabited the largest part of the Continent, 
 where its remains are met with in caverns and Pleistocene 
 deposits. Like the Bos primigenius, it is represented in 
 the Cromer forest -bed, so that it existed throughout the 
 entire glacial period. It probably found its way into Scot- 
 land during the first great forest growths in post - glacial 
 times. It is maintained by some writers that the Mcgaceros 
 was the contemporary of man in Ireland, on the ground 
 that its remains have been found associated with the works 
 of man in caves and crannogs. 2 Mr Kinahan, in his notice 
 of the crannogs in Loughrea, states that from Shore Island 
 300 tons of bones were procured, among which " were 
 perfect heads of oxen, sheep, goats, deer, pigs, and what 
 seemed to be large dogs or wolves. There was also ex- 
 humed the head of a Megaceros hibernicus which measured 
 over 13 feet from tip to tip of its horns." 3 Horns of the 
 animal were also found on the crannog of Cloonfinlough. 4 
 In the cave of Ballynamintra, County Waterford, explored 
 by Messrs A. Leith Adams, F.R.S., G. H. Kinahan, M.R.I.A., 
 and R. J. Ussher, 5 numerous bones of the Irish elk were 
 found, associated with a number of hammer - stones and 
 pounders, and so broken as to suggest to the authors that 
 it had been done by the hand of man. " Taking, therefore, 
 into consideration," they write, " the oblong and rounded 
 stones, battered and chipped at the ends by blows, also 
 other stone tools bearing traces of man's handiwork, and 
 strewn about among the Irish elk's remains, one can 
 scarcely doubt but that the regularity in the mode of 
 
 1 Geo. Mag., vol. viii. p. 358. 
 
 2 Scientific Transactions of R. Dublin Society, vol. i., 2nd series, p. 222. 
 
 3 Proc. R. I. Acad., vol. viii. p. 424. 4 Ibid., vol. v. p. 208. 
 
 8 Scientific Transactions of R. Dublin Society, vol. i., 2nd series, p. 200.
 
 IRISH ELK. 103 
 
 fractures was the result of his ingenuity for the extraction 
 of the marrow, and possibly also for other objects." 
 
 It may also be observed that these Irish elk bones were 
 associated with the remains of a Neolithic fauna, among 
 them being the bones of horse, pig, ox (Bos longifrons], 
 grizzly bear ( Ursus ferox), goat, red -deer, badger, wolf, fox, 
 dog, &c. Among the relics of man were human bones, a 
 polished stone celt, various implements of bone, an amber 
 bead, two bone plates of the handle of a knife ornamented 
 with incised concentric circles, charcoal, &c., showing that 
 the cave had been frequented by man up to early, medieval 
 times. 
 
 The remains of the Megaceros hitherto discovered in Scot- 
 land are very few. The Rev. George Gray x gives an exceed- 
 ingly interesting notice of a find in the parish of Maybole, 
 Ayrshire, in which the head and horns of the animal were 
 found associated with bones of the ox and the red-deer. In 
 this report he writes as follows : 
 
 " Towards the southern boundary of the parish there are 
 a series of hollows between the undulations of the sandstone, 
 some of them still in the state of lochs, and others of marshes. 
 On draining some of them, it has been found that, after pene- 
 trating a bed of soil and moss of about 8 to 10 feet in thick- 
 ness, great deposits of marl occur, containing an immense 
 number of organic remains. It is to be regretted that at 
 the time the marl was excavated no greater attention than 
 what curiosity prompted was directed towards these interest- 
 ing relics. Portions of different animals have, however, been 
 preserved ; and for the following notice of the heads of the 
 elk and Bos in the possession of Mr Kennedy of Drummellan 
 I am indebted to Dr M'Tyer of Redbrae. 
 
 " ' The fossil head of the Cervus megaceros differs from the 
 1 New Stat. Account, vol. v. p. 353.
 
 IO4 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 specimen in the Museum of the Royal Society of Dublin in 
 the head being larger and the horns a little less, probably 
 from the Drummellan animal having been aged.' [Then 
 follow the dimensions.] 
 
 "The other head appears to have belonged to a variety of 
 Bos taunts, the forehead being concave. It measures 10 
 inches between the horns, and i^/4 inches round the hole of 
 the horn. Horns of the Cervus elaphus were also found." 
 
 Two portions of the horns of the Megaceros, consisting of 
 the left beam of a shed horn of average size, and the brow 
 snag of another horn, were found in a cutting on the Croft- 
 head and Kilmarnock Railway ; but geologists differ as to 
 the nature of the deposits, some assigning them to an inter- 
 glacial period. 1 
 
 In September 1897 an almost complete skeleton of the 
 Irish elk was dug out of a bed of marl at Close-y-Garey, 
 parish of German, Isle of Man. The marl bed lay under 3 
 feet of disturbed soil and peat, and extended downwards to 
 a depth of about 10 feet. The skeleton was found about 9 
 feet from the surface, lying " on its right side, the head to- 
 wards the bank and the legs drawn up to the body." From 
 the interim report of the Committee conducting the inves- 
 tigation, I extract the following notes on this interesting 
 discovery. 
 
 "The bones were nearly in juxtaposition, and in a fair 
 state of preservation. Unfortunately, however, the skull was 
 badly decayed, having probably broken, as suggested by 
 Professor Dawkins, under the weight of the antlers, of which 
 the left one had fallen over the lumbar vertebrae, the right 
 dropped down by the cervical vertebrae and shoulder-blades. 
 The latter was in almost perfect preservation ; the tines, how- 
 
 1 Trans. Geo. Soc. Glasgow, vol. iv. ; Geo. Mag., vol. v. p. 393, vol. 
 vi. p. 390, and vol. vii. p. 137.
 
 RED-DEER. 1 05 
 
 ever, dropped off in lifting it out of the marl. The left 
 antler is the larger, measuring across the palm 15 inches, 
 allowing for a small piece of the front edge which has de- 
 cayed away ; the right measures 1 3 inches. With tines 
 restored, they are respectively 56^ inches and 53 inches 
 long. Curiously, the beam was missing in both ; this would 
 probably have been another 10 inches. They have each six 
 points or tines besides the brow tines which had fallen off, 
 the part of the beam to which they were attached having 
 decayed away. 
 
 "The size and shape of the antlers show the animal to 
 have been an adult male ; the teeth which remain are in ex- 
 cellent preservation, showing no sign of weakness or decay. 
 The limbs are perfect, all the small bones having been re- 
 covered ; the vertebrae are sound, but, unfortunately, the atlas 
 is missing, having probably been turned over and reburied in 
 the wet clay without being observed. The right shoulder- 
 blade, which lay beneath the other, is badly decayed, as are 
 many of the ribs and the pelvic bones ; but we hope that, 
 with a little piecing out and patching, the bones, when ar- 
 ticulated and mounted, will make a perfect skeleton." 
 
 RED-DEER (Cervus elaphus) and ROE-DEER (C. capreolus). 
 
 Red-deer had formerly a wide distribution throughout the 
 temperate regions of Europe and Asia, and they are still 
 to be found in some of the European forests, though in 
 greatly diminished numbers from what they used to be even 
 in early historic times. The great range of this animal in 
 time is attested by numerous discoveries of its antlers, teeth, 
 and bones, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, in 
 ossiferous caves, in the newer fresh-water deposits of the 
 Pliocene period, and in intermediate formations up to the 

 
 IO6 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 growth of the existing peat-bogs. "The chain of evidence 
 of the existence of this species of deer in Britain," writes Sir 
 R. Owen, " from the Pliocene tertiary period to the present 
 time, seems to be unbroken. This at least is certain, that a 
 deer, undistinguishable by the characters of its enduring re- 
 mains from the Cervus elaphus^ coexisted with the Megaceros, 
 the spelaean Hyaena, the tichorhine Rhinoceros, and the Mam- 
 
 Fig. 33. Horns of red-deer found in the Meadmus, Edinburgh. 
 
 moth, and has survived, as a species, those influences which 
 appear to have caused the extinction of its gigantic asso- 
 ciates, as well as of some smaller animals for example, the 
 Trogontherium, the Lagomys> and the still more diminutive 
 Palaospalax." l 
 
 No animal, among the prehistoric fauna of Britain, comes 
 more frequently before the eye of the archaeologist than the 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 478.
 
 RED-DEER. 
 
 ID/ 
 
 red-deer. Indeed from the very dawn of Neolithic civilisa- 
 tion it was sought after, not only as food, but also for its 
 horns and bones, which were utilised as implements, weapons, 
 and ornaments, &c. The frequency and abundance with 
 which its remains have been found on ancient inhabited sites, 
 such as crannogs, brochs, earth-houses, caves, rock-shelters, 
 &c., is positive evidence that in those times great herds of 
 
 Fig. 34. Horns of red-deer foitnd in a MOSS, Ashkirk, Roxburghshire, 
 
 deer roamed over the country. Although the area of their 
 existence in Britain has now dwindled down to a few protected 
 forests in the north of Scotland, where some herds enjoy a 
 kind of wild life, there is ample historical evidence to show 
 that deer abounded in the south of Scotland in medieval 
 times. Thus, by order of Edward L, dated i8th August 
 1291, "Simon Fresel (Frazer), Keeper of the forest of Sel-
 
 108 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 kirk, is enjoined to bestow upon the venerable fathers, 
 William Frazer, Bishop of St Andrews, thirty stags ; Robert 
 (Wishart), Bishop of Glasgow, twenty stags and sixty oak- 
 trees ; and the Bishop of Caithness for himself, ten stags ; 
 James the Steward of Scotland, twenty stags," &C. 1 For 
 further historical notices of the red-deer, and the specified 
 localities throughout Scotland which have yielded the remains, 
 I would refer my readers to the valuable article of Dr J. 
 Alexander Smith, in the 1 5th volume of the ' Proceedings 
 of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.' I will only- 
 further remark that the horns disinterred from marl -pits, 
 and the older turbaries, appear to indicate animals de- 
 cidedly larger than those of the present day. At any rate, 
 nowhere throughout Europe could we find, at the present 
 time, a stag's head to match with the two here illustrated 
 (figs. 33 and 34), one found in the Meadows, Edinburgh, and 
 the other in a moss at Ashkirk, Roxburghshire. 
 
 The history of the roe-deer, as well as its distribution in 
 space and time, may be paralleled with that of the red-deer, 
 and, as obtains at present, at no time was it so numerous as 
 the latter. The antler of the roe-buck requires very little to 
 convert it into a convenient hand-dagger ; and I have found 
 weapons or implements of this description in various crannogs. 2 
 
 URUS (Bos primigenius). 
 
 Of the two wild oxen, the Bison and the Urus, stated by 
 Pliny to be, in his time, inhabitants of Germany, 3 the remains 
 of the former have not yet been discovered among the super- 
 ficial deposits of the prehistoric period in Britain ; but its 
 
 1 Quoted in Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 61. 
 
 2 See Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings, fig. 174. 
 
 3 Nat. Hist., book viii. chap. 15.
 
 URUS. 109 
 
 presence in earlier times, as a contemporary of the mammoth, 
 tichorhine rhinoceros, and cave hyaena, is unequivocally estab- 
 lished. "A characteristic cranium with horn-cores of the 
 Bison priscus" says Professor Owen, "obtained by Mr 
 Warburton from the fresh-water newer Pliocene deposits at 
 Walton in Essex, is suspended in the Hall of the Geological 
 Society of London." l 
 
 In France and Germany its remains are frequently met 
 with, being indeed among the fauna of the lake-dwellings of 
 Robenhausen and Wauwyl ; and, in more eastern parts, it is 
 still extant as the auroch of the Lithuanian forest. " Its 
 absence from Britain," says Professor Boyd-Dawkins, " may 
 perhaps be accounted for by our island having been cut off 
 from the mainland of Europe before the commencement of 
 the prehistoric period, and by the animal having been conse- 
 quently exposed to the craft of the hunter in an area too small 
 for its concealment." 2 On the other hand, the urus continued 
 to live in Britain during the prehistoric period (probably longer 
 in Scotland than elsewhere in the island). The discovery of 
 its remains in marl-pits, in the newer tertiary deposits, and 
 in the Cromer forest-bed, proves that the animal had a wide 
 geological range, embracing the entire glacial period. Caesar 
 gives a good account of the uri of the great Hercynian forest : 
 " There is a third kind, consisting of .those animals called uri. 
 These are a little below the elephant in size, and of the 
 appearance, colour, and shape of a bull. Their strength 
 and speed are extraordinary ; they spare neither man nor 
 wild beast which they have espied. These the Germans 
 take with much pains in pits and kill them. The young 
 men harden themselves with this exercise, and practise them- 
 selves in this kind of hunting, and those who have slain the 
 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 494. 
 
 2 International Cong. Prehistoric Arch., Norwich, p. 283.
 
 1 10 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 greatest number of them, having produced the horns in public 
 to serve as evidence, receive great praise. But not even when 
 taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and 
 tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ 
 much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek 
 after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their 
 most sumptuous entertainments" (Book vi. chap. 28). 
 
 The fossil remains of this great ox have been abundantly 
 found throughout Scotland, as the following records will 
 show : 
 
 1. Five skulls were discovered in a marl-moss at Whitmuir- 
 hall, one of which was presented to the Museum of the 
 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by the Rev. Thomas 
 Robertson, accompanied by a letter, in which the writer 
 says : " Among other curiosities dug out of a marie moss 
 at Whitmuirhall, in this parish, the skull and flints of an ox 
 which I have sent you attracted my attention. You, I know, 
 are fond of anything that tends to throw light upon the 
 ancient state of this country, and therefore I used the freedom 
 to transmit this, not merely on account of its uncommon size, 
 but as a proof of the large breed of cattle with which this 
 country abounded in the last century. I found five skulls, 
 evidently larger, but not so entire. I found also several 
 small axes, resembling those used by coppersmiths, but I did 
 not think it worth while to trouble you with them." 1 
 
 Subsequently, in noticing this discovery, 2 Mr Robertson 
 states that a Roman spear was found along with these 
 skulls. 
 
 2. Another fine specimen of the head of the urus, labelled 
 from Selkirkshire, is in the Museum of the Royal College of 
 Surgeons, Edinburgh. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 643. 
 
 2 Stat. Account of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 434.
 
 URUS. Ill 
 
 3. A fine large skull of Bos primigenius is preserved in the 
 Abbotsford collection, said to have been found in a moss 
 near Jedburgh. 1 
 
 Dr J. A. Smith ( has put on record the fact that during a 
 drive in the valley of the river Ale, near the town of Lillies- 
 leaf, he saw two large skulls impaled one on each of the 
 wooden posts of an old field-gate. 2 
 
 4. In 1826 the bones of a large ox, described as the Bos 
 primigenius, were got in the marl of Linton Loch, Roxburgh- 
 shire, as well as those of deer. A perfect skull of the beaver 
 (Castor fiber] was also found "below the peat and on the 
 surface of the marl, now preserved in the Museum of the 
 Tweedside Physical and Antiquarian Society at Kelso." 3 
 
 5. A skull of the urus was presented to the Museum of 
 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in 1782, by Thomas 
 Scott of Hapsburn. Also in the same year another 
 specimen, from a moss in Galloway, by the Rev. David 
 M'Robert. 4 
 
 6. The Rev. G. J. Hamilton states, inter alia, that in a marl- 
 moss on the estate of Synton, Ashkirk, " besides the horns 
 of the stag already mentioned, the horns of the urus (Bos 
 primigenius} were dug up from the same moss." 5 
 
 7. A portion of the skull of the urus was found by Dr Hen- 
 derson in the Whitrig Bog, and presented to the Hunterian 
 Museum, Glasgow. 6 
 
 8. Remains of Bos primigenius were found in Dumfriesshire 
 associated with the bones of the bear and reindeer, as already 
 described (p. go). 7 
 
 9. In the British Museum there is a skull, from a turbary 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 656. * Ibid., p. 657. 
 
 3 Edin. New Phil. Journal, July 1858. 
 
 4 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 644. 5 Ibid., vol. xv. p. 50. 
 
 6 Ibid., vol. ix. p. 658. ~ Ibid., vol. viii. p. 216.
 
 112 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, presented by Lord Selkirk 
 in iSsp. 1 
 
 10. A skull of the urus is recorded as having been found 
 in a marl-pit near Maybole, associated with remains of various 
 other animals (see p. 104).. 
 
 1 1 . A portion of the skull with a horn-core was found in a 
 bed of clay in a railway cutting, near Crofthead, Renfrewshire, 
 along with remains of Irish elk and horse. 2 
 
 12. Professor J. Geikie describes the remains of Bos primi- 
 genius found in the valley of Cowden Burn in clay-beds, which 
 he considers to be interglacial. 3 
 
 13. Mr William Lockhart, in his account of the parish of 
 Lanark, states that, in 1785, while digging a mill-lade, " there 
 was found the skeleton of the Bison scotiais, or Urus, de- 
 scribed by Caesar, lib. vi., which has been extinct in Scotland 
 for above 300 years. The cores or flints of the horns are 
 still preserved, one in the College of Glasgow, and another 
 in my possession : the last, though not entire, is 2 feet in 
 length, and next the head measures above 15 inches in 
 circumference." 4 
 
 14. Remains of the urus were found on the north bank 
 of the Clyde, associated with those of the reindeer, 5 and 
 also in an excavation in Greendyke Street, Glasgow. 6 
 
 15. A large skull of a Bos taurus, described in Fleming's 
 ' History of British Mammals,' is now preserved in the 
 Museum of the New College, Edinburgh. A label, fixed 
 on it in Dr Fleming's handwriting, is to the effect that it 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 659. 
 
 - Trans. Glasgow Geo. Mag., vol. iv., and Geo. Mag., vol. vii. p. 137. 
 
 3 Geo. Mag., vol. v. pp. 393, 486, 535 ; vol. vi. pp. 73, 390 ; vol. vii. 
 
 P- 53- 
 
 4 Stat. Account of Scotland, vol. xv. p. 34. 
 
 5 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 207. 
 
 6 Trans. Geo. Soc. Glasgow, vol. ii. , 1867.
 
 URUS. 113 
 
 was found in a marl-pit at Newburgh, Fifeshire (figs. 35, 
 36, and 37). 
 
 1 6. A large skull from near Athol, now in the British 
 Museum, is figured and described by Professor Owen in his 
 ' British Fossil Mammals,' p. 501. At the end of his descrip- 
 tion he makes the following remarks, which show that his 
 opinion was against the supposition that any of the domestic 
 
 Fig- 35- Skull of Eos primigenius found in Fifeshire (27% inches in length). 
 
 cattle of Scotland are descendants of the prehistoric wild 
 ox : " In the manuscript catalogue of the British Museum 
 this fine specimen is ascribed to ' the Caledonian Ox, Bos 
 faurus, var. gigantea? But the wild white variety with black 
 muzzles, ears, and horns, the ' boves sylvestres ' of Leslie, 
 which are identical with the cattle preserved at Chillingham, 
 are of very inferior dimensions, and differ particularly in the 
 smaller proportional size, and finer and more tapering figure 
 
 H
 
 114 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 of the horns. The Kyloes of the mountainous regions of 
 Scotland, which are more likely to have been derived from 
 an indigenous wild race than the cattle of the Lowlands, differ 
 
 Fig. 36. Side view of skull in fig. 35. 
 
 still more from the Bos primigenius than does the Chillingham 
 breed in their diminutive size, and very short horns." 
 
 iR. 37- Two last maxillary molar teeth of left side of Bos primigenius 
 (natural size). 
 
 17. Another skull was found in the last century in a marl- 
 pit half a mile from Moulin, Perthshire. 1 
 
 1 8. The Rev. J. Scott, in his account of the parish of 
 
 1 Stat. Account of Scotland, vol. v. p. 70.
 
 URUS. 115 
 
 Muthil, 1 writes as follows: "At this time (1793) there are 
 no wild deer, but as the horns of both the elk and forest 
 deer of very large size have of late been found in marl-pits, 
 on both sides of the parish, and as the head and horns of the 
 urus (Bos ferns of Linnaeus) or mountain bull were lately dug 
 up at the side of a small lake near Drummond Castle, it 
 plainly shows that forest deer, and the other animals now so 
 little known, once frequented this part of the country." 
 
 Another specimen, got in a marl-pit in the neighbourhood 
 several years ago (one of several found at the same time), 
 is preserved at Drummond Castle. 2 
 
 19. A skull and bones found in Belhelvie peat-moss, a few 
 miles north of Aberdeen, are now preserved in the Museum 
 of the University of Aberdeen. 3 
 
 20. Rev. Dr Joass found in a ruined broch at Kintradwell 
 remains of the pig, reindeer, and other animals, along with the 
 frontal bone, horn-cores, and other bones of a large animal 
 of the ox tribe. 4 
 
 21. Dr Joseph Anderson discovered in an ancient mound 
 at Keiss the upper part of the skull, with the frontal bone and 
 horn-core, of a large ox now preserved in the Museum of 
 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which, in Dr Smith's 
 opinion, corresponds more to that of the Bos primigenius 
 than to any other species. 5 
 
 22. Another specimen found in the marl of the Loch of 
 Breckigo, along with antlers of the red-deer, was presented to 
 that museum by Bentley Innes, Esq. of Thrumster, in June 
 iSyo. 6 
 
 23. Dr Smith records, on the authority of Dr Joseph 
 Anderson, the two following instances of the finding of bones 
 
 1 Stat. Account of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 487. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 663. 3 Ibid. 
 4 Ibid., p. 665. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid.
 
 Il6 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 of the Bos primigenius in bogs : Two heads with the horns 
 entangled, as if the animals had been fighting, were found in 
 a bog in the parish of Bower when digging for marl on the 
 estate of Thura. They were upwards of 3 feet in the ground, 
 and in a high state of preservation. The second instance 
 was also of two heads similarly locked, and buried about 
 the same depth. They were found at Clayock, in the parish 
 of Bower, by Alexander Ross, whiie digging a drain in the 
 month of October I84O. 1 
 
 24. Mr Samuel Laing recognised the horns of a large ox 
 found in the "Underground House of Skaill," Orkney, as 
 those of the Bos primigenius?- 
 
 CELTIC SHORTHORN (Bos longifrons). 
 
 Sir Richard Owen gave the name longifrons to a frontlet 
 and horn-core of a small ox, which formed part of the original 
 collection of fossils of John Hunter, recorded as having been 
 obtained " from a bog in Ireland." " Had no other localities," 
 he writes, " for the Bos longifrons been known than that of 
 the Hunterian specimen, the species might have been held to 
 be of later date than the Bos primigenius and Bison priscus, 
 of whose existence, as the contemporaries of the Mammoth 
 and tichorhine Rhinoceros, we have had such satisfactory 
 evidence. I have, however, been so fortunate as to find, 
 in the survey of the collections of Mammalian Fossils in the 
 eastern counties of England, some indubitable specimens of 
 the Bos longifrons from fresh-water deposits, which are rich in 
 the remains of Elephas and Rhinoceros"* 
 
 Professor Boyd-Dawkins 4 denies the validity of the evi- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 666. a Ibid., vol. vii. p. 76. 
 
 * British Fossil Mammals, p. 510. 
 
 4 Transactions of International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology, 
 Norwich, 1868, p. 281.
 
 CELTIC SHORTHORN. 117 
 
 dence on which the Bos longifrons is thus made contemporary 
 with the fauna of the newer Pliocene age. After critically 
 reviewing the reported geological conditions in which the 
 specimens on which Owen based his opinion were found, he 
 comes to the following conclusion : " In fine, all the cases of 
 its reputed occurrence, associated with post-glacial mammalia 
 in Britain, may be resolved either into a mistaken identifica- 
 tion of its remains with those of bison, or by the mixture of 
 its remains with those of animals derived from a different 
 formation." 
 
 The difference of opinion thus manifested is not yet 
 satisfactorily disposed of, so far as I know ; but as it can 
 only be settled by an appeal to further discoverable materials, 
 it would be useless to continue the discussion here. 
 
 There are no animal remains, with perhaps the exception 
 of those of the red-deer, which come more frequently before 
 the archaeologist than those of Bos longifrons (fig. 38). They 
 are constantly met with on the sites of the earlier con- 
 structions and habitations of man, such as lake -dwellings, 
 earth - houses, Roman camps and villages, brochs, barrows, 
 caves, and kitchen-middens ; also in peat-bogs and alluvium. 
 It is unnecessary to enumerate all the finds recorded ; and 
 I shall, therefore, notice only a few of the more instruc- 
 tive circumstances in which the bones of this animal have 
 been found. 
 
 Crannogs, On the crannogs in the loch of Dowalton, they 
 were associated with Romano-British industrial relics, as well 
 as with remains of pig and sheep or goat ; * and on the 
 crannog of Lochlee, with the bones of the horse, tame pig, 
 sheep, red-deer, roe-deer, and reindeer. 2 
 
 Roman Station. On the site of the Roman station at 
 
 1- Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vi. p. 118. 
 
 2 Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings, p. 139.
 
 n8 
 
 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 Newstead, in Roxburghshire, several specimens were found 
 along with Roman pottery. 1 
 
 Brocks. In the brochs of Cilt Trolla, Kettleburn, Keiss, 
 Yarhouse, &c. 2 
 
 Caves. In the MacArthur Cave at Oban (see p. 50), and 
 in the Korness Cave in Kirkcudbrightshire. 3 
 
 Fig. 38. Portion of skull and horns of Bos longifrons found in a bog in Ire- 
 land 25 feet below the surface, and now preserved in the Museum of the New 
 College, Edinburgh. 
 
 Kitchen-middens. On the Ghegan Rock (see p. 80), asso- 
 ciated with the goat, horse, pig, deer, roe, and dog. 4 
 
 Forts. Mr Hugh W. Young notes the remains of the 
 Bos longifrons along with those of the horse, sheep, and 
 pig, at Burghead. 5 
 
 Alluvium. At Kinleith, near Edinburgh, bones of the ox 
 and dog were found in a gravel-bed, formed by the river in 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 588. '- Ibid., vol. ix. pp. 631-634. 
 
 1 Ibid., vol. x. p. 502. * Ibid., vol. viii. p. 372. 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. xxvii. p. 91.
 
 CELTIC SHORTHORN. 
 
 119 
 
 ancient times, at a depth of nearly 1 1 feet from the surface, 
 together with a remarkable bronze razor (fig. 39). 1 
 
 Peat. Near Drem, a skull with horn - cores was found 
 15 feet under a peat-moss at Balgone; and also in Blair- 
 Drummond Moss its remains were found in several places. 2 
 At Morbhaich Mor, Tain (see p. 86), its remains were asso- 
 ciated with those of the reindeer and dog. 
 
 Professor Owen states that it has been found under 
 peat in the neighbourhood of 
 Bridgewater, Devon, and in 
 various localities in Ireland 
 " from sub - turbary shell - 
 marl." 3 
 
 I may observe that on the 
 sites of the Swiss lake-dwell- 
 ings remains of a small ox 
 are everywhere noted. As 
 Bos brachyceros it is recorded 
 among the animal remains 
 found on the great Neolithic 
 settlement of Butmir, in 
 
 Bosnia, including the Urus, and other varieties of Bos, as 
 well as the pig, sheep or goat, stag, and roe-deer. 4 
 
 Remains of Bos longifrons have also been found in tombs 
 of the Stone and Bronze Ages by numerous explorers, as 
 Canon Greenwell, 5 Mr Bateman, 6 Sir R. Colt Hoare, 7 and 
 Mr Warne. 8 
 
 Sir Richard Owen, in combating the idea that our modern 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. v. p. 84, and vol. ix. p. 625. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. ix. pp. 627-629. 3 British Fossil Mammals, pp. 511, 512. 
 
 4 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, &c., p. 108. 
 
 5 British Barrows, pp. 1 68, 230. 
 
 6 Vestiges, p. 82 ; and Ten Years' Diggings, pp. 126-129. 
 
 7 Ancient Wilts, vol. i. p. 199. 8 Celtic Tumuli of Dorset, p. 37. 
 
 Fig. 39. Bronze razor found at 
 Kinkith, Mid-Lothian (J).
 
 120 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 domestic cattle are descendants of the Bos primigenius, re- 
 gards it as " more probable that the herds of the newly 
 conquered regions would be derived from the already domesti- 
 cated cattle of the Romans." To this, however, he adds 
 the following : " But, if it should still be contended that the 
 natives of Britain, or any part of them, obtained their cattle 
 by taming a primitive wild race, neither the Bison nor the 
 great Urus are so likely to have furnished the source of 
 their herds as the smaller primitive wild species, or original 
 variety of Bos, which is the subject of the present section." l 
 
 On reviewing the whole circumstances, so far as I can 
 gather the evidence in support of both sides of the ques- 
 tion, I ami inclined to agree with Professor Boyd-Dawkins 
 that the Bos longifrons was part of the indispensable belong- 
 ings of Neolithic man when he first entered Britain. It 
 was indeed the possession of domestic animals that gave 
 him the mastery over his Palaeolithic predecessors in Europe. 
 
 I have already quoted Caesar's statement (p. 5) that the 
 Britons possessed numerous herds of cattle. There can, there- 
 fore, be no doubt that the Bos longifrons was a domestic 
 animal in the British Isles long before the Romans invaded 
 the country. 
 
 BEAVER (Castor europceus}. 
 
 According to Sir Richard Owen, remains of the Beaver have 
 been found, both in this country and on the continent of 
 Europe, in Pleistocene fresh-water formations associated with 
 those of the Mammoth, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Hyaena, 
 and other extinct mammalia. They are not, however, found 
 in the bone-caves of this country belonging to that period. 
 The most common situation in which they occur is in the 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 509.
 
 BEAVER. 121 
 
 sub-turbary deposits and the peat-bogs. At Newbury, Berk- 
 shire, bones of the beaver were discovered in a deposit of 
 shell -marl, 20 feet below the surface, associated with those 
 of the "wild boar, roe-buck, goat, deer, and wolf." Also 
 at Hilgay, Norfolk, they were found at a depth of 8^ feet 
 beneath peat, resting on a stratum of clay and associated 
 with remains of the Megaceros)- 
 
 Among the dtbris of the Swiss lake-dwellings remains of 
 the beaver are almost everywhere to be found. At the 
 station of Laibach, in Carniola, so abundant were they that 
 Dr Karl Deschmann calculated that over 140 individuals 
 were represented. 2 It is not, however, among the animal 
 remains at Polada, and its bones are only sparingly found 
 in the Terremare of Italy. 3 Among the prehistoric remains 
 recently discovered at Sobunar, near Sarajevo in Bosnia, 
 portion of the under jaw of this animal has been identified 
 by Herr Fiala who also remarks on the frequency with 
 which Daber (Beaver) occurs in place-names of the country. 4 
 In England remains of the beaver have been found in the 
 crannogs explored by Mr Thomas Boynton in the Holder- 
 ness, Yorkshire ; 5 and in the Glastonbury Lake-village they 
 are associated with bones of the ox, goat, sheep, pig, horse, 
 and domestic fowl. 6 Canon Greenwell describes a sharp- 
 pointed implement, made from a beaver's tooth, found in one 
 of the Yorkshire barrows. 7 
 
 Equally unequivocal is the evidence of the prevalence of 
 the beaver in Scotland. On the i6th December 1788, Dr 
 Farquharson presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 
 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 193. 
 
 2 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 185. 3 Ibid., p. 274. 
 
 4 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, &c., p. 321. 
 
 5 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 474. 
 
 6 Brit. Association Report, 1894, p. 433. 
 
 7 British Barrows, p. 138.
 
 122 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 land " the fossil skeleton of the head and one of the haunch 
 bones of a beaver " which had been dug up in a marl-pit in 
 Perthshire. The locality was a partially drained loch (Marlee, 
 in the parish of Kinloch), and the marl in which the bones 
 were found was overlaid by a covering of peat-moss 5 or 6 
 feet thick. 1 Another discovery was in October 1818, on the 
 estate of Kimmerghame, parish of Edrom, near the head of 
 that district of Berwickshire called the Merse. In the drained 
 morass, known as Middlestot's Bog, the skeleton of a beaver 
 was found partly embedded in a deposit of shell-marl over 
 which 7 feet of peat had accumulated. 2 In more recent times 
 its remains have been found by Mr John Smith in a cave and 
 rock-shelter, both in Ayrshire. 3 
 
 Nor must we omit the historical notices of this animal, 
 which show that in Wales and Scotland it continued to live 
 down to about the twelfth century. From the article in the 
 ' Memoirs of the Wernerian Society,' already referred to, it 
 would appear that the earliest written reference to the beaver 
 is contained in a document of the ninth century, published in 
 ' Leges Wallicae,' or the Laws of Howel the Good (Hywel 
 D'ha), book iii. sects, n, 12, in which the prices of skins are 
 regulated. 
 
 The Marten's skin is valued at .... 246. 
 The Otter's (Ddyfrgi, or Lutra) at . . . . I2d. 
 The Beaver's (Llosdlydan, or Castor) at . . . I2od. 
 
 In the 'Itinerarium Cambriae' of Giraldus de Barri, the 
 beaver is said to be found only in the Teivi : " Inter universes 
 Cambrioe seu etiam Llaegria; fluvios, solus hie castores habet"; 
 to this he added, " In Albania quippe, ut fertur, fluvio sim- 
 iliter unico habentur, sed ran." But this is not the only his- 
 
 1 Mem. VVern. Soc., vol. iii. p. 207. : Ibid. 
 
 3 See chap. iii. p. 8l ; and Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow, vol. vii. p. 309.
 
 WILD BOAR. 123 
 
 torical evidence of the existence of the beaver in Scotland. 
 Hector Boece (Boethius), at the end of the fifteenth century, 
 states that beavers were in Loch Ness in Scotland. "Ad 
 lacus latera, propter ingenta nemora ferarum ingens copia est, 
 cervorum, equorum indomitorum, capreolorum ; ad hsec, mar- 
 terellae, fovinae ut vulgo vocantur, vulpes, mustelae, fibri lutreae- 
 que, incomparabile numero, quorum tergora exterse gentes ad 
 luxum immenso pretio coemunt." 1 
 
 Bellenden in his translation uses the words : " Mony wyld 
 hors, and among yame ar mony martrikis, bevers, quhitredis, 
 and toddis, the furrings and skynnis of thayme are coft with 
 great price amang uncouth merchandis." 2 
 
 Mr Patrick Neill, the author of the article in the ' Memoirs 
 of the Wernerian Society,' states that Dr Walker, Professor of 
 Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, used to men- 
 tion in his lectures that the beaver was known among the 
 Highlanders by a peculiar Gaelic name, which name, he ascer- 
 tained, through Dr Stuart of Luss, to be Dobran losleathan 
 i.e., the broad-tailed otter. 3 
 
 WILD BOAR (Sus scrofa). 
 
 Sir Richard Owen informs us that when Cuvier communi- 
 cated his memoir on the fossil bones of the hog to the French 
 Academy in 1809, he had met with no specimens from forma- 
 tions less recent than the mosses or turbaries and peat-bogs, 
 and knew not that any had been found in the drift associated 
 with the bones of the elephant. There can, however, now be 
 no doubt that this animal was contemporary with the extinct 
 
 1 Boethius, Scot. Hist. 
 
 2 Bellenden, Croniklis of Scotland. 
 
 3 See also Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177 ; and Owen's 
 British Fossil Mammals, p. 198.
 
 124 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 mammalia of the Quaternary period. 1 Although the present 
 range of the Wild Boar extends over certain portions of 
 Europe, Northern Africa, and Western and Central Asia, it 
 is by no means so abundant as it was in the prehistoric 
 period. Its prevalence throughout the British Islands in 
 pre- and proto - historic times is attested, not only by the 
 discovery of its remains in peat-bogs and occasionally in 
 graves and refuse-heaps associated with relics of Neolithic 
 man, but also by historical evidence that boar-hunting was 
 a favourite pursuit of our ancestors till the animal was ex- 
 terminated, about the middle of the sixteenth century. As 
 further proof of this statement, we might adduce the fact 
 that the Celtic names, muc (pig) and tore (boar), enter 
 largely into the composition of place-names, both in Scot- 
 land and Ireland : as Sliabh-na-muic, Ceann-fuirc, Loch-na- 
 muick) &c. 
 
 The tusks of the wild boar have occasionally been utilised 
 as cutting implements and ornaments, and, accordingly, they 
 are not unfrequently met with among grave-goods in barrows 
 of the Stone and Bronze Ages ; 2 but otherwise its remains, 
 neither in the wild nor tame condition, are of much archaeo- 
 logical significance. Among the Gauls the figure of a boar 
 was frequently placed on the helmets of their warriors, prob- 
 ably as an amulet a practice which, whatever its object may 
 have been, was continued in late Celtic times in Britain. 
 Sir A. Wollaston Franks, in describing the beautiful bronze 
 shield found in the river Witham, says : " The boar, of 
 which the outline occurs on this shield, is a well-recognised 
 Celtic symbol. M. de la Saussaye, in a valuable communi- 
 cation to the 'Revue Numismatique ' for 1840, p. 91, has 
 shown that this beast is to be found on the coins of every 
 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, pp. 426-431. 
 
 British Barrows, p. 389; Ten Years' Diggings, pp. 131, 169, 172.
 
 GREAT AUK. 125 
 
 part of Gaul, as well as on the coins struck by the cognate 
 races of Britain, Spain, Illyria, and Galatia. On English 
 coins it is to be found on gold, silver, and copper ; even on 
 the coins of Cunobelin it is to be seen, though there refined 
 and modified according to Roman taste." l 
 
 According to Professor Riitimeyer, the Swiss lake-dwellers 
 of the early Stone Age did not possess the tame pig, but only 
 two races of wild swine, which might be called species viz., 
 the wild boar (Sus scrofa ferus) and the marsh pig (S. scrofa 
 palustris). He thinks the marsh pig was first tamed, and 
 afterwards the wild boar. But since the introduction of 
 metals, remains of a domestic breed along with those of the 
 wild species have been found on many of the lacustrine 
 stations. The late Professor Strobel has noted both the 
 wild and tame species among the animal remains on the 
 Terremare, in Italy, 2 those of the latter, however, being 
 far more abundant than the former. 
 
 The remains of swine, so frequently found on the sites 
 of crannogs, Romano-British villages, and other early habita- 
 tions in this country, are those of domestic breeds. 
 
 THE GREAT AUK (Alca impennis). 
 
 A few bones of the Great Auk were recognised by Sir 
 R. Owen among a quantity of osseous remains, submitted 
 to him for examination, from a refuse- heap in the "Har- 
 bour Mound at Keiss," in Caithness. Mr Samuel Laing, 
 the explorer of that mound, thus describes the significance 
 of the presence of the Great Auk among the former fauna 
 of Caithness : " The most interesting fact is the discovery 
 of the Alca impennis, which is now extinct in Europe, hav- 
 ing but lately died out in Iceland, but said to survive in 
 
 1 Horse Ferales, p. 185. Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 274.
 
 126 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 Greenland. Its hones are frequent in the Danish Kjok- 
 kenmoddings, where they have been thought to imply great 
 antiquity and a more glacial climate ; but it is believed 
 that they have never been found in any tumuli or deposits 
 of a later date than those primeval middens. Hence their 
 discovery in the Caithness middens affords an important 
 link of connection with those of Denmark, and strengthens 
 the evidence of high antiquity drawn from the rudeness of 
 the implements." 1 Remains of this bird have also been 
 notified by Mr Symington Grieve as being among the dtbris 
 of a shell-mound in the island of Oronsay 2 (see p. 56). 
 
 The chronological value of these discoveries cannot, how- 
 ever, be very great, seeing that the bird is constantly referred 
 to in the current historical annals down to the end of last 
 century, and that a live specimen was caught, near Loch- 
 broom, as late as 1821.* Moreover, the osseous remains 
 of the animals with which these few bones of the Auk were 
 associated (only two or three individuals represented) do not 
 carry us back to the chronological horizon of the people 
 of the Danish Kjokkenmoddings, who, according to the late 
 Professor Steenstrup, possessed only the dog in a state of 
 domestication ; whereas in the Keiss mound we find the 
 Bos longifronS) horse, red-deer, goat, and pig. 
 
 Remains of the Great Auk have been found in considerable 
 abundance both in the north and south of Ireland. Mr R. J. 
 Ussher has recorded the discovery of its bones on the sites 
 of Kitchen-middens on the coast of Co. Waterford in ' The 
 Irish Naturalist' (1897-99). With regard to his later finds, 
 he thus writes : " These were all found strewn about on or 
 
 1 The Prehistoric Remains of Caithness, p. 50. 
 
 8 For a most interesting account of the Great Auk, see Mr Grieve's book, 
 'The Great Auk or Garefowl : Its History, Archaeology, and Remains,' 
 1885. 
 
 3 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xiii. pp. 76-105.
 
 CAPERCAILZIE. I2/ 
 
 near the old surface where this cropped up, among the bones 
 of domestic animals and fowls and of red -deer, of which 
 many pieces of the antlers were also obtained. There were 
 numerous burned stones, and charcoal in layers, and great 
 quantities of shells of edible species, often very large, limpets, 
 oysters, mussels, cockles, &c. I have now seventeen bones 
 of Alca impennis, which have either been determined by Dr 
 Gadow or correspond with specimens that he has pronounced 
 upon eight coracoids, which he assigns to six individuals, 
 five humeri, belonging to three individuals, one tibia, right 
 and left metatarsals, and a portion of the pelvis. A right 
 and a left humerus were found close together. In some 
 of the bones the outer surface is well preserved, but in 
 others it is much worn down, and the bones split from 
 time and exposure. That my superficial searches among the 
 sandhills, where but little of the old surface is now exposed, 
 should have resulted in finding the remains of at least six 
 Great Auks strewn about, suggests that these birds must have 
 been used for food in some numbers. To obtain them, access 
 was probably available to some breeding-place of the species 
 on the neighbouring coast ; so that when Professor Newton 
 remarked that the Great Auk obtained near Waterford Harbour 
 in 1834 may have been revisiting the home of its forefathers, 
 he possibly described what took place." 
 
 Mr W. J. Knowles, in the same number of ' The Irish 
 Naturalist' (January 1899), records the finding of twenty- 
 four bones of the Great Auk at Whitepark Bay, Co. Antrim. 
 Besides other animal remains Mr Knowles informs us that 
 " there were also associated with them flint-flakes, cores, 
 hammer - stones, and flint - scrapers, together with edible 
 molluscs." 
 
 Another bird, represented among the fauna of the Kjokken- 
 moddings viz., the Capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus) but now
 
 128 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 long extinct in Denmark, has for similar reasons been some- 
 times regarded as indicating great antiquity. This bird feeds 
 principally on the buds of the pine, and its presence in 
 Denmark, contemporary with the people of the Kjokken- 
 moddings, is explained by the existence at that time of 
 extensive pine forests which supplied the bird's natural food. 
 Doubtless its disappearance from the country was synchronous 
 with the decay of the pine forests, which gave way to the 
 subsequent oaks and beeches. But, nevertheless, the caper- 
 cailzie continued an inhabitant of Scotland up to the beginning 
 of the present century. 
 
 Remains of the reindeer are very rarely found in Denmark 
 in the peat, but more frequently in the subjacent deposits. 1 
 Among the fauna of the Kjokkenmoddings this animal is not 
 represented. Hence it is probable that the reindeer left the 
 country before man pushed his way along the fiords and low- 
 lands of Denmark. But yet the animal survived in Scotland 
 to the twelfth century. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 Of the other wild animals which were contemporary with 
 prehistoric man in Britain, it is unnecessary to make more 
 than a few passing remarks. The skull of a brown bear 
 ( Ursus arctos) has already been noticed as having been found 
 in a peat-bog in Dumfriesshire (p. 90). Recently Sir F. T. 
 Barry, M.P., found a bear's tooth in a broch at Keiss. 2 This 
 is a rare find in Scotland, but in the Swiss lake-dwellings 
 perforated bears' teeth are not uncommon one such from 
 Polada, in Italy, is figured in my ' Lake-Dwellings of Europe ' 
 (fig. 68, No. 31). Remains of this animal have also been 
 
 1 Congres Inter. d'Arch. et d'Anth., 1869, p. 162. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Lond., vol. xvii., 2nd series, p. 191.
 
 BEAR AND WOLF. 1 29 
 
 recorded from Roman refuse -heaps at Colchester and in 
 London, from Neolithic caves in North Wales, 1 and from the 
 Cambridgeshire Fens. 2 As proof that the bear existed in 
 Scotland during the Roman occupation of Britain, the fol- 
 lowing lines of Martial are often quoted : 
 
 " Qualiter in Scythica religatus rupe Prometheus, 
 Assiduum nimio pectore pavit avem, 
 Nuda Caledonio sic pectora prsebuit urso, 
 Non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus." 
 
 According to Pennant, the brown bear infested the moun- 
 tainous parts of Scotland as late as 1057; but Professor Boyd- 
 Dawkins discredits this statement, finding no documentary 
 evidence in support of it, and believes that the animal became 
 extinct at an earlier period. 3 
 
 Remains of the wolf (Lupus vulgaris), the fox (Vulpes 
 vulgaris), and several species of dogs, have been found in 
 the Brit-Welsh caves, associated with those of the domestic 
 animals horse, pig, and Celtic shorthorn. 4 Mr Bateman 
 includes these three animals, and also the fallow-deer, 
 among the fauna of the British Barrows. 6 The last wolf in 
 Britain is said to have been killed by Sir Ewen Cameron 
 in 1680 ; but in Ireland wolves survived till at least 1710. 
 
 Among animals sometimes represented in the accumulations 
 of food-refuse found in caves, which had afforded shelter to 
 man, such as the MacArthur and Borness Caves, may be men- 
 tioned the badger (Meles taxus) and the otter (Lutra vulgaris), 
 both of which still survive in various localities throughout 
 Scotland. 
 
 Bones of the whale and seal have also been found among 
 the dtbris of brochs and of other early habitations in the north 
 
 1 Cave-Hunting, pp. 131, 166. 2 British Fossil Mammals, p. 105. 
 
 3 Cave-Hunting, p. 75. * Ibid., p. 166. 
 
 B Ten Years' Digging, p. 298.
 
 130 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 of Scotland and in the surrounding islands. These were 
 utilised in the manufacture of vessels and implements, and 
 for other purposes in the domestic life of the people. 
 
 On the classificatory value of the historic animals, Professor 
 Boyd-Dawkins l writes as follows : " The principal changes in 
 the fauna of Great Britain during the historic age are the ex- 
 tinction of the bear, wolf, beaver, reindeer, and wild boar, and 
 the introduction of the domestic fowl, pheasant, fallow-deer, 
 ass, the domestic cat, the larger breed of oxen, and the com- 
 mon rat ; and as this took place at different times, it is obvious 
 that these animals enable us to ascertain the approximate date 
 of the deposit in which their remains happen to occur. And 
 for this purpose the following table may be consulted : 
 
 Animals extinct. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Brown bear .... circa 500-1000 
 
 Reindeer 1200 
 
 Beaver ..... t , 1100-1200 
 
 Wolf . . ,,1680 
 
 Wild boar 1620 
 
 Animals introduced. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Domestic fowl .... before 55 
 
 Fallow-deer .... circa 55 
 
 Pheasant 55 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Domestic ox of urus type . . circa 449 
 
 Ass . .... H 800- 850 
 
 Cat .... it 800-1000 
 
 Common rat ,, 1727-1730. 
 
 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
 
 As the ordinary domestic animals ox, sheep, goat, horse, 
 and dog were in all probability importations by Neolithic 
 
 1 Cave-Hunting, p. 78.
 
 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 131 
 
 man into Europe, it is by no means an easy task to ascertain 
 where and when their domestication first originated. In the 
 old-world civilisations of the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates 
 this important step in human progress was, even then, lost in 
 the mists of antiquity. 
 
 Whether the domestic breeds of our modern cattle were 
 derived from one or both of the two typical oxen, the Bos 
 primigenius and the B. longifrons^ is a matter of opinion. 
 M. Dupont 1 mentions the remains of a small ox among the 
 fauna represented in the cave of Naulette, in the valley of 
 the Lesse, which also includes those of the mammoth, 
 rhinoceros, &c. If these animals were really contemporary 
 there is some reason for believing, with Sir Richard Owen, 
 that the progenitor of the Celtic shorthorn existed in. 
 Europe as a wild animal before Neolithic man found his 
 way thither. Since the very commencement of the Swiss 
 lacustrine settlements their inhabitants were in possession 
 of the small marsh cow; but later on new breeds of cattle 
 were reared. 
 
 The domestic races of sheep, according to some authori- 
 ties, have been derived from a common stock represented 
 by the mouflon now confined to the islands of Corsica 
 and Sardinia and the Armenian and Cyprian wild sheep. 
 Others, however, consider it an open question whether they 
 were derived from a single or several wild stocks. As to the 
 origin of the domestic goat, there seems to be a consensus 
 of opinion that it was derived from the Persian wild goat 
 (Capra tegagrus), 
 
 The horse (Equus caballus) had a wide range throughout 
 the larger part of Europe, Asia Minor, and the regions around 
 the Caspian Sea, during the Pleistocene period. Its fossil- 
 ised remains, which indicate a middle-sized animal, have been 
 1 L'Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre, p. 98.
 
 132 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 abundantly met with in caves and post-pliocene deposits of 
 Western Europe. Sir Richard Owen, writing in 1846, makes 
 the following statement : " The best authenticated associations 
 of bones of the extremities with jaws and teeth, clearly indi- 
 cate that the fossil Horse had a larger head than the do- 
 mesticated races ; resembling in this respect the Wild Horses 
 of Asia described by Pallas, and in the same degree ap- 
 proximating the Zebrine and Asinine groups." * It is very 
 interesting to note that the drawings of the horse scratched 
 on bones and horns in the reindeer caves of France and 
 Switzerland corroborate in a singular degree the accuracy of 
 this statement. The teeth and bones of the fossil horse are 
 so like those of the existing species that even Cuvier failed 
 to detect any difference, except size, by which he could dis- 
 tinguish the one from the other. The osseous remains of the 
 horse are found in such prodigious numbers on the prehis- 
 toric camping-ground at Solutre, in the valley of the Rhone 
 (see chap. xii. p. 462) estimated at least at 40,000 individ- 
 uals that it has been surmised that the animals were kept 
 in a state of domestication. But this opinion is controverted, 
 on the ground that the dog is unrepresented in the osseous 
 remains of this station, and without the assistance of this 
 animal, it would be impossible to keep herds of horses and 
 reindeer (also largely represented at Solutre) together. There 
 seems, therefore, little doubt that the domestic horse was 
 of the same breed as the wild animal which roamed during 
 the Pleistocene period over Europe and Western Asia. But 
 where, or when, its domestication was effected it would be 
 hazardous to state. According to Egyptologists, the horse 
 does not figure in pictorial representations of social life in 
 the Nile valley till the i8th dynasty, which dates, according 
 to the most recent corrections, from 1587 to 1327 B.C., 
 1 British Fossil Mammals, p. 385.
 
 HORSE. 133 
 
 the general opinion being that it was introduced by the 
 Shepherd Kings. 1 
 
 Canon Greenwell records the finding of remains of the 
 horse in several barrows ; but these barrows were either of a 
 late period, or their contents had been so disturbed that no 
 chronological sequence could be drawn from them. Thus, 
 a large barrow in the parish of Kirby Underdale contained 
 Anglo-Saxon remains ; 2 another, in the parish of Cowlam, had 
 its contents so much disturbed that Canon Greenwell sug- 
 gested that the " barrow was an ossuary " ; 3 and in a third 
 they were associated with bones of the deer, goat or sheep, 
 domestic dog, domestic pig, and two species of oxen. 4 In 
 a fourth group there were horses and chariots buried together, 
 but from the most indubitable evidence of the associated 
 relics these burials belonged to the " Late Celtic " period. 5 
 
 Professor Rolleston thus comments on the rarity of the 
 horse in the early Neolithic period : " As in the earlier pile- 
 dwellings of Switzerland, so in the Stone-Age barrows of this 
 country, the horse is less frequently found than from what we 
 know of the discovery of its bones in cave-dwellings on the 
 one hand, and in interments of later date than the Stone Age 
 on the other, we should be inclined to expect. I have never 
 found the bones or teeth of a horse in a long barrow, and I 
 would remark that, whilst such bones are very likely to be 
 introduced into such barrows in the way of secondary inter- 
 ments, I have not met with any exact record as to the finding 
 of them in surroundings which left no doubt as to their being 
 contemporaneous with the primary interments." 6 
 
 The general conclusion to which these observations point 
 is that a middle-sized horse was introduced into the British 
 
 1 See Lenormant, ' Les Premieres Civilisations,' vol. i. p. 300. 
 
 2 British Barrows, p. 136. 3 Ibid., p. 22O. * Ibid., p. 262. 
 8 Ibid., p. 456. 6 Ibid., p. 736.
 
 134 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 Isles by Neolithic man. We have already quoted (p. 9) 
 a passage from Tacitus to the effect that the Caledonians 
 fought from chariots at the battle of Mons Graupius ; con- 
 sequently the horse must have been a domestic animal in 
 North Britain prior to the Roman occupation. Perhaps the 
 Shetland ponies of the present day may be regarded as the 
 direct descendants of this first domesticated horse which, 
 in the course of time, in obedience to the less favourable 
 environments in which they have lived, have become more 
 diminutive. 
 
 Although the dog is acknowledged on all hands to be 
 the earliest animal which attached himself to man, there is 
 no evidence to show that this friendly alliance dates further 
 back than the Neolithic period. In Europe the oldest 
 instance of its domestication is furnished by the Kjokken- 
 moddings of Denmark. This fact was established by the 
 late Professor Steenstrup in a most interesting manner. Ob- 
 serving that all the cartilaginous and succulent portions of 
 the mammalian bones found on the middens had been 
 gnawed by a carnivorous animal, he concluded, from the 
 completeness with which the practice had been carried on, 
 "non seulement dans tous les amas mais dans toutes les 
 parties des amas," that this animal had daily access to the 
 food -refuse. The preponderance of the bones of the dog 
 over those of other carnivorous animals left no doubt that 
 this constant gnawing oT the osseous remains was the work 
 of a race of domestic dogs. 1 
 
 Canine skeletons have rarely been found in the British 
 barrows, a fact which one would hardly expect, considering 
 the warm attachment there has always been between this 
 animal and man. Professor Rolleston, from one instance 
 which came under his cognisance, determined the size of 
 1 Congres International, 1869, p. 141.
 
 DOG. 135 
 
 the animal to be about that of an ordinary sheep-dog, 1 
 a result which harmonises with Professor Riitimeyer's con- 
 clusions with regard to the dog of the Swiss lake-dwellings. 
 As to the origin of this early domestic dog in Europe, whether 
 it was derived from the wolf, fox, or jackal, or from neither 
 of them, naturalists are not yet agreed. Some regard the 
 greyhound as derived from the Kaberu or Abyssinian wolf 
 (Cants Simensis), an opinion which derives some support 
 from the fact that the oldest dogs represented on the Egyp- 
 tian monuments are of this description. On the other hand, 
 an Assyrian monument, dated 640 B.C., shows the figure 
 of a dog like that of a large mastiff. 
 
 Mr Darwin, who, as is well known, paid great attention 
 to the domestication of animals, thus expresses his opinion 
 of the descent of our domestic dogs : " Looking to the do- 
 mestic dogs of the whole world, I have, after a laborious 
 collection of all facts known, come to the conclusion that 
 several wild species of Canidse have been tamed, and that 
 their blood, in some cases mingled together, flows in the 
 veins of our domestic breeds." 2 
 
 Looking back on the concurrent phenomena of man's 
 environments during the short time he has existed, even in 
 such a secluded corner as Scotland, we can distinctly trace 
 periods of growth and decay in the organic world. Coinci- 
 dent with climatic changes and alterations of sea and land, 
 there were continuous modifications going on in the topo- 
 graphical features of the country, to all of which prehistoric 
 man had to adapt himself. Yet, in these ever-changing 
 scenes, few points can be fastened on as bringing any part 
 of his career within the category of positive chronology. 
 Beyond an occasional intermingling of his works with those 
 of nature, such as was disclosed in the Oban cave and in 
 1 British Barrows, p. 736. a Origin of Species, p. 14.
 
 136 PREHISTORIC FAUNA. 
 
 the Carse of Stirling, we have rarely the means of correlating 
 contemporary events. Should, however, the actual age of 
 any such points of contact be determined by extraneous or 
 collateral circumstances, it would be the key to the solution 
 of many of the subsidiary chronological problems which so 
 frequently disturb the equanimity of archaeologists. Nothing 
 has surprised me more, in the course of these investigations, 
 than to find how few of the archaeological remains, hitherto 
 discovered on Scottish soil, can be assigned to a time much 
 earlier than the Roman occupation. This remark, as we shall 
 afterwards see, is especially applicable to inhabited sites indi- 
 cating any kind of constructional features, such as crannogs, 
 brochs, forts, earth-houses, &c.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CULTURE AND CIVILISATION OF THE STONE AGE PEOPLE. 
 
 HEN man started on his career as an in- 
 telligent utiliser of nature's forces, he had 
 recourse to methods and practices unique 
 in the history of the organic world. By 
 means of his special monopoly as a 
 toolmaker, he manufactured a variety of 
 implements, weapons, and tools, by the use of which he 
 established a supremacy over all other animals. These in- 
 ventions, being virtually the products of an intelligent mind, 
 have one important characteristic which is of inestimable 
 value in the study of archaeology viz., that they disclose 
 the technical skill and Ideological purpose of their manu- 
 facturers. In other words, the progressive phases of man's 
 intelligence have been stereotyped in the material world by 
 corresponding changes in his handicraft works. Hence, in 
 the analysis of archaeological remains implements, weapons, 
 ornaments, temples, tombs, houses, idols, &c. we have now 
 the means of gaining some information regarding the intel- 
 lectual and social condition of man during his past career 
 on the globe. 
 
 The specialisation of the human hand -is one of the most
 
 138 STONE AGE. 
 
 remarkable phenomena of organic evolution. Its efficiency 
 as a prehensile and manipulative organ is due, primarily, to 
 the freedom of the movements of the arm, the refinement 
 of digital palpation, and the facility with which the thumb 
 can be opposed to the other fingers so as to form a clasp 
 or hook. But before the full import of this great engine 
 of human civilisation can be appreciated, there is another 
 element to be considered viz., the objective tool or instru- 
 ment which the hand grasps, without which the manipulative 
 function of the latter would be shorn of half its value. 
 The relation between the hand and the instrument is such 
 that it may be plausibly asked whether the hand was 
 adapted for the instrument, or the instrument for the hand. 
 But however this may be, in their conjoined functional 
 capacity the arm often becomes a handle, and the hand 
 itself a mere pliant means of fixing the implement. The 
 supplementary adjuncts to this special use of the hand are 
 ingeniously adapted for a great variety of purposes. The 
 various mechanical processes cutting, sawing, scraping, bor- 
 ing, hammering, &c. are all effected by appropriate tools, 
 such as the knife, axe, chisel, scraper, &c. The mechanical 
 efficiency of some of these implements is increased by the 
 further interposition of an artificial handle of wood or some 
 other material, as in the case of the ordinary axe an ad- 
 justment which simply increases the leverage by adding to 
 the length of the human arm ; or, as in the case of the 
 knife, which merely enables the hand to grasp it more firmly. 
 In all hafted tools the hand -grasping, which was originally 
 applied to the tool itself, is thus replaced by some sort of 
 contrivance for binding the handle and it together ; in which 
 case the hand-grasping is more advantageously transferred to 
 the handle. In the selection of materials for the manufacture 
 of tools, as well as in the methods and contrivances by which
 
 THE THREE AGES. 139 
 
 they are adjusted, it must be acknowledged that prehistoric 
 man has exercised an almost faultless judgment, as they 
 invariably disclose a pre-eminent fitness for the special 
 purpose for which they were intended. 
 
 When prehistoric man first entered the romantic glens 
 and forests of North Britain, he was a skilled craftsman, 
 and his life-drama had already been moulded on the funda- 
 mental principles of modern civilisation. As a thoughtful 
 interpreter of the laws of nature, and a skilful manipulator 
 of the economic materials around him, he appears to have 
 been little inferior to his more refined descendants of the 
 present day, although, of course, it cannot be maintained 
 that his actual amount of knowledge was as great. But the 
 difference is one of degree, and not of kind. 
 
 In this and the following chapter I shall treat of some 
 of the archaeological remains of the prehistoric period in- 
 dependently of the chronological element, except in so far 
 as they may be defined by the sequence of the so-called 
 three Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. In regard to this 
 doctrine, it is essential to have clear notions from the 
 outset, as, whatever its critical and archaeological value may 
 be, it is undoubtedly applicable to Scotland. For its in- 
 vention and application to prehistoric researches we are 
 indebted to Scandinavian savants. Struck with the elegance 
 and beauty of the stone implements, so profusely scattered 
 over the land, they seized the idea hitherto never seriously 
 considered, though occasionally mooted, by writers in other 
 countries that there was a time when people were entirely 
 ignorant of the use of metals, and had to depend exclusively 
 on such tools as could be manufactured of stone, horn, 
 wood, &c., in the prosecution of their social industries and 
 requirements. To this idea was linked another, which also 
 seemed to be well founded viz., that their earliest metal
 
 140 STONE AGE. 
 
 objects were made of a compound of copper and tin known 
 as bronze. Iron was not known in the country till several 
 centuries afterwards ; but when it did become known, its 
 superior qualities for cutting purposes gave it a preference 
 over the former metal. 
 
 .' With these remarks I proceed to inquire into the nature 
 of the culture and civilisation of the early inhabitants of Scot- 
 land, so far as this may be deduced from the character and 
 technic of the stray remains of their handiworks which, in 
 defiance of the gnawing tooth of time, have survived to the 
 present day. For convenience of description, and to prevent 
 undue discursiveness, the subject will be treated under the 
 three following heads : (i) The economic or raw materials ; 
 (2) The workshop and its tools ; (3) The manner in which 
 their handicraft products were applied to the exigencies of 
 social and domestic life. 
 
 I. THE RAW MATERIALS. 
 
 The economic materials utilised by the Stone Age people 
 in the manufacture of such articles as were indispensable to 
 their simple mode of life consisted of different kinds of stones 
 and minerals ; horns, bones, teeth, shells, and skins of ani- 
 mals ; wood-bark, reeds, and the prepared fibres of plants. 
 Flint, on account of its hardness and peculiarity of flaking 
 when struck with a smart blow, was chiefly used for cutting 
 implements ; but in Scotland, where the raw material is only 
 sparingly found as nodules among travelled gravels, this in- 
 dustry was necessarily restricted to the manufacture of the 
 smaller objects, such as knives, arrow-points, scrapers, borers, 
 &c., the larger implements and tools being made of the more 
 common stones found in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Although no prehistoric implements of jade or nephrite
 
 THE RAW MATERIALS. 141 
 
 have been found in Scotland, the problems associated with 
 their origin and prevalence throughout Central Europe 
 are of so much importance, from an ethnological point of 
 view, that, even in this sketch, some notice of them is desir- 
 able. Independent of the lake-dwelling finds, the number of 
 jade axes known in Europe may be roughly estimated at 200, 
 about the half of which have been found in graves of the 
 Stone Age in France, especially the dolmens of Brittany. 
 Of the remaining half about eighty are from Western Ger- 
 many, and the rest from various localities in Italy, Austria, 
 and Greece. Seeing that jade could not be found in situ 
 in Europe, the favourite theory for the origin of these im- 
 plements was that they were imported by the Neolithic 
 people in their westward journey from Asia. The discovery 
 of a large number of celts and chisels in the Swiss lake- 
 dwellings has reopened the question as to the origin of jade 
 implements. The stations in Lake Constance have alone 
 yielded over 1000 specimens that of Maurach being the 
 richest. In the latter station 349 tolerably well made and 141 
 badly made implements have been found, besides 154 chips 
 and sawn portions varying from the size of a finger-nail 
 to a few square inches. This proves that the lake-dwellers 
 were in possession of the raw material ; but, notwithstand- 
 ing the most careful search, not a particle of jade has been 
 yet found in situ in any part of Switzerland. 
 
 Jade, as known in Europe, may be classified into three 
 varieties nephrite, jadeite, and chloromelanite. From care- 
 ful examination by Fischer, Meyer, and others, it appears 
 that nephrite was greatly in excess of jadeite in the settle- 
 ments of Lake Constance and its neighbourhood ; but on 
 moving westwards this inequality became gradually altered, 
 till in France it was entirely reversed. Chloromelanite, on 
 the other hand, though much rarer than either of the other
 
 142 STONE AGE. 
 
 two varieties, seems to have been more evenly distributed. 
 Roundly speaking, we find in the whole of Europe from 
 300 to 400 worked objects of jadeite, 200 of chloromelanite, 
 and as many as twice these numbers combined of nephrite. 
 
 A few isolated portions of jade have been found in 
 Germany and Styria ; and it is said that the mineral in 
 small quantities has been detected in situ in the rocks of 
 Silesia. A few chips have also been observed in the pre- 
 historic caves of Mentone. Some thirteen small axes and 
 chisels of green jade, and one of white jade, are recorded by 
 Schliemann as having been found in the prehistoric cities of 
 Troy. 1 During a recent visit to Vancouver, Mr Hill Tout 
 showed me in his private collection several polished masses 
 of jade, as large as a man's head, which had been found in 
 glacial dtbris some distance up the Frazer valley ; also, a few 
 small axes made of this material, as well as portions that had 
 been sawn off, evidently in the course of working the mineral, 
 which had been found on an old inhabited site in the same 
 neighbourhood. Specimens of differently coloured jades may 
 be seen in the Natural History Museum of Kensington from 
 China, New Zealand, New Caledonia, India, &c. One large 
 water-worn mass, weighing 1156 lb., is from Battugol, Irkutsk, 
 Asiatic Russia. Further references to the distribution of jade, 
 together with a fuller notice of jade implements in Europe, 
 will be found in 'The Lake -Dwellings of Europe,' p. 505, 
 and ' Ilios,' p. 240. 
 
 The beautiful flakes and knives of obsidian found among 
 the relics of the ancient Peruvians and Mexicans, as well 
 as those which may still be seen in use among New 
 Zealanders, American Indians, and other semi-civilised races 
 prove how suitable this mineral is for cutting purposes. 
 Though found in situ in several volcanic districts in Europe, 
 i Ilios, p. 573.
 
 THE RAW MATERIALS. 143 
 
 implements made of it do not figure largely among pre- 
 historic collections, probably owing to its rarity. No objects 
 of obsidian have been found in Scotland, to my knowledge ; 
 and in the Continental museums their occurrence is rare. 
 I have noted, however, a few dozen flakes in the Museum 
 Ponti, on the Isola Virginia, from the "palafittes" of Lake 
 Varese. Others have been collected on the sites of some 
 primitive habitations in Hungary. 1 The late Herr Fiala 
 has recorded a few flakes and a beautifully worked arrow- 
 point from Debelobrdo and Sobunar, near Sarajevo. 2 One 
 knife is among the objects found on a lake-dwelling in the 
 Attersee. 3 Dr Schliemann has noted the occurrence of 
 knives and arrow-heads in several of his excavations, as 
 many as thirty -five beautifully formed arrow-points having 
 been found in the fourth sepulchre at Mycense. 4 Nuclei 
 of obsidian have also been found in Greece. 5 
 
 Jet and its inferior varieties brown or cannel coal and 
 bituminous shales were manufactured by the prehistoric 
 inhabitants of Britain into a variety of ornaments, such as 
 rings, pendants, necklaces, buttons, &c. According to Pliny, 6 
 gagates (now corrupted into jet) takes its name from Gages, 
 the name of a river in Lycia, from the banks of which this 
 substance was obtained. Bede, in his description of Britain 
 (book i. chap, i.), states that " it has much and excellent 
 jet, which is black and sparkling, glittering at the fire, and 
 when heated, drives away serpents." The principal modern 
 source of jet in this country is the vicinity of Whitby, 
 
 1 Cat. de 1'Exposition Prehistorique, Budapest, pp. 19, 24, 28, 34, 44, 86. 
 
 2 Wissenschaft. Mitt, aus Bosnian und der Hercegovina, vol. i. p. 48, 
 and vol. iv. pp. 53, 54. 
 
 3 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 163. 
 
 4 Mycenae and Tiryns, pp. 158, 272 ; Ilios, pp. 247, 445. 
 
 5 Perrot et Chipiez, Histoire de 1'Art dans 1'Antiquite, vol. vi. p. 127. 
 
 6 Hist. Nat., xxxvi. 34.
 
 144 STONE AGE. 
 
 in Yorkshire, where it is found mixed with beds of lignite 
 in the Upper Lias. It is also largely found in France 
 (Aude) and in Spain (Asturias), where it gives employment 
 to a number of artisans, who manufacture it into beads, 
 crosses, and other trinkets used in Roman Catholic countries. 
 
 Jet, like amber, is electrical when rubbed, and hence it 
 is called black amber by the German amber-diggers. Articles 
 made of jet, or of the inferior shales, were more abundantly 
 used in prehistoric times in Scotland than those made of 
 amber, probably because the raw material was more readily 
 procured. Being easily worked, and capable of taking on 
 a high polish, it admirably suited the requirements of the 
 age. Its highest development to ornamental purposes ap- 
 pears to have been during the Bronze Age, as many of the 
 plates, which formed the component parts of necklaces, are 
 ornamented with designs which are considered characteristic 
 of that period. 
 
 Amber, a fossil gum derived from an extinct coniferous 
 tree, was an important substance in the prehistoric civilisa- 
 tion of Europe on account of its attractive appearance, 
 and the facility with which it could be manufactured into 
 ornaments. The Greeks and Romans set a high value on 
 it, and used it as beads, pendants, and brooches. Pliny 
 devotes a long chapter (book xxxvii. chap, n) to an 
 account of it and "the many falsehoods that have been 
 told about it." Homer refers to it in the line 
 
 " The gold necklace hung with bits of amber." J 
 
 Although doubtfully indigenous to Britain, pieces of amber 
 are said to have been occasionally found washed up on its east- 
 ern shores, as at Buchan in Aberdeenshire, Queensferry on 
 the Firth of Forth, and along the coasts of Norfolk, Essex, 
 
 1 Odyssey, xv. 460.
 
 THE RAW MATERIALS. 145 
 
 and Sussex. Reference to the occurrence of amber in lignite 
 beds in the counties of Londonderry and Tyrone, Ireland, is 
 given by Mr G. Coffey. 1 It has also been found in small 
 quantities on the shores of Norway, Sweden, Sicily, and the 
 Adriatic. But the chief source of its supply, both in ancient 
 and modern times, is the south shore of the Baltic, especially 
 between Konigsberg and Memel, and the east coast of the 
 island of Riigen. Its use in the British Isles during pre- 
 historic times was almost exclusively confined to the manu- 
 facture of beads and pendants, a few examples of which have 
 been recorded from English barrows of the Bronze Age 2 and 
 some ancient graves in Scotland. 3 But during the Stone Age 
 in Eastern Prussia it was put to more multifarious uses, not 
 only beads and necklaces, but also buttons, studs, pendants, 
 and rudely-formed human figures, having been found in the 
 graves of that district. 4 Ornaments of amber have been found 
 in the Scottish and Irish crannogs, the lake - dwellings of 
 Switzerland, the Terremare of Italy, and more especially 
 among remains of the early Iron Age of South-Eastern Europe. 
 The cemeteries of Glasinac and Jezerine, in Bosnia, Santa 
 Lucia, at the head of the Adriatic Gulf, and Hallstatt in 
 Austria, have yielded large numbers of beads and brooch- 
 pendants of imported amber. 
 
 The granites, quartzites, porphyries, serpentines, green- 
 stones, felstones, diorites, clay -slates, and indurated sand- 
 stones, of which the larger stone implements and weapons 
 were usually made, are to a greater or less extent readily pro- 
 curable in Scotland, either in situ or among ice - travelled 
 debris. 
 
 1 Origins of Prehist. Ornament, p. 66. 2 British Barrows, p. 55. 
 
 3 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvi. p. 186. 
 
 4 See ' Der Bernsteinschmuck der Steinzeit,' by Richard Klebs, Konigs- 
 berg, 1882 ; also ' L'Ambra nella Storia e nella Geologia,' by A. Stoppani, 
 Milano, 1886. 
 
 K
 
 146 STONE AGE. 
 
 The other substances made use of in the prehistoric work- 
 shop call for no special remarks. There appears to have been 
 no lack of deer-horn in any part of Scotland ; and of course 
 bones, teeth, shells, skins, &c., were to be had everywhere. 
 Many of the organic materials are, however, so liable 
 to decomposition that most of the articles made of them 
 have long ago crumbled into dust. It is, consequently, very 
 rare to find woollen fabrics, skins, bast, &c., in burials, or on 
 any of the inhabited sites, except the lake - dwellings. The 
 fine mud and peaty deposits of the latter afforded the most 
 favourable conditions for preserving such fragile objects as, 
 from time to time, dropped into them from the hands of their 
 occupiers. But these, and other remains of this kind, will 
 be discussed later on under the category of worked objects. 
 
 II. THE WORKSHOP AND ITS TOOLS. 
 
 In describing the methods practised by prehistoric workmen 
 in the stone industries of the period, we have sometimes not only 
 to wander outside the Scottish area for archaeological evidence, 
 but also to be guided, to some extent, by the manner in which 
 analogous objects have been manufactured in recent times by 
 races who may still be regarded as living under a Stone- Age 
 civilisation. Sir John Evans, in his usual exhaustive manner, 
 has collected a mass of valuable information from both these 
 sources. 1 He has, moreover, shown by practical experiments 
 with his own hands that the simple appliances contained in a 
 " kit of tools," such as can be proved to have been in the 
 possession of the Stone-Age people, were capable of producing, 
 in skilled hands, the effects assigned to them. As regards the 
 fine chipping of flint, he has demonstrated that it could be 
 produced both by skilfully directed blows of a stone hammer, 
 1 Ancient Stone Implements, &c., chap. ii.
 
 WORKSHOP AND TOOLS. 147 
 
 and by the application of steady pressure with a suitable 
 implement made of some hard material, as the tyne of a rein- 
 deer horn. He admits, however, that, notwithstanding all his 
 ingenious methods, there remains a residuum of manipulative 
 skill to the credit of the Stone-Age operator which still baffles 
 modern ingenuity. " I may, therefore, at once confess," he 
 writes, "that though by the use of stag's horn the ordinary 
 surface-chipping characteristic of ancient implements may be 
 obtained, yet the method of producing the even fluting, like 
 ripple-marks, by detaching parallel splinters uniform in size, 
 and extending almost across the surface of a lance- or arrow- 
 head, is at present a mystery to me, as is also the method by 
 which the delicate ornamentation on the handles of Danish 
 flint daggers was produced." 1 
 
 For a long time it was maintained by many antiquaries that 
 round holes could not be bored through hard stones without 
 the use of metallic instruments. But the discoveries on the 
 sites of lake-dwellings have entirely disproved this assertion, 
 as it is now conclusively shown that both the sawing and 
 boring of all manner of stones could have been effected by 
 properly adjusted instruments made of wood or horn, with 
 the addition of a little sand applied in the same way as the 
 modern lapidary uses emery. The late Dr Keller, experi- 
 menting with a thin wooden board and dry sand, proved 
 that, by these means alone, he could saw through the hardest 
 stone. Similarly with a wooden tube, or a piece of hollow 
 horn, put into rotatory motion in alternate directions by means 
 of a string bow, like the fire-drill of modern savages, he could 
 bore perfectly round holes in stones. Soft wood was found 
 to be more suitable than hard, as it took up more of the 
 particles of sand into its tissues, thus acting like fine teeth 
 in grinding the stone. That tubes of some kind were used 
 1 Ancient Stone Implements, &c., chap. ii. p. 38.
 
 148 STONE AGE. 
 
 for boring by the lake-dwellers is proved by the finding of 
 hundreds of the cylindrical cores, which remained as refuse 
 after the perforation had been completed. In the Archaeo- 
 logical Museum of I^ausanne I saw a tray full of these cores 
 exhibited in one of the cases ; and in the Museum at Zurich 
 there may be seen a portion of a stone hammer, with the 
 core still in its place, which had evidently been broken before 
 the perforation was completed. 1 This interesting relic was 
 found on the station of Bauschanze. Another flat stone, just 
 showing the commencement of a tubular perforation, may be 
 seen in the Laibach Museum among the relics from one of 
 the neighbouring lake-dwellings. Similar partially bored holes 
 still retaining the cores may also be seen in the Museum of 
 Stockholm and elsewhere. But it was not an essential part 
 of the process of boring that the perforator should be a hollow 
 tube, as a solid piece of wood, horn, or stone, could be used 
 in the same way. Indeed, according to the evolutionary law 
 of progress, I should say that the latter method preceded 
 the former. In several instances I have seen evidence that 
 the sawing or boring had been preceded by little pick 
 marks, as if intended to guide the instrument in the initi- 
 atory stages of the operation. 
 
 Many of the Scottish specimens of perforated stone im- 
 plements show that the boring had been performed from 
 both sides, the two holes meeting near the middle, where on 
 section they are seen to diminish in width (fig. 40). Such 
 perforations would be readily accounted for by the rotatory 
 motion of a cylindrical piece of wood, or a stone pestle, the 
 funnel shape of the aperture being due to the gradual wasting 
 of the borer by friction. Hollow tubes do not appear to 
 have been used for boring holes in Scotland, or indeed 
 within the British Isles, as, so far as my knowledge goes, no 
 1 See Lake-Dwellings of Europe, fig. 184, No. 6.
 
 WORKSHOP AND TOOLS. 
 
 149 
 
 such cores have been found among the antiquarian relics 
 hitherto collected in these countries. I have seen one 
 specimen, found in Scotland, in which the operation had 
 just been begun, and it consisted of a conical depression on 
 
 Fig. 40. Axe-hammer found under an inverted urn on Chapelton Farm, 
 West Kilbride (f ). 
 
 each side, apparently picked out with some sharp tool. 
 Perhaps this first stage would be followed up by grinding 
 with a stick and sarid. 
 
 In the manufacture of flint implements from the raw 
 material the operator proceeded to work the nodule from 
 one of two points of view, according to the class of imple-
 
 150 STONE AGE. 
 
 merit required. To procure the flakes intended to serve 
 as the groundwork of the smaller worked objects, such as 
 knives, arrow-points, scrapers, &c., all his ingenuity was 
 directed to the production of the suitable form of flake ; 
 and having exhausted the nodule's capacity in this respect, 
 the remaining core was thrown away as useless. But if the 
 operator's intention was to secure a large implement, say an 
 axe or chisel, his attention was exclusively confined to re- 
 ducing the nodule to the required shape, without any regard 
 to the resulting flakes and splinters which, in this case, became 
 waste products. . The tools used in these operations were 
 stone-anvils, hammer-stones of various sizes, and fabricators 
 or flaking-tools made of flint, or perhaps of horn or bone. 
 Anvils have been found in Scotland in various localities, 
 but more especially on the site of the flint factory at Skelmuir, 
 in Aberdeenshire, where no less than nine specimens are 
 known to have been found. 1 They are generally made of 
 quartzite, often from water-worn peebles, and show a number 
 of small worked depressions on one or both surfaces (fig. 41). 
 Two anvil-stones fro'm this factory, which were presented to 
 the National Museum, in 1897, by Mr John Rae, are thus 
 described by Dr Anderson : " They are water-worn quartzose 
 boulders, about 8 inches by 6 inches, and 2^2 inches in 
 thickness, strongly marked on both faces with a central pitted 
 depression, surrounded by six or seven similar but smaller 
 depressions, apparently produced by the wear resulting from 
 the process of breaking flints upon them with hammer-stones, 
 which are also abundantly found on the same site, amidst 
 great quantities of splintered flint nodules." 2 One of these 
 anvils and a hammer - stone from the same locality are 
 represented on figs. 41 and 42. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xiv. p. 314; vol. xvi. p. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. xxi. p. 135.
 
 THE ANVIL AND HAMMER. 
 
 Five other specimens purchased for the Museum are thus 
 described : 1 " Five anvil-stones of quartzite, found at Shel- 
 muir, Aberdeenshire viz., (i) with nine hollows on one face 
 and six on the other; (2) with four hollows on each face; (3) 
 with two hollows on one face and one on the other, and 
 grooved on each side for a handle ; (4) with three hollows on 
 one face and two on the other, and the sides worn by use 
 
 Figs. 41, 42. Stone anvil and hammer-stone from Skelmuir, Aberdeenshire 
 (about J). 
 
 as a hammer-stone ; (5) with a deep circular smoothed hollow 
 on one face." 
 
 The stone hammers associated with the dtbris of flint 
 factories are generally oblong quartzite pebbles showing mark- 
 ings of usage at one or both ends. Those found throughout 
 the country, in fields or among the remains of human dwell- 
 ings, vary greatly in size and configuration. They are often 
 flat pebbles of a circular or oval shape, with marginal 
 markings. Sometimes they present slight hollows on both 
 faces, which go under the name of finger-marks (fig. 43). 
 When perforated, so as to be used with a wooden handle, 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxiv. p. 8.
 
 152 STONE AGE. 
 
 they display careful workmanship, with a symmetrical surface, 
 often highly polished, and sometimes ornamented as shown in 
 a remarkable specimen found at Corwen, in North Wales, 
 and figured in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 
 of Scotland, vol. vi. p. 43. But neither stone perforated 
 hammers nor hammer-stones are peculiar to the Stone Age, 
 as they are, especially the latter, abundantly found in the 
 crannogs. 
 
 The so-called fabricators, or flaking tools, are made of flint, 
 and worked into long narrow chisel -like objects with an 
 
 Fig. 43. Hammer-stone, with circular depression on both surfaces, found on 
 the farm of Balcraig, Ayrshire ($), 
 
 approach to a ridge on one or both surfaces, thus presenting 
 a triangular or lozenge - shaped section across the middle. 
 They are 4 to 5 inches in length, with rounded, or bluntly 
 pointed, extremities. Such tools are by no means common 
 in Scotland. Two have been found in Kincardineshire; 1 one 
 in the chambered cairn of Unstan in Orkney (fig. 44), asso- 
 ciated with some beautifully worked flint arrow-heads and 
 knives ; 2 one from Strathspey ; 8 three from Aberdeenshire ; * 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xi. p. 25. a Ibid., vol. xix. p. 351. 
 
 3 Ibid., vol. xxiii. p. 18. * Ibid., vol. xxvii. p. u.
 
 FABRICATORS. 
 
 153 
 
 and one from Roxburghshire. 1 Similar implements have been 
 found in England, especially in districts, such as Yorkshire, 
 where flint is abundant ; also in Scandinavia there are 
 analogous forms which, though not recognised as flaking 
 tools, could hardly have been 
 used for any other purpose. I 
 have not observed them else- 
 where in Europe, but perhaps the 
 tynes of deer -horns might have 
 been used instead. 
 
 Another tool is the borer, or 
 drill, used for making small per- 
 forations, such as the eye of a 
 bone needle. Its characteristic 
 feature is a sharp point worked 
 on the tip of a flake (figs. 45 
 and 46). Such instruments are 
 of great antiquity, as they were 
 used in Palaeolithic times both 
 in England (Kent's cavern) and 
 on the Continent (the reindeer 
 caves of France and the rock- 
 shelter of the Schweizersbild). 
 They are found among Neolithic 
 remains all over Europe, though Fig. ^. Fabricator of flint 
 by no means numerously. Only found in the chambered cairn 
 
 of Unstan, Orkney (\). 
 
 three or four specimens have 
 
 been found in Scotland viz., one on the Culbin Sands, 2 
 
 one in Roxburghshire, 3 and the two here figured. 4 
 
 As there is no sharp line of distinction between some of the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot, vol. xxviii. p. 338. 
 
 - Ibid., vol. xi. p. 546. 3 Ibid., vol. xxviii. p. 338. 
 
 4 Col. Ayr and Gal. Arch. Association, vol. i. pp. 23, 62.
 
 154 STONE AGE. 
 
 tools of the workshop and other utilitarian implements, it may 
 be as well to postpone further remarks on the mechanical 
 skill of their manufacturers till after we have looked into the 
 
 Fig- 45- Flint drill found Fig. 46. Flint drill, 
 
 in the parish of Galston, Tows, Old Luce, Wig- 
 
 Ayrshire (\). townshire (\ ). 
 
 contents of the whole armoury with which Neolithic man 
 fought the general battle of life. 
 
 III. IMPLEMENTS, WEAPONS, AND ORNAMENTS. 
 
 To analyse and classify the multifarious relics of the Stone 
 Age people collected on Scottish soil, in accordance with 
 their specific forms and purposes, would greatly exceed the 
 limits and scope of this work. I must, therefore, confine my 
 remarks to a brief general survey of their structural features 
 and functional uses in the social economy. The objects 
 which thus fall to be noticed may be conveniently and simply 
 classified as implements, weapons, and articles of apparel 
 and ornament comprising axes, adzes, chisels, hammers, 
 knives, saws, gouges, scrapers, grinding - stones, &c.; spear- 
 and arrow-heads, daggers, sling-stones, &c. ; spindle whorls, 
 loom weights, smoothers, cloth, buttons, beads, rings, &c.
 
 PERFORATED AXES. 
 
 '55 
 
 i . Axes, Chisels, and Hammers. 
 
 Axes may be divided into two groups, according as they 
 have or have not a haft-hole. The former are rarely made 
 of flint, even in countries where this material is abundant, 
 
 Fig. 47. Axe-hammer found in afield near Ardrossan, Ayrshire (). 
 
 owing to the difficulty of perforating such a hard substance. 
 They generally present one cutting edge running parallel to 
 the axis of the handle, the other being blunt ; and hence
 
 1 5 6 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 they are sometimes called axe- hammers. Some, however, 
 have both ends brought to a cutting edge ; while, on the 
 other hand, implements of similar types have both ends 
 blunt, in which case they fall into the category of stone 
 hammers. All the axes in this group are worked with care, 
 being nearly always polished, and sometimes ornamented 
 with linear grooves along the margins of the perforated 
 surfaces (fig. 47). They vary in size from a few inches to 
 10 or ii inches in length. One fine example (fig. 48) was 
 dug up in the stone circle of Crichie (see p. 316). 
 
 Fig. 48. Axe-hammer found in the stone circle of Crichie, Aberdeenshire 
 (4 inches in length). 
 
 The stone hammer may be of any shape, but usually it 
 is of an elongated or oval shape, with the perforation near, 
 or in, the middle. The beautifully polished specimen here 
 represented (fig. 49) was found, in 1873, under a sepulchral 
 cairn, and associated with an urn of the food-vessel type 
 (fig. 5 o).i 
 
 The typical form of the unperforated axe, or celt, is that 
 of a wedge with one end brought to a cutting edge, and 
 the other bluntly pointed or more or less truncated (fig. 51). 
 Specimens having both ends adapted for cutting are, how- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvii. p. 453.
 
 PERFORATED HAMMERS. 
 
 157 
 
 ever, occasionally met with. As a rule they have polished 
 surfaces, with the exception of those made of flint, which 
 are ground only at the cutting edge, though, even among 
 these, some specimens may be seen which are beautifully 
 polished all over. The members of this group vary so much 
 in composition, finish, and dimensions that no two, among 
 several hundreds in the National Museum, are exactly alike ; 
 but yet many of them have so many points of resemblance 
 that certain types are recognised as peculiar to special areas 
 
 Fig. 49. Stone ham- 
 mer found with an 
 urn in a cairn 
 at Glenhead, near 
 Doune . 
 
 Fig. 50. Urn found in a cairn at 
 Glenhead (4^ inches high). 
 
 a fact no doubt due to fashion in local influences and 
 customs. It is marvellous to what precision experts have 
 carried the art of assorting these implements according to 
 their provenances. In Scandinavia, owing to the abundance 
 of flint in certain localities, we find specimens of very large 
 dimensions made of this material, some being beautifully 
 chipped and others finely polished. 
 
 In the Scottish National collection there are a few speci- 
 mens which may be characterised as adzes, notably one from
 
 I 5 8 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 Ferny Brae, parish of Slains, Aberdeenshire. It is made of 
 grey flint, "finely polished and of unique form, being tri- 
 angular in section across the middle, and expanding slightly 
 
 Fig. 51. Stone axe found while cutting a drain on the farm of Brownhill, 
 Tarbolton ($).
 
 UNPERFORATED AXES. 
 
 159 
 
 towards the two extremities. It is finished to a curved 
 adze-like edge at both ends" (fig. 52). 1 A few chisels are 
 also to be noted, their characteristics 
 being a short cutting edge and a long 
 slender body. 
 
 Besides stone, bone and deer -horn 
 have been utilised for making various 
 kinds of implements, such as hammers, 
 chisels, spatulas, picks, &c., numerous 
 specimens of which have been recorded 
 from crannogs, caves, kitchen -middens, 
 brochs, &c. They are not often found 
 in graves, being in such positions liable 
 to decay. Canon Greenwell, however, 
 has met with a few horn implements in 
 the Yorkshire barrows, two of which, a 
 perforated hammer and a pick, are en- 
 graved as figs. 33 and 34 of his '.British Barrows.' Among 
 the industrial remains from the Continental lake -dwellings, 
 the Terremare of Italy, and the reindeer caves of France 
 and Switzerland, implements of this class are very common. 
 Picks of deer-horn were used by the prehistoric people of 
 Britain in extracting flint from chalk pits, as at Grime's 
 Graves near Brandon. 2 
 
 The process of grinding and polishing stone implements 
 appears to have been accomplished by the manual labour 
 of rubbing them, either upon a fixed block of sandstone 
 or with a portable hone. Specimens of these grinding-stones 
 have been occasionally met with in Scotland, as shown in 
 the accompanying illustrations (figs. 53 and 54); but in Den- 
 mark and Sweden large slabs, worn into elongated hollows 
 
 Fig. 52. Polished celt 
 of grey flint found at 
 Ferney Brae, Stains, 
 Aberdeenshire (7 
 inches in length]. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. x. p. 598. 
 
 2 Journ. Eth. Soc., N.S., vol. ii. p. 419.
 
 160 STONE AGE. 
 
 and grooves by the friction of the implements, are of frequent 
 occurrence. 
 
 With regard to the methods of hafting the unperforated 
 axes and chisels, we have, since the discovery of the Swiss 
 
 Fig. 53. Whetstone with stone axe found near the sandhills in 
 Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire (J). 
 
 lake- dwellings, most satisfactory evidence as to how this 
 was done. Remains of the actual handles have been very 
 rarely found in Scotland only two instances of the kind 
 
 Fig. 54. Polygonal grinding-stone of quartsite found while excavating a 
 drain on Lumber ton Moor, Berwickshire (J). 
 
 being known to me. One, consisting of a simple wooden 
 handle with a hole into which the celt was inserted, was 
 found by a man digging peats in the Solway Moss, at a 
 depth of 6 feet (fig. 55, No. i). The other, found in a peat-
 
 MOUNTING OF IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 161 
 
 bog in the island of Bute, and preserved in the Chapelhill 
 Museum, Rothesay, was attached, with some sort of pitch, to 
 a wooden handle now greatly decayed. 
 
 Among the relics from the Swiss lake-dwellings are numerous 
 
 Fig- 55. Various methods of mounting stone implements. 
 
 i, Stone axe from Solway Moss(Proc. Soc. A. Lond., vol. iv. p. 112) ; 4 and 16, 'Ancient 
 Stone Implements, &c.,' figs. 92 and 93; 8, Arrow-head still in shaft from Fyvie (Proc. 
 Soc. A. Scot., vol. xi. p. 509); all the rest from 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe.' 
 
 wooden objects, including the handles and horn fixtures for 
 mounting stone axes. Specimens of a few of these are shown 
 in the accompanying sketches (fig. 55). 
 
 2. Knives, Saws, and Scrapers. 
 
 A flint flake, when suitably formed, is well adapted for cut- 
 ting and scraping by a kind of sliding pressure, but when 
 much used in this manner the edge becomes quickly blunted, 
 and hence it was necessary to work up the flake by second- 
 
 L
 
 162 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 ary chipping. Sometimes this was done by grinding instead 
 of chipping, but this variety of knife is much rarer in Scotland 
 than the ordinary worked flakes. A few specimens of these 
 trimmed flakes are represented in figs. 56-58. Those with 
 ground edges and chipped surfaces, though few in number, 
 have been recorded from such widely-separated districts as 
 Caithness, Argyll, Aberdeen, Lanark, and Berwick. A very 
 fine specimen of a ground-edged knife was found on the 
 farm of Butterlaw, 1 near Coldstream, and measures 4 inches 
 
 Figs. 56, 57. Trimmed knives from Tom, Old Luce, Wigtownshire (\). 
 
 in length and 2^ inches in breadth, but only ^ inch in 
 thickness (fig. 59). 
 
 Canon Greenwell has figured a flint knife, with regard to 
 which he writes as follows : " Amongst the bones was de- 
 posited a flint knife, unburnt, 2^6 inches long and j>6 inch 
 wide, by far the most beautiful specimen I have yet met with ; 
 it is very delicately flaked over the whole of the convex sur- 
 face, the edges being serrated with the greatest skill and 
 regularity. It is another example of those implements which, 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxviii. p. 324.
 
 FLINT KNIVES. 
 
 163 
 
 when associated with interments after cremation, have been 
 usually found to be themselves unburnt." l 
 
 Originally the knife-flake and the saw were one and the 
 same, but their specialisation into separate tools dates as 
 far back as Palaeolithic times, as we find saws among the 
 relics of the reindeer caves of France and the rock-shelter of 
 the Schweizersbild in Switzerland. 2 In the earlier archae- 
 
 Fig. 58. Trimmed 
 flake, Mid Torrs, 
 Old Luce (). 
 
 Fig- 59- Ground-edged knife of flint 
 found at Butterlaw (). 
 
 ological works the term "saw" is indiscriminately applied to 
 a knife-flake accidentally chipped by usage, as well as to one 
 intentionally trimmed. The special characteristic of a saw is 
 a cutting edge, with teeth so regularly formed that its function 
 involves the necessity of a to-and-fro motion. Hence the 
 knife described by Canon Greenwell in the above quota- 
 tion might be regarded as a saw. True saws, though widely 
 
 1 British Barrows, p. 285. 
 
 a Neue Denkschriften der allg. schw. Gesel., vol. xxxv., PI. xi.
 
 1 64 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 distributed over Europe, are not abundantly to be seen in 
 archaeological museums. They have been found on the sites 
 of lake-dwellings and other primitive habitations, and also 
 in graves, but most frequently as stray objects in the surface 
 soil. The flint saws in the Scottish National Museum (figs. 
 60-63) have been collected chiefly on the subsoil of the 
 sand-dunes of Glenluce, Culbin, and Golspie. Their number 
 now amounts to upwards of 160. They are usually made 
 of flakes, but sometimes of chips, carefully trimmed so as to 
 
 Figs. 60, 61. Flint saws from 
 Glenluce (}). 
 
 Figs. 62, 63. Flint saws from 
 Culbin Sands (\). 
 
 present a series of regularly serrated teeth. Some are tri- 
 angular on section and only one of the edges is serrated. 
 Others, again, are serrated on both edges. The teeth in all 
 the specimens found in Scotland are minute and fashioned 
 with the utmost care and regularity. Along the edge of one 
 specimen from Glenluce a long, narrow, thickish flake 
 I counted thirty-five teeth over a length of i ^ inch ; and 
 along this edge there was to be seen a narrow band of 
 glistening polish, scarcely broader than the length of the
 
 SAWS AND SCRAPERS. 
 
 I6 5 
 
 teeth. This feature has been observed on many of these 
 saws without regard to their provenance. 
 
 Formerly it was a current opinion among archaeologists 
 that flint saws were not to be found in Ireland. That this 
 opinion is erroneous is proved by Mr Knowles, who writes 
 to me that he possesses numerous examples picked up among 
 the dtbris of kitchen -middens on the sandhills. He states 
 that in addition to flakes, "so serrated at the edge that a 
 person at once comes to the conclusion that they had been 
 
 Figs. 64, 65. Pointed flint scrapers, Torrs, Old Luce (\). 
 
 prepared for use as saws," there is another class of implements 
 largely found in Ireland called "hollow scrapers," many of 
 which must be regarded as true saws, as the teeth are regular 
 and well defined. Mr Knowles has, recently, more particularly 
 described these implements in a paper on " Irish Flint Saws " 
 to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (vol. iv., 5th 
 series, p. 341). For further notices of saws and their dis- 
 tribution in Europe I must refer my readers to ' Prehistoric 
 Problems,' chap. viii.
 
 166 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 Among the remains of the ancient stone industry in 
 this country the implement most largely represented is that 
 known as the scraper, or "thumb flint" (figs. 64-67). It 
 generally consists of a flake having the thick end worked 
 into a semicircular edge slanting to its flat face, while the 
 body or "neck" may be held between the fingers. But 
 sometimes there is little or no neck, and the implement 
 
 Fig. 66. Slender 
 scraper, Torrs, 
 Old Luce (}). 
 
 Fig. 67. Horse-shoe scraper from the Crannog 
 of Lochspouts, Ayrshire (\ ). 
 
 may be of a discoidal, circular, or horse - shoe shape ; in 
 which case it was necessary to have it mounted in some 
 kind of handle to make it effective for any mechanical pur- 
 pose. Some have a concave edge, and are known as 
 " hollow scrapers " a type of implement hitherto more fre- 
 quently found in Ireland than in Scotland. The instruments 
 used for boring have, of course, a sharp point, but otherwise 
 they may be regarded as scrapers. 
 
 3. Weapons, 
 
 Arrows, spears, and javelins, being intended for piercing 
 the tissues of the body (man or beast), naturally resemble 
 each other in having a sharp point. Otherwise, they differ
 
 ARROW-POINTS. 167 
 
 only in size and in the manner in which they are used. 
 But whatever be the specific weapon, arrow, spear, dagger, 
 or javelin, its efficiency demanded that the tip should be 
 made of a harder substance than wood. For this purpose 
 the best material was flint, although bone and horn were 
 also used especially for short hand - daggers, like those 
 found in the lake -dwelling stations of Laibach, Mondsee, 
 and others. 
 
 Arrow-points may be divided into tanged (figs. 68-70) and 
 
 7 o 
 
 Figs. 68, 69, 70. Tanged arrow-points of 'flint : 68 and 70 from Torn, Old 
 Luce, Wigtownshire; and 69 from Lanfine, Ayrshire (\ ). 
 
 untanged (figs. 71-74), the latter being further subdivided 
 according as they resemble a leaf, a lozenge, or a triangle a 
 division which is also applicable to spear-heads. The work- 
 manship on some of those objects displays marvellous man- 
 ipulation, especially in the execution of what is known as 
 ripple-flaking. 
 
 Having secured the tip, the warrior or sportsman had to 
 consider how it could be best attached to the shaft or handle. 
 This was generally effected in the case of the arrow by insert- 
 ing the lower end of the flint into a slit in the wood, and then 
 tying it with a string. Among the lake-dwellers a kind of
 
 1 68 
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 asphalt was used to keep the tip firmly in its position. 
 These methods are illustrated in fig. 55, Nos. 7 and 8. 
 It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the presence of 
 
 71 72 73 
 
 Figs. 71, 72, j^.Losenge- and leaf-shaped arrow-heads, Old Luce, 
 Wigtownshire ({). 
 
 arrow-points implies the other necessary equipments of the 
 archer viz., the bow, the arrow-shaft, the quiver, and the 
 bracer. Of the actual remains of the three former articles 
 almost nothing has survived in this 
 country to the present day, owing, no 
 doubt, to their decay. But in the 
 Swiss lake-dwellings several specimens 
 of the bow have been found as, 
 for example, one from the station of 
 Nidau in Lake Bienne, and another 
 from Robenhausen, both being about 
 5 feet in length. The latter is made 
 of yew, and shows the notch at both 
 ends for the string. The bracer, sup- 
 
 arrow-head. High Torrs, 
 
 Wigtownshire (\). posed to be for protecting the wrist of 
 
 the archer, being made of stone, and 
 
 therefore not liable to decay, has been found in several 
 
 localities in this country generally in graves (figs. 75 
 
 and 76).
 
 BRACERS. 
 
 169 
 
 In Scotland, spear-heads, whether made of flint or of any 
 other material, do not figure largely among its prehistoric relics. 
 The few objects that may be so classified differ from the 
 arrow-heads only in being a little 
 larger, seldom exceeding 3 inches in 
 length (fig. 77). In England we 
 meet with a few large lanceolate, 
 or leaf-shaped, flakes with elaborate 
 workmanship, which, according to 
 Sir John Evans, might have been 
 used as daggers ; l and in the Swiss 
 lake - dwellings similar blades were 
 either inserted into wooden handles, 
 or had the butt -end covered over 
 with twisted withes so as to afford a 
 better grasp. 2 No specimens of the 
 beautifully formed daggers, having Fi s- 7S-- Bracer of stone 
 
 found at Mid Torrs, Old 
 
 the blade and handle made of one Luce(). 
 piece of flint like those of the Scan- 
 dinavian archaeological area, have been found within the 
 British Isles. 
 
 Barbed harpoons of an early type have already been noticed 
 
 Fig. 76. Polished bracer of felstone found -with an urn at Fyrish, 
 Evanton, Ross-shire (). 
 
 in the description of the MacArthur cave and rock-shelter 
 at Oban, as also the perforated deer-horn chisels and picks 
 
 1 Ancient Stone Implements (figs. 264, 265). 
 
 2 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, fig. 8, Nos. 2 and 28.
 
 STONE AGE. 
 
 associated with the stranded whales in the Carse of Stirling. 
 Sharp-pointed objects made of bone and horn, some of which 
 may be regarded as daggers, have also been found in graves 
 in this country, and more especially among crannog remains. 
 
 Among weapons may be noticed the so-called sling-stone, 
 which may be a smooth pebble from the brook, or a flint 
 nodule roughly chipped into a lenticular, discoidal, or globular 
 shape. In the Wolds of Yorkshire these 
 / \ prepared flint nodules may be picked up 
 
 in great numbers on ploughed fields, 
 and elsewhere, as stray relics. It is, 
 however, difficult to believe that all the 
 objects so characterised were really used 
 as sling-stones. The primary apparatus 
 for projectiles was the hand itself, with- 
 out the intervention of any mechanical 
 appliances ; and I cannot help thinking 
 that many of the larger pebbles, so fre- 
 quently found on ancient inhabited sites, 
 were used in this manner. 
 
 Hundreds of ovate pellets of clay, 
 F '&- 77- Javelin-head, generally not larger than a pigeon's egg, 
 
 Machermore, Old , ju^uurj 
 
 Luce (^ burnt and unburnt, have been found on 
 
 the site of the lake -village of Glaston- 
 bury, which are regarded as sling-bolts, or perhaps fire-balls. 
 Similar clay pellets have been recently dug up in consider- 
 able numbers on the site of Ardoch Camp, associated with 
 Roman pottery and other Roman remains. 
 
 The remarkable series of ornamental stone balls found 
 in Scotland and only in Scotland and supposed to have 
 been attached to thongs and used as flail -like weapons, 
 may here be noticed, though it is probable that they belong 
 to a later period of Scottish civilisation than that now under
 
 ORNAMENTED STONE BALLS. I/I 
 
 review. They were first critically examined and described by 
 Dr J. Alexander Smith, 1 but since then their number has 
 greatly increased. They vary in size from i inch to about 
 3^ inches in diameter, and have their surfaces divided into 
 four, six, or more symmetrical discs, or, sometimes, projecting 
 knobs. The discs are generally ornamented by incised spirals, 
 concentric circles, check patterns, &c. Dr Joseph Anderson 
 thus refers to their probable use : " In all their varieties of 
 form, these objects present certain features which are sug- 
 
 Fig. 78. Stone ball ornamented with incised patterns found in digging a 
 drain in the Glas Hill, Towie, Aberdeenshire (). 
 
 gestive of a possible use as weapons. Their ornate char- 
 acter, their speciality of form, which renders them capable 
 of being swung by thongs or bound to the end of a handle, 
 and the fact that one example is pierced by a hole, are 
 indications in this direction. Although there is no con- 
 clusive evidence of the fact, it is at least conceivable that 
 they may have been mounted as mace-heads similar to those 
 metal mace-heads with pyramidal projections which are found 
 occasionally among the relics of the Iron Age, and con- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xi. p. 29.
 
 172 STONE AGE. 
 
 tinued in use in the early Middle Ages, and similar, at least 
 in appearance, to the mace -heads shown in the hands of 
 unmounted men in the Bayeux Tapestry." l Some of these 
 balls (fig. 78) are decorated with spiral ornamentation, which 
 resembles that on metal work of the Bronze Age in Scandi- 
 navia and in the Danubian valley. 
 
 4. Clothing and Ornaments. 
 
 We have no knowledge of any phase of humanity in which 
 the love of personal adornment does not play an important 
 part in the life of the individual. The savage of the present 
 day, who paints or tattoos his body and adorns it with shells, 
 feathers, teeth, and trinkets made of the more gaudy materials 
 at his disposal, may be accepted as typical of the Stone-Age 
 men of Europe. Their ornaments consisted chiefly of beads, 
 pendants, rings, bracelets, necklaces, &c., made of jet, amber, 
 bone, horn, teeth, &c. Few, however, of such relics have 
 been found in Scotland that can be identified as belonging to 
 the Stone Age. Buttons made of jet are not uncommon 
 among the contents of ancient graves. They are generally 
 conical on the upper surface, and flat beneath, with a curved 
 or V-shaped tunnel, both ends opening on the under surface, 
 as shown in fig. 79. On the iath December 1898, three 
 jet buttons, varying in size from ^ inch to i^ inch in 
 diameter, but of the usual conical form and perforated under- 
 neath, were exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 
 land as having been found in a cist with a cinerary urn at 
 Keith Marischal, East Lothian. One found in a cist on 
 Law Hill, Dundee, 2 is quadrilateral in shape, with linear 
 ornamentation on the back (fig. 80). Another, hemi- 
 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 170. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxiv. p. 10.
 
 JET BUTTONS. 
 
 173 
 
 spherical in shape, is from Mid - Torrs, Glenluce. 1 Three 
 made of cannel coal, and found in a tumulus near Rothbury 
 Northumberland, are described as circular, two inches in 
 diameter, slightly conical on one surface and with the usual 
 
 Fig. 79. Jet button, upper and under surfaces, found on Crawford Moor, 
 Lanarkshire (). 
 
 perforation on the other. Canon Greenwell has figured 
 a number from the Yorkshire barrows, some of them being 
 highly ornamented. Buttons of bone have also been found 
 
 Fig. 80. Back and front view of a jet button found in a cist at 
 Law Hill, Dundee (). 
 
 occasionally one with two holes being from an urn at 
 Murthly, Perthshire. 
 
 Of the more perishable works of the earliest inhabitants of 
 Scotland very little, if anything, has reached our day. Of the 
 spinning industry the spindle-whorl alone remains as evidence, 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxx. p. 5.
 
 174 STONE AGE. 
 
 but, as it has also been used in all subsequent ages, even 
 up to the present time, it possesses no chronological value. 
 Fragments of woollen cloth, along with a skeleton, were found 
 by a man cutting peats in a bog at Birsay, in Orkney. The 
 body, that of a female, was in a sitting position, the top of 
 the skull being 2 feet below the surface of the peat. " The 
 portions of woollen fabric are of two or three different 
 varieties of texture, the largest portions woven of thick and 
 coarsely-spun yarn. The pieces are much patched, so much 
 so as to suggest the dress of a vagrant rather than that of 
 a person careful of appearances." l 
 
 Portions of woollen cloth of four or five different textures 
 are said to have been found in a cist at Greenigoe, parish of 
 Orphir, Orkney, along with two beads, one of amber and the 
 other of an opaque vitreous paste. 2 
 
 A complete woollen hood, with a wide fringe, 3 found in a 
 moss in the parish of St Andrews, Orkney, is preserved in 
 the National Museum ; also fragments of cloth and a leather 
 shoe said to have been found associated with human skele- 
 tons in a moss at Culrain, Ross-shire. 4 
 
 Canon Greenwell has occasionally recorded the finding of 
 remains of woollen and leather garments in British barrows, 
 as, for example, in a coffin made of a hollow oak trunk, found 
 in a barrow at Scale House, Craven. For a notice of this 
 and similar tree-coffins in England and Denmark I would refer 
 my readers to 'British Barrows,' p. 377. 
 
 Sir Daniel Wilson, 5 in describing a garment procured by 
 Dr Samuel Hibbert from some labourers who had found it, 
 on the chance exposure of a stone cist, while excavating for 
 railway work near Micklegate Bar, York, about the year 1838, 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvi. p. 12. 2 Ibid., vol. xxiii. p. 123. 
 
 3 Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 8l. * Ibid., pp. 91, 92. 
 
 9 Prehistoric Annals, vol. i. p. 475.
 
 CLOTHING. 
 
 175 
 
 thus writes : " This valuable relic now in the Scottish 
 Museum appears to be a sleeve, or covering for the leg ; 
 and somewhat resembles the hose worn by south -country 
 Scottish farmers, drawn over their ordinary dress as part of 
 their riding -gear. It has been 
 knitted; a process which doubt- 
 less preceded the art of weaving, 
 probably by many centuries. The 
 fabric is still strong, and, in care- 
 ful keeping, may long suffice to 
 illustrate the domestic manufac- 
 tures of the ancient Briton. This 
 is one of the examples to which 
 reference has been made in a 
 former chapter, as showing the 
 source to which it is conceived 
 the ornamental designs on early 
 British pottery may be traceable ; 
 though the resemblance is less 
 striking here than in some more 
 imperfect specimens of such pro- Fig . 8 i.-/><w/w of knitted work 
 ducts of the primitive knitting- f ound in a cist near Mickkgate 
 
 Bar, York. 
 
 needle or loom. The accom- 
 panying woodcut (fig. 81), representing a portion of the 
 knitted fabric, will enable the reader who is familiar with 
 the style of ornamentation on the pottery of the tumuli to 
 judge for himself how far this idea is justified by the corre- 
 spondence traceable between them." 
 
 A human body, the mummy of which is now preserved 
 
 in Dublin, was found in a bog 9 or 10 feet beneath the 
 
 surface. " When first exhumed," writes Sir W. Wilde, 1 " the 
 
 body was perfectly fresh, and enclosed in a dress not unlike 
 
 1 Beauties of the Boyne, p. 237.
 
 176 STONE AGE. 
 
 that in the description given of Gurth in ' Ivanhoe,' con- 
 sisting of a tunic of cow-hide, apparently tanned, but with 
 some remains of hair still preserved on the side worn next 
 the skin. This dress is joined in the most accurate and 
 beautiful manner, exhibiting an extraordinary perfection in 
 the art of sewing. The hair on the head, which is both 
 long and fine, is of a dark-brown colour, and the skull is 
 compressed in a remarkable manner, owing to a portion of 
 the earthy matter having been removed by the acid of the 
 bog." 
 
 But for a more complete picture of the culture and civi- 
 lisation of Neolithic man we must investigate the relics of 
 the lake-dwellings of the Stone Age of Europe. In the 
 station of Robenhausen we meet with a variety of woollen 
 cloths, yarn, bast ropes, &c., associated with spindle- whorls, 
 loom-weights, and other objects used in spinning and weav- 
 ing. In the Neolithic stations of Butmir, in Bosnia, 1 and 
 Laibach, in Styria, 2 as well as in other localities throughout 
 Europe, human* figurines have been found which are gener- 
 ally regarded as idols, thus showing that their inhabitants 
 were guided to some extent by supernatural influences. 
 
 1 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, p. 98, PI. xiii. 
 - Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 532, fig. 195.
 
 177 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROGRESS IN CULTURE AND CIVILISATION DURING THE 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 HE discovery of bronze, and its introduc- 
 tion into the simple arts and industries 
 of the Stone Age people of Europe, 
 may be said to have speedily revolu- 
 tionised their whole system of social 
 economy. Not only had all the primitive 
 implements and weapons to be remodelled, in accordance 
 with the principles of a metallic regime, but new industries 
 and higher artistic aspirations were engendered which, by 
 degrees, greatly modified the commercial and social aspects 
 of life. 
 
 That this metallic innovation first found its way into Britain 
 by means of cutting implements of bronze imported from 
 abroad there can be little doubt, as the oldest metallic objects 
 known the small hand-daggers generally found in graves 
 were made of the best quality of bronze. Now, since a know- 
 ledge of this compound implies a previous acquaintance with 
 its component elements, copper and tin, it follows that the 
 progress in metallurgy had reached the stage of selecting the 
 best combination of these metals for the manufacture of cut- 
 
 M
 
 178 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 ting tools, at the same time as, if not indeed before, the 
 simple metals were known to the inhabitants of the British 
 Isles. That this skill in the working of metals had not 
 been acquired by the ancient nations on the shores of 
 the Mediterranean without a long experience of the un- 
 combined use and qualities of copper and tin, and of the 
 various methods of hardening the former, was demonstrated 
 by Dr Gladstone, F.R.S., at the meeting of the British 
 Association held at Liverpool in 1896. In a paper on 
 "The Transition from pure Copper to Bronze made with 
 Tin" he writes as follows: "The use of copper in Egypt 
 can be traced from the fourth dynasty, when King Senefern 
 captured the copper and turquoise mines of the Sinaitic 
 peninsula. Tools made of this metal have been found not 
 only in Egypt, belonging to the fourth, sixth, and twelfth 
 dynasties, but also in Assyria, at Lachish in Palestine, 
 Hissarlik in Asia Minor, and Naqada. Attempts were made 
 to render this copper harder and stronger, and that in three 
 ways. First, the admixture of a large quantity of suboxide 
 of copper, or of its formation in the process of smelting, as 
 seen in adzes from Egypt and Palestine, and perhaps Naqada. 
 Second, the presence of a little arsenic or antimony, as shown 
 in many tools from Kahun dating from the twelfth dynasty, 
 and from the Sinaitic mines, as shown in a communication 
 to the French Academy by Berthelot a few weeks since. 
 Third, the admixture of a little tin, as at Kahun, the Sinaitic 
 mines, and Cyprus, perhaps not exceeding i per cent. When, 
 however, the superiority of tin, as the hardening material, 
 came to be acknowledged, it was added in larger quantities, 
 and formed the alloy known as bronze. Such proportions as 
 4 and 6 per cent occur in early specimens, as at Hissarlik ; 
 but subsequently about 10 per cent was usually employed. 
 Tools of this composition are found not only in Egypt during
 
 COPPER IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 the eighteenth dynasty, but in most countries, and for an 
 immense variety of purposes." l 
 
 The existence of a real Copper Age in Egypt, Cyprus, and 
 other countries bordering on the Levant, as thus indicated 
 by Dr Gladstone's researches, naturally prompts us to inquire 
 if there had been a corresponding period in Europe when 
 copper implements and tools had been in use before the in- 
 vention of bronze. The late Von Pulszky, Drs Much and 
 Gross, and, more recently, Professors Hampel and Montelius, 
 have advocated the affirmative side of this problem, chiefly 
 on the grounds that in Hungary, and on the sites of a few 
 lake -dwellings, a large number of copper relics have been 
 found ; and, moreover, that in many countries the lowest 
 type of metallic celt was made of copper in imitation of the 
 stone celts previously in use. But none of these arguments 
 are, in my opinion, applicable to Britain, as the simplest 
 form of the bronze celt is precisely similar to the earliest 
 copper celts. That copper was known in Europe prior to 
 the knowledge of the art of converting it into bronze is 
 likely enough ; but as the pure metal was inferior to flint for 
 cutting purposes, it produced no perceptible change on the 
 social industries of the period. It was the art of hardening 
 copper which first stirred up the slow channels of industrial 
 progress in the ancient world and raised mankind to a higher 
 mechanical platform. The finding of so many of these 
 primitive copper celts throughout Europe is, no doubt, sug- 
 gestive of a Copper period ; but at the same time it must 
 not be forgotten that flat axes of the best quality of bronze 
 have also been found in circumstances which render it prob- 
 able that they are as old as the former. Dr Montelius, one 
 of the most recent advocates of this theory, figures in his 
 brochure, ' Findet man in Schweden Ueberreste von einem 
 1 Brit. Association Report, 1896, p. 930.
 
 ISO BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Kupperalter,' two metal celts, found together in a cultivated 
 field at Pile, in Sweden, which could be used as an argument 
 to prove that bronze was known and utilised in Sweden before 
 copper. One of the celts is a large well-shaped implement, 
 over 8 inches in length, with perpendicular borders and raised 
 edges, and ornamented with a series of curved lines running 
 across its surface. The other is smaller (6 inches in length) 
 and has no raised border, nor indeed any specific character 
 which in appearance would differentiate it from the most 
 primitive type known. But the former is described as being 
 made of copper, and the latter of bronze. The use of pure 
 copper in the manufacture of some of the axes, even sup- 
 posing that it had been so utilised before the introduction of 
 bronze, could have lasted only a very short time in Western 
 Europe so short, indeed, that during its prevalence not a 
 single progressive change or improvement is to be noted in 
 respect of any specimen that can be shown to be older than 
 the Bronze Age. No advocate of the Copper-Age theory 
 holds that all the objects made of copper found in Hungary 
 are actually earlier than the Bronze Age many of them being 
 similar in style and pattern to objects regarded as character- 
 istic of that period. The existence of these Hungarian 
 copper implements, like the ornamented copper celt from 
 Pile, must, therefore, be explained on other grounds than the 
 chronological priority of the discovery of copper over bronze. 
 As soon as the metallurgic art had taken root among the 
 prehistoric people of Scotland, they began to manufacture 
 their cutting implements and weapons of bronze, modelling 
 them, in the first instance, after the analogous objects of the 
 Stone Age, or the imported metal specimens which already 
 had passed through the stage of imitation in some outside 
 area. I have elsewhere l shown that a similar derivative 
 1 Prehistoric Problems, p. 330.
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. l8l 
 
 connection can be traced between not only the flat axe, 
 whether of bronze or copper, and the stone celt, but also 
 between the knives, saws, sickles, daggers, &c., of the two cul- 
 ture periods. By-and-by, however, all these objects under- 
 went progressive modifications, probably in proportion as 
 their makers had gained greater knowledge and experience in 
 the art of working the metal. But as no remains of any kind 
 of buildings, excepting sepulchres, have as yet been discov- 
 ered on the Scottish area which can with certainty be assigned 
 to either the Stone or Bronze Age, we are deprived of the 
 best source of evidence regarding the evolutionary phases 
 through which these objects passed in their transitions from 
 stone into metal. The relics at our disposal have been for 
 the most part discovered accidentally, either as concealed 
 hoards or as stray objects in the soil. Such hoards have been 
 found in various circumstances, as, for example, by peat- 
 cutters, and by workmen engaged in digging drains, foun- 
 dations of houses, gravel-pits, &c. The dredging for marl 
 in lake-beds an occupation which was very common at 
 the beginning of this century has brought to light some 
 valuable antiquities. The plough has played no mean part 
 in such discoveries ; nor must we neglect to mention the 
 services of the poacher, the mole, the rabbit, and other 
 burrowing animals. Occasionally evidence of chronological 
 sequence is to be derived from the contemporaneity of ar- 
 ticles thus associated. Evolutionary changes, indicating pro- 
 gressive improvements in the various parts of a composite 
 object, are sometimes of much value in this respect, as, for 
 example, the development of the different parts of a fibula. 
 Now it can be clearly demonstrated that the original safety- 
 pin occupies an intermediate stage between the primitive 
 straight pin and the highly ornamental brooches of later 
 times, such as were in use among the Celts, Saxons, and
 
 182 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Scandinavians. The connection between such derivative ob- 
 jects is often obscure until all the intermediary links of a 
 series are exhibited side by side. No better illustration of 
 this can be given than Dr Hans Hildebrand's description of 
 
 Fig. 82. One of five bronze axes found at the ''Maidens," Ayrshire (|). 
 
 the successive transformations which connect the Roman 
 fibula with the boar's-head brooch of Scandinavia, so char- 
 acteristic of Viking burials and hoards in this country. 1 
 
 1 See Scandinavian Arts, pp. 22-30.
 
 AXES, CHISELS, ETC. 
 
 183 
 
 i. Axes, Chisels, &>c. 
 
 The division of axes into flat, flanged, winged, and socketed, 
 not only sufficiently defines these implements, so far as any 
 classification is necessary, but also describes the chronological 
 order of their development. The flat celt (figs. 82 and 83) was 
 the first to spread over Europe, and it is the form most corn- 
 
 Fig. 83. Bronze celt found on Bog Farm, near Kilwinning (). 
 
 monly met with in the British Isles. In the course of time, 
 probably owing to improvements in the manner of hafting, 
 the first alteration was made by raising a flange on each 
 side ; then these flanges became larger and curved inwards 
 (fig. 84) until the two nearly met, thus forming two im- 
 perfect sockets, one on each side. Coincident with these
 
 1 84 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 changes a stop-ridge appears between the flanges, and a loop 
 on one of the edges of the axe to fasten the handle more 
 securely (fig. 85). Finally, we have the single socket, which 
 is the culmination of previous adaptations, all of which now 
 disappear or become merged into this more perfect mode of 
 fastening the handle. Nothing remains to show these evol- 
 utionary stages except the direction of the socket and the 
 
 Fig. 84. Bronze winged celt found 
 near Largs (J). 
 
 Fig. 85. Bronze palstave found on the 
 farm of West Glenbuck, Ayrshire (). 
 
 side loop (fig. 86). It is only in the Iron Age that we meet 
 with the transverse socket, and even then the change seems to 
 have been effected very gradually, as both in Hallstatt and La 
 Tene the prevailing type of axe retained the vertical socket. 
 
 As to the methods of hafting these various forms of the 
 implement, it may be observed that the first three types were 
 inserted into slits in the wooden handle, and hence, when in
 
 AXES, CHISELS, ETC. 
 
 I8 5 
 
 use, the wood was apt to split ; whereas the fourth had, in- 
 stead, the handle inserted into the socket in one solid piece. 
 
 The flat axes vary greatly in size, from a few inches up to 
 13^6 inches in length, this latter being the largest known 
 in Scotland. They were cast in open stone moulds, several 
 
 Fig. 86. Socketed bronze axe-head found on the farm of Knock and Maize, 
 Leswalt, Wigtownshire (^). 
 
 specimens of which may be seen in the National Museum. 
 The socketed axes are generally shorter than the intermediate 
 flanged types, but they vary considerably both in size and in 
 the shape of the blade. The bronze celt represented in fig. 
 87, and included in the collection of antiquities presented by
 
 1 86 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Sir Herbert Maxwell to the National Museum, is referred to 
 by Sir Herbert as " a very delicate little article, and, so far as 
 I have seen, there is none similar to it in any collection in 
 Great Britain or on the Continent. Mr Evans assigns it to 
 
 a late period of bronze manu- 
 facture, but it is difficult to 
 say whether it has been in- 
 tended for an ornament or 
 for use as a small glyptic 
 tool or chisel." 1 
 
 Chisels and gouges are 
 generally socketed or tanged, 
 and differ from the axes only 
 in being elongated and more 
 slender. The simplest form 
 is a bar of metal sharpened 
 at one end and blunt at the 
 other so as to receive the 
 
 Fig. 87. Miniature ornament in the blows of a hammer. When 
 form of an axe-head found on the farm 
 
 of steiioch, Giasserton, Wigtown- tanged there is usually a 
 
 projecting rim or bar of the 
 
 metal about its middle so as to act as a stop-ridge for the 
 wooden handle. 
 
 So far as I know, no bronze hammer has yet been discovered 
 on Scottish soil ; but a few specimens of this most essential 
 tool have been recorded from England and Ireland, all of 
 which have a socket for the handle at one end. A few of 
 these are figured by Sir John Evans. 2 On the site of the 
 lake -dwelling of Wollishofen, near Zurich, six hammers of 
 this same type were among the remains dredged up, two of 
 which, along with a bronze anvil from the same place, are 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxiii. p. 221. 
 ' J Bronze Implements, &c., p. 178.
 
 KNIVES. 187 
 
 figured by me. 1 It is remarkable that the principle of hafting 
 the stone hammers and axes by a transverse perforation for 
 the insertion of the wood if these implements are really to be 
 regarded as products of the Stone Age should have been so 
 thoroughly discontinued during the Bronze Age, while in 
 the Iron Age, especially within the British Isles, even at a 
 comparatively early period, the perpendicular socket was al- 
 most entirely superseded. 
 
 2. Knives, Saws, Sickles, and Razors. 
 
 One of the most noteworthy facts in connection with the 
 Bronze Age in Scotland is that neither knives, in the proper 
 sense of the word, nor saws of bronze have as yet been dis- 
 covered among its remains. The small hand-dagger with 
 riveted handle, found occasionally in graves, may have served 
 the purposes of a knife. The objects described by Sir John 
 Evans as a knife is a dagger-like blade with a socket for the 
 insertion of a handle ; but specimens of these implements 
 are rare in Scotland (fig. 100). In England they are more 
 frequently met with ; and in Ireland they are fairly abundant, 
 not less than thirty-three having been recorded in Sir W. 
 Wilde's catalogue. One of the Scottish specimens found at 
 Kilgraston, Perthshire, is engraved by Sir John Evans, 2 and 
 another by Sir D. Wilson. 3 Fragmentary specimens have 
 been found at Clova and a few other localities. 4 
 
 A flat bronze blade with a perforated tang, found in the 
 lands of West Cairns, is figured and described by Mr M'Call 
 in his ' History and Antiquities of the Parish of Mid-Calder.' 
 
 1 Lake- Dwellings of Europe, fig. 4, Nos. 8, 18, and 21. 
 8 Bronze Implements, &c., fig. 243. 
 
 3 Prehistoric Annals, vol. i. p. 390. 
 
 4 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 12 ; vol. xxviii. p. 239.
 
 1 88 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 As may be seen from the accompanying outline (fig. 88) 
 taken from Mr M 'Call's illustration, this blade has sloping 
 edges, a feature which gives it a unique character among 
 the Bronze Age relics of Scotland. A few similar blades 
 have been found in English barrows, one of which is figured 
 by Sir John Evans. 1 Daggers with a rivet -hole in the 
 
 ./ 
 
 Fig. 88. Bronze 
 knife blade 
 found in the 
 parish of Mid- 
 Calder ($). 
 
 Fig. 89. Two large 
 bronze knives of rare 
 forms (about J). 
 
 butt-end of the tang are known in Scotland, but they 
 
 differ from the above in having a strongly marked mid-rib. 
 
 The paucity of these so-called knives, and the entire absence 
 
 of the typical knife-blade, are in striking contrast to what we 
 
 find on the Continent, especially in the Swiss lake-dwellings. 
 
 There the knives are one-edged blades and extremely elegant 
 
 in form, being always more or less curved, and frequently 
 
 1 Bronze Implements, p. 223.
 
 SAWS AND SICKLES. 
 
 189 
 
 ornamented with parallel or wavy lines, concentric circles, 
 dots, &c. They were hafted either by a tang or socket, 
 unless, as it sometimes happened, the blade and handle were 
 cast together. In regard to their distribution over the lake- 
 dwelling area, it may 
 be interesting to note 
 that the socketed 
 knives are very rare 
 in eastern Switzer- 
 land, while in the 
 west they are the 
 rule and not the ex- 
 
 Fig. 90. Bronze sickle, parish of Do res, Inver- 
 ness-shire (5% inches in length). 
 
 ception. Sir Daniel 
 
 Wilson l describes as 
 
 bronze reapers two 
 
 knives (fig. 89) of 
 
 the same characters as those from the lake-dwellings of the 
 
 Bronze Age one tanged and the other socketed. The 
 
 former (14 inches in length) is stated to have been found 
 
 on the farm of Moss-side, in the vicinity of Crossraguel 
 
 Abbey, Ayrshire, and the latter 
 
 was then in the collection of Sir 
 
 John Clerk at Penicuik House. 
 
 I am not aware that a specimen 
 of a bronze saw has yet been 
 found within the British Isles, 
 but among the remains of the 
 Continental lake -dwellings and 
 hoards saws are not unfrequently met with. One small file 
 has been found in Lake Bourget. Sickles have been found 
 in considerable numbers in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
 Those from the two latter countries (figs. 90 and 91) are all 
 1 Prehistoric Annals, vol. i. p. 102. 
 
 Ki - 9i- Bronse sickle found in 
 
 Ireland (6% inches long).
 
 190 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 socketed a statement which is also applicable to those from 
 England, with the exception of one or two specimens from 
 Somersetshire, which appear to have been imported, as they 
 are of Continental types. 
 
 Implements supposed to have been used as razors have 
 been discovered in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Three 
 
 92 93 94 
 
 Figs. 92-95. Scottish ornamented bronze blades (all ). 
 
 92 found in a tumulus at Rogart, Sutherlamlshire ; 93 found in a cairn at Balblair, 
 Creich, Sutherlandshire ; 94 found in an urn at Magdalen Bridge, Musselburgh, Mid- 
 Lothian ; 95 found with burnt bones at Shanwell, Milnathort, Kinross-shire. See Proc. 
 Soc. A. Scot., vii. 475; x. 431-447; xvi. 424; xix. 115. 
 
 specimens (PI. I. 3) are recorded as having been found in 
 urns dug out of a tumulus at Bowerhouses, near Dunbar. 
 Two specimens found in Sutherlandshire, one in a tumulus 
 at Rogart, and the other in a large cinerary urn at Balblair, 
 are ornamented as shown in figs. 92 and 93. A similarly 
 ornamented blade was among cremated bones in an urn 
 found at Magdalen Bridge, near Musselburgh (fig. 94) ; and 
 another (fig. 95) was associated with um burials at Shanwell,
 
 i! 
 " >< 
 
 ... rfc.\ & my 
 
 %' inl 
 
 -->jf/i ;/ < < 4 --- : = ?i ^ , I 
 
 M a* 
 
 /5 ^ 
 
 PLATE I. FORMS OF RAZORS FOUND IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF 
 EUROPE. All %. (For details sec List of Illustrations.)
 
 WEAPONS. IQI 
 
 Kinross-shire. All the Scottish specimens are tanged, with 
 the exception of the one found at Kinleith, which has a loop 
 at the end of a stem, corresponding to the tang in the others 
 (fig. 39). The British specimens have all a family likeness, 
 but do not differ materially from the Continental types, as 
 represented in the lake-dwellings and the Terremare of Italy. 1 
 For a number of various forms of razors from different parts 
 of Europe, see Plate I. 
 
 3. Weapons. 
 
 Bronze daggers are usually of two kinds viz. : (i) those 
 with a thin, flat, triangular, or oval-shaped blade, and gener- 
 
 96 97 9 99 
 
 Figs. 96-100. Scottish bronze weapons (all J). 
 
 96, Bronze blade found at Pitkaithley, Perthshire ; 97, Bronze dagger found near 
 Gretna, Dumfriesshire ; 98, Bronze dagger-blade and gold mounting of the hilt found in 
 a cist in a cairn at Sketraw, Dunbar ; 99, Bronze socketed spear-head found near Forfar ; 
 100, Dagger-knife with oval socket and rivet-holes in side. See Proc. Soc. A. Scot., 
 xvii. 8 ; xiv. 97 ; xxvii. 8 ; xvii. 95 ; xxiii. 16. 
 
 ally known as knife-daggers ; and (2) those with a blade larger 
 and heavier than the former, and having a thick mid-rib. As 
 
 1 See figs. 63, 83, and 85, ' Lake-Dwellings of Europe.' 
 
 N
 
 192 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 a rule, both varieties are hafted by rivets to a wooden or horn 
 handle; but there are a few exceptions in which the tang 
 takes the place of the rivets. For further illustrations and 
 
 Figs. 101-105. Bronze weapons (). 
 
 101, Spear-head with side loops, locality unknown ; 102, 
 " Scythe-shaped " blade found in Galloway ; 103, " Scythe- 
 shaped " blade found in a moss on the farm of Whitleys, 
 Stranraer ; 104, Spear-head from Barhullion, found jammed 
 between two rocks ; 105, Spear-head found near Denhead, 
 Coupar- Angus. See Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vii. 423; xvii. 
 93-98, 200-232 ; xxiii. 224. 
 
 104 
 
 details of daggers, spear-heads, &c., consult figs. 96-105. Mr 
 A. Hutcheson has recently described a dagger - blade, along 
 with fragments of others, apparently of the same type, in
 
 WEAPONS. 
 
 193 
 
 which a couple of notches have taken the place of the rivet- 
 holes (fig. 1 06). It was discovered in a cairn on the farm 
 of Gilchorn, near Arbroath, associated with urns. 1 The 
 dagger represented by fig. 107, showing a large rivet-hole in 
 the butt-end of the tang, is one of two specimens discovered 
 on Scottish soil. It was found in Whitehaugh Moss, Ayrshire, 
 at a depth of about 6 feet, and is described and figured by 
 Dr James Macdonald. 2 The other was found on the Crawford 
 Priory estate, Fife, and is figured and described 
 by the Hon. John Abercromby. 3 These dag- 
 gers, whether the blades were flat or ribbed, 
 were sometimes ornamented as shown on figs. 
 96 and 107. 
 
 Another class of weapon occasionally found 
 in Scotland, and allied to the strongly ribbed 
 dagger, is that which Sir W. Wilde calls the 
 broad " scythe-shaped sword." It differs from 
 the dagger in having the two edges unsym- 
 metrical with the mid-rib which is sometimes 
 slightly curved and also in being attached at r 
 
 Fig. io6.J?mfe 
 
 right angles to the shaft, which gives it the or dagger-blade 
 
 c ^-L. TII of bronze found 
 
 appearance of a scythe. These weapons are J at G ii chorn 
 largely found in Ireland, but sparingly in Eng- near Arbroath 
 
 (i\ 
 
 land and Scotland. One found in Galloway 
 is outlined in fig. 102, which sufficiently shows the peculi- 
 arities of this class of weapon. 
 
 Spear-heads are perhaps the most abundant of weapons 
 of offence found among the relics of the Bronze Age in all 
 countries. The Scottish examples are socketed, almost with- 
 out an exception, and gracefully proportioned, but very 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxv. p. 459. 
 
 2 Arch, and Hist. Collections of Ayr and \Vigtown, vol. iv. p. 53. 
 
 3 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxviii. p. 219.
 
 194 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Fig. 107. Tanged dagger or 
 spear-head found in White- 
 haugh Moss, Ayrshire (). 
 
 variable as regards dimensions. 
 The larger specimens have some- 
 times a crescentic vacancy in the 
 blades on each side of the socket, 
 intended probably to lighten the 
 weapon, as shown in that repre- 
 sented by fig. 105. Similar seg- 
 mental apertures have been noted 
 on the La Tene iron spear-heads. 
 Another feature occasionally ob- 
 served on the Scottish bronze 
 spear-heads (common also in Eng- 
 land and Ireland) was a loop on 
 each side of the socket for the 
 purpose of fixing the blade more 
 firmly to the handle (fig. 101). 
 Stone moulds for casting the 
 spear-heads have been found in 
 Scotland, as well as in most 
 countries of Europe. 
 
 The bronze swords found in 
 Scotland are leaf -shaped blades 
 with sharp points, and a flat pro- 
 jection at the hilt containing 
 several rivet -holes, by means of 
 which plates of bone, horn, or 
 wood were fastened on each side 
 so as to form a handle (figs. 108- 
 1 1 5). These weapons have no 
 guard ; and although both edges 
 have been hammered out thin 
 and sharpened by grinding-stones, 
 they appear to have been better
 
 WEAPONS. 
 
 195 
 
 adapted for thrusting than for parrying or striking. The 
 blades vary considerably in size, the largest in the National, 
 
 108 109 
 
 III 112 113 114 115 
 
 Figs. 108-115. Some Scottish, sword-blades of bronze (all \). 
 
 Museum being 30^ inches in length, while the smallest 
 measures scarcely 20 inches. Sheaths of bronze, or wood
 
 196 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 with bronze mounting, were used to protect the blades, but of 
 their remains in Scotland only a few of the bronze tips have 
 been found. There is a considerable difference in the shape 
 of the flat portion which formed the handle, as well as in the 
 disposition of the rivet-holes, as shown in the illustrations. 
 
 Along with a number of flat-hilted sword-blades found in 
 1869, while workmen were engaged in digging the foundations 
 of a house in Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh, was one (fig. 
 113) which had the handle and pommel cast in bronze in 
 the same mould as the blade. With regard to this sword Dr 
 Joseph Anderson makes the following remarks : " It is a short 
 sword, its whole length being only 20 inches. The blade is 
 leaf- shaped, the hilt without a guard, but with a grip of 4 
 inches in length, terminating in a rounded pommel 2 inches 
 diameter, and i ^ inch in height. The grip is ^ inch thick, 
 and i inch in width at the centre, widening to 1/6 inch at its 
 junction with the blade. A break in the pommel at one side 
 reveals the fact that the core of hardened clay on which it was 
 cast is still within it. Both hilt and pommel are pierced by 
 holes, which at first sight suggest the rivet-holes in the handle- 
 plates of the swords from which the mountings of the grip 
 are wanting. But the holes in this hilt do not pass through, 
 and they are not opposite each other. Some other explan- 
 ation of their purpose is therefore necessary. I have stated 
 that the clay core on which the handle was cast is still within 
 it. When the core was placed within the mould, it was 
 necessary that it should be supported in its true position in 
 the cavity of the mould, and this could not be more conveni- 
 ently accomplished than by pins or projections which would 
 leave corresponding holes in the casting of metal." l 
 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 140. It is satisfactory to find that this 
 sword is now in the National Museum, having been recently acquired by- 
 purchase. For the distribution of this variety of sword, see article by Dr 
 Anderson (Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 320).
 
 WEAPONS. 
 
 197 
 
 There is another rapier-shaped blade occasionally found in 
 Scotland, the peculiarity of which is that it has no extension 
 of the metal into the perishable material of the handle, but 
 merely a flattened base to which the handle was attached by 
 rivets like the knife-daggers (figs. 116 and 117). On Plates 
 
 Fig. 116. Rapier-sword Fig. 117. Dagger-blade found near 
 found in a peat moss, Crostraguel Abbey (J). 
 
 Kirkoswald, Ayrshire 
 (i). 
 
 II. and III. I have reproduced photographic illustrations of 
 the principal objects of bronze included in the antiquarian 
 collection (now in the Belfast Museum) of the late Canon 
 Grainger, from which the characteristics of the various types 
 of axes, swords, daggers, &c., may be readily perceived.
 
 198 
 
 BRONZE AC;E. 
 
 Fig. 118. Bronse shield found at LugtonriJge, near Bcith. Front view and section 
 (26% inches in diameter).
 
 SHIELD. 
 
 199 
 
 
 Figs. 119, 120. Handle and part of the shield found at Lugtonridge.
 
 2OO BRONZE AGE. 
 
 The most common type of.shield found in the British Isles 
 consists of a circular plate of thin bronze having a central 
 boss about 3^ to 4*^ inches in diameter, surrounded by a 
 series of concentric raised rings with circles of small studs in 
 repousst between each. Two of these shields were discovered 
 in a marshy place, near Yetholm, in 1837, by labourers dig- 
 ging a drain. They measure respectively 23^ and 24 inches 
 in diameter, and in both specimens the handle was riveted 
 across the hollow of the boss. A third shield of like character 
 was ploughed up near the same place in 1870. 
 
 In the year 1779 four or five bronze shields of the same 
 type were discovered by peat-cutters at Lugtonridge, in the 
 parish of Beith, Ayrshire, but of the entire hoard only one 
 (figs. 118-120) has been preserved. 
 
 Sir John Evans makes the following observations on the 
 chronology of British shields : " The shields first in use in 
 Britain were probably formed of perishable materials, such as 
 wicker-work, wood, or hide, like those of many savage tribes 
 of the present day ; and it can only have been after a long 
 acquaintance with the use of bronze that plates could have 
 been produced of such size as those with which some of the 
 ancient shields and bucklers found in this country were 
 covered. They would appear, therefore, to belong to quite 
 the close of the Bronze Age, if not to the transitional period 
 when iron was coming into use. There are, indeed, several 
 bronze coverings of shields of elongated form, such as those 
 from the river Witham (' Horae Fer.,' pi. xiv.) and from the 
 Thames (ibid., pi. xv.), with decorations upon them, in which 
 red enamel plays a part, that have been found associated with 
 the iron swords of what Mr Franks has termed the Late 
 Celtic Period. Those, however, which appear to have a better 
 claim to a place in these pages are of a circular form." l 
 1 Bronze Implements, &c., p. 343.
 
 WAR TRUMPETS. 2OI 
 
 The use of war - trumpets among the Celtic races of 
 Western Europe has been often referred to by classical 
 authors, but only a few instruments which can be classed 
 in this category have hitherto been found in Britain. In 
 Ireland, however, they are more numerous, as we learn from 
 Sir W. Wilde's Catalogue of the Museum of the Royal Irish 
 Academy. These instruments were made either in a solid 
 casting of bronze, or in sections by riveting tubes of sheet- 
 metal together. The well-known large Danish trumpets are 
 of this description. But besides the difference in their mode 
 of manufacture, they may be classified into two varieties, 
 
 Fig. 121. Portion of a side-blast trumpet found at Innermessan, 
 Wigtownshire (). 
 
 according as the aperture of blowing is at the end of the 
 tube or at the side. 
 
 Among the objects in the collection of antiquities presented 
 to the National Museum by Sir Herbert Maxwell, there is a 
 portion of a bronze side -blast trumpet, showing the mouth- 
 piece, which had been found at Innermessan, Wigtownshire 
 (fig. 121). 
 
 A bronze horn or trumpet (fig. 122) made in one solid 
 casting (preserved in Caprington Castle) was found, some 
 time prior to 1654, on the estate of Coilsfield, in the parish 
 of Tarbolton, Ayrshire. It measures 25 inches in length,
 
 2O2 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 nearly 4 inches across the end 
 aperture, and nearly 8 inches in 
 circumference at the lowest band. 1 
 It is probable that some of 
 these trumpets belong to the 
 early Iron Age ; and this opinion 
 is strengthened by the character 
 of the ornamentation on the disc 
 at the distal extremity of one of 
 them (fig. 123), which unmistak- 
 ably shows Late Celtic work. In 
 regard to this object Sir W. Wilde 
 makes the following remarks : 2 
 "In 1794 four brazen trumpets 
 were found in a bog on the 
 borders of Lough-na-Shade, near 
 Armagh. One of these figured 
 by Stuart, in his ' History of 
 Armagh,' is the large riveted 
 trumpet with a decorated disk, 
 and central globular connecting 
 portion, and which is joined with 
 rivets ; whereas all those previ- 
 ously noticed were cast. . . . 
 The decorated disk below, the 
 details of the punched or ham- 
 mered-up ornament on which are 
 shown in the accompanying illus- 
 Fig. .-Bronse hom found at Cation (fig. 123), measures 1% 
 
 Coils/ield, Ayrshire (25 inches j nc hes across. Its Style of decor- 
 in length), 
 
 ation much resembles that of the 
 
 large shield-like plates represented by fig. 533, page 637. 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xii. p. 565. a Catalogue, p. 625.
 
 ARROW-HEADS. 
 
 203 
 
 Its present mode of attachment to the trumpet -mouth is 
 evidently modern." 
 
 Besides the notices of these trumpets in the Academy's 
 ' Catalogue,' in ' Ancient Bronze Implements,' &c., and in 
 ' Horae Ferales,' some additional notes and illustrations will 
 be found in the 'Reliquary,' &c., for April 1899, by Mr J. C. 
 Prsetorius and the Editor. 
 
 Arrow-heads made of bronze have not as yet been found 
 in Scotland, and their 
 existence in England 
 and Ireland seems 
 somewhat doubtful. 1 
 But they are occasion- 
 ally found among the 
 remains of lake -dwell- 
 ings in Central Europe, 
 where they assume vari- 
 ous forms, sometimes as 
 miniature spear - heads 
 with a tang or a socket, 
 
 and sometimes as tri- Fig. 123. Disc ornament of a bronze trumpet 
 , . r , . found in an Irish bog (7% inches in dia- 
 
 angular pieces of thin meter ^ 
 bronze. The latter 
 
 contain two or more small holes by means of which they 
 could be fastened to the stem with a string. In Southern 
 Europe, Greece, and Egypt, a small triple-edged arrow-point 
 was used, specimens of which may be seen in many of the 
 Continental museums. Flint arrow-heads are so common in 
 Bronze -Age burials that it is quite evident that the intro- 
 duction of metal into general use did not supersede these 
 weapons, so that they are not peculiar to the Stone Age. 
 
 3 Arch. Journal, vol. iii. p. 47; vol. vii. p. 281; vol xiii. pp. 20, 27; 
 vol. xxi. p. 90 ; vol. xxii. p. 68. 
 
 O
 
 2O4 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 4. Objects of Toilet and Personal Ornament. 
 
 That the use of bone and bronze pins survived in the 
 British Isles to medieval times is amply proved by the dis- 
 covery of numerous specimens on the sites of Romano- 
 British towns, as well as among the dtbris and refuse-heaps 
 of the Scottish and Irish crannogs. Hence it would be 
 rash to infer that a bronze pin belongs to the Bronze Age, 
 merely because it is made of bronze, unless its association 
 with typical relics of the period would justify that conclu- 
 sion. A slender bronze pin with a circular cup-shaped head 
 was found in a moss in the island of Skye, associated with 
 a leaf-shaped bronze sword and two socketed bronze spear- 
 heads. 1 Another pin 
 (fig. 124) having a flat 
 circular head, orna- 
 mented with concen- 
 tric circles, and bent 
 over so as to bring 
 
 Figs. 124, 125. Head of bronze pin and button- , , 
 
 like mounting found in Edinburgh ($). the P lane of the disc 
 
 parallel with the stem, 
 
 was found in the Grosvenor Crescent hoard already referred 
 to. Two bronze pins with similar disc -shaped heads were 
 found at Tarves, Aberdeenshire, associated with leaf-shaped 
 swords and a scabbard-end of bronze. Specimens of the 
 same type of pin, with the heads highly ornamented, have 
 been found in Ireland and on the Continent. Small pins 
 with round heads are not unfrequently found in urns among 
 the cremated bones, and in graves after inhumation, having 
 been used to fasten the clothing on the body previous to 
 the interment. But they are often so much corroded that 
 it is difficult to determine whether they were intended for 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. iii. p. 101.
 
 PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 2O5 
 
 pins or awls. Canon Greenwell found bone pins more 
 common than bronze pins in the Bronze -Age barrows 
 of Yorkshire. The bronze pins hitherto discovered within 
 the British Isles are very inferior to those from the lake- 
 dwellings of Switzerland as regards size, variety of form, and 
 beauty of ornamentation. 
 
 Buttons of bone and jet have already been described as 
 relics of the Stone Age, but they are more commonly found 
 among remains of the Bronze Age. A curious object of 
 bronze, supposed to be a button, 1 formed part of the Gros- 
 venor hoard (fig. 125). It is a hollow circular ring, i^ 
 inch in diameter, having two loops on one side by which 
 it could be attached to clothing. The common present- 
 day button viz., that of a disc, with a loop on one side 
 was also known in bronze. 2 
 
 Needles of bone and bronze have been found in Scotland, 
 but not often in circumstances which enable us to classify 
 them as Bronze-Age relics. 3 Both sewing and netting needles 
 of bone are among the relics from the crannogs in Ayrshire. 
 Combs of bronze have been found both in the Swiss lake- 
 dwellings and in the Terremare, but they are not among 
 the relics of the Bronze Age hitherto collected in Scotland. 
 
 The knowledge of bronze gave a great impetus to the 
 development of personal ornaments. Being an attractive 
 metal to the eye, it was readily seized upon for the manu- 
 facture of armlets, necklaces, diadems, rings, pendants, 
 earrings, &c. 
 
 Of the Scottish armlets a few can be assigned to the 
 Bronze Age, owing to their having been found in associa- 
 tion with other relics of that period. Dr J. Alexander 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 322. 
 
 2 See Evans, ' Bronze Implements,' p. 400. 
 
 3 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 273.
 
 206 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Smith describes three bracelets, with fragments of others, 
 found, along with a number of bronze objects (a celt with 
 socket and loop, two spear-heads, and four broken bits of 
 tin), by a man ploughing a mossy field at Wester Achtertyre, 
 in Morayshire 1 (fig. 126). Two penannular bronze armlets, 
 tapering a little towards their extremities, were found, along 
 with nine bronze celts, near the hill of Benachie, in Aber- 
 deenshire. 2 
 
 Another armlet of thin beaten bronze was found, along 
 with a necklace of beads and plates of jet, in a cist contain- 
 
 Fig. 126. Bronze penannular armlet Fig. 127. Bronze ring-armlet, one of 
 found at Achtertyre, ^lorayshire a fair found with an urn at Kin- 
 
 ($). neff, fCincardi neshire (). 
 
 ing an unburnt skeleton, at Melfort, Argyleshire 3 (fig. 128). 
 A penannular bracelet with expanded ends, and some plain 
 rings, were part of a hoard found, near Killin, by a man 
 trenching an uncultivated knowe. This hoard is described 
 by Mr Charles Stewart. Besides the bracelet and rings it 
 comprised the following objects : portion of the hilt-end of 
 a small leaf -shaped sword; a socketed spear -head; two 
 socketed celts ; a socketed gouge ; and a circular hollow- 
 ring, " similar to one found, with two spear-heads, at Inshoch, 
 in Nairnshire, and to a smaller one found, with a bronze 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 436. 
 2 Ibid., p. 436, and vol. i. p. 138. 3 Ibid., vol. xix. p. 135.
 
 BRACELETS. 
 
 207 
 
 sword, in Edinburgh." 1 Dr Joseph Anderson describes two 
 ring-armlets of solid bronze (fig. 127) which were found by a 
 man trenching ground near the Castle of Kinneff, in Kin- 
 cardineshire, associated with a highly ornamented urn and 
 a spear-head of bronze. Other armlets of the same type, 
 also associated with burials, are recorded from the parish 
 of Crawford, Lanarkshire, and from near Stobo Castle in 
 Peeblesshire. 2 
 
 Another form of armlet is a penannular ring with cup- 
 shaped ends a type more frequently met with in Ireland 
 than in Scotland. One, de- 
 scribed by Mr Jolly (fig. 129), 
 was found, along with a 
 number of socketed celts and 
 other bronze objects, 6 feet 
 below the surface, by a man 
 digging peats at Poolewe, Ross- 
 shire. 3 Bracelets of this type 
 are more frequently made of 
 gold. Sir Daniel Wilson 4 
 
 figures and describes a very 
 
 * 
 
 fine example found by a 
 labourer while cutting peats in the parish of Cromdale, 
 Inverness-shire (fig. 130). Two gold armlets "were found 
 in association with an interment of an unburnt body in 
 connection with a group of burials at Alloa, of which the 
 larger number were burials after cremation." The armlets 
 lay on the top of a large flat stone, underneath which was 
 an entire skeleton. 5 Gold bracelets were generally made of 
 
 ^ ' I f --Bronze bracelet found in ^ 
 cist at Melfort, Argyllshire (). 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvi. p. 27. 
 
 - Ibid., vol. xvii. p. 450; vol. ii. p. 277. 
 
 4 Prehistoric Annals, vol. i. p. 460. 
 
 5 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvii. p. 448. 
 
 3 Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 47.
 
 2O8 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 solid rods, cylindrical or quadrilateral on section, with slightly 
 enlarged or expanded extremities. Three penannular gold 
 armlets, showing a quadrilateral section, were found together 
 in Stonehill Wood, parish of Carmichael, Lanarkshire, and 
 exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of 
 London on the i8th April 1864. 
 
 Another variety of the gold bracelets found in Scotland 
 is a flat band twisted like a corkscrew, the ends passing 
 gradually into hook-like knobs which can be made to clasp 
 
 Fig. 129. Bronze penannular ring with cup-shaped ends found in peat at 
 Poolewe, Ross-shire (f ). 
 
 each other. Specimens of this type are sometimes so large 
 that they must have been used as torques for the neck. A 
 hoard, consisting of four of these ornaments, was discovered 
 in 1848 in loose earth at Lower Largo, in Fifeshire, and 
 others have been found in several other places throughout 
 Scotland. 1 
 
 Of the many coiled bracelets or arm-bands, so common in 
 Central Europe, none made of bronze has been found in 
 Scotland, and only one of gold. This solitary specimen was 
 found at Slateford, Mid -Lothian, in 1846, during the con- 
 struction of the Caledonian Railway. 2 It is made of three 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xviii. p. 238. 2 Ibid., p. 239.
 
 BRACELETS. 2Og 
 
 rods of gold twisted together and uniting at the ends into 
 one rod, which is then bent sharply back so as to form a 
 long hook. Like many other valuable relics it found its 
 way into the melting-pot, and only a model of it now remains 
 
 (fig- 131)- 
 
 Penannular bracelets, with or without expanded ends, are 
 common all over Europe. The large, hollow, and highly 
 ornamented bracelets, so characteristic of the Swiss lake- 
 dwellings, are not represented in the British Isles. 
 
 Fig. 130. Gold armlet found in peat in the parish of Cromdale, 
 Inverness-shire (). 
 
 The torque or twisted neck -ring made of bronze, and 
 found so largely in Central and Northern Europe, appears 
 to be unknown both in Scotland and Ireland; but a few 
 specimens have been found in the southern and western 
 counties of England. Those which reverse the twist one 
 or more times, and also those terminating in broad expansions 
 or free spirals, are only to be found on the Continent. Upon 
 the whole, torques are rare among the remains of the true 
 Bronze Age in Europe, as only some half-dozen specimens 
 have been collected on the sites of the lake - dwellings of
 
 210 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Europe. These are all of one type, and adapted to hook 
 at the back of the neck. 1 The torques and spiral bracelets 
 of this kind hitherto discovered in Scotland are made of gold, 
 of which specimens have been recorded from Belhelvie, Aber- 
 deenshire, 2 Lower Largo, 3 Moor of Rannoch 4 (fig. 132), and 
 parish of Urquhart, near Elgin. 5 
 
 The Gaulish torques, so famous in Roman times, were not 
 
 Fig. 131. Gold armlet found at Slateford, Mid-Lothian (). 
 
 of this type. They consisted of two symmetrical portions 
 fastened at the back by a movable joint, the other ends 
 terminating in an expanded bulb like some of the large 
 penannular bracelets. Several portions of such torques have 
 been found in the Oppidum La Tene, and so far they ap- 
 pear to be precisely similar to those represented on Roman 
 
 1 See 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' fig. IO, No. 3, fig. 63, No. 19, and 
 fig. 98, No. 9. 
 
 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xviii. p. 237. 3 Ibid., p. 234. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 238. 5 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 530.
 
 GLASS, AMBER, AND JET. 211 
 
 statuary, such as the one on the neck of the Dying Gladiator, 
 which is distinctly seen to be twisted spirally above the 
 terminal bulbs. 
 
 Beads of glass, amber, and jet are only sparingly found 
 among remains of the Bronze Age. Dr Joass states that a 
 blue glass bead, ornamented with three volutes in yellow, 
 was found in a cist, with burnt bones and small pieces of 
 bronze, in the parish of Eddertoun, Ross-shire. 1 In a cist at 
 
 Fig. 132. Gold armlet found on the Moor of Rannoch (f ). 
 
 Moan, Harray, Orkney, eight amber and a large number of 
 glass beads were associated with objects of the Iron Age. 2 
 
 Glass beads are largely found on the Continent along with 
 remains of the Early Iron Age, as, for example, the cemetery 
 of Hallstatt. In the necropolis of Jezerine, in Bosnia, sev- 
 eral hundreds of these beads blue, yellow, white, and green 
 in variously mixed patterns have been recorded by the late 
 Mr Radimsky. 3 
 
 Perhaps the most characteristic ornaments of the Bronze 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. v. p. 313. - Ibid., vol. xxi. p. 345. 
 
 3 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, &c., p. 1 66.
 
 212 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Age are those beautiful necklaces made by stringing together 
 a combination of beads and plates of jet, the latter being 
 generally ornamented with geometrical patterns of dots and 
 
 F 'R' I33- Necklace of jet beads and plates found in a cist at Mountstuart 
 House, Bute, 
 
 lines. Several specimens of these handsome neck ornaments 
 may be seen in the National Museum. The one here figured 
 (% *33) was found at Mountstuart, Bute, in a cist of the
 
 JET NECKLACES. 
 
 213 
 
 Bronze Age, which also contained a piece of bronze, an urn 
 (fig. 134), and a trepanned skull (fig. 135). Other jet 
 necklaces have been dis- 
 covered in the following 
 localities in Scotland : 
 Assynt, Ross-shire; 1 
 Torrish, Sutherlandshire; 2 
 Balgay, near Dundee ; 3 
 Lunan Head, Forfar ; 4 
 Balcalk, Tealing. 5 
 
 Similar necklaces were 
 also made of amber, as 
 shown by the following 
 discovery in Orkney. A 
 
 large barrow, 30 feet in Fig. 134. Urn from cist at Mountstnart, 
 
 Bute (i). 
 
 diameter and about n 
 
 or 12 feet in height, was opened in 1858 at Huntiscarth. 
 
 Fig. 135. Trepanned skull from cist at Mountstuart, Bute (^). 
 
 Near the centre, and some 5 feet from the surface, a large 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot, vol. iii. p. 47. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 412. 4 Ibid., vol. xii. p. 296. 
 
 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 409. 
 6 Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 262.
 
 214 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 flagstone was exposed, which, on being removed, disclosed 
 a stone cist, 2 l / z feet long, formed in the usual way of 
 stones set on edge. On each side of the cist there were 
 two upright stones, the tops of which reached within 2 feet 
 of the summit of the mound. Some fragments of bones, 
 supposed by the farmer to have been burnt, were found 
 in the cist, together with the following ornaments, which 
 lay at one corner on a flat stone : four discs of thin gold, 
 each 3 inches in diameter, pierced in the centre with a 
 round hole, and ornamented with a series of concentric 
 circles and bands of zigzag and oblique lines in repoussd ; 
 a collection of rudely formed beads of amber circular, 
 
 Fig. 136. One of two gold earrings found in a stone cist at Orton, 
 Morayshire (^). 
 
 triangular, and curved pierced with small holes like those 
 of the jet necklaces. 1 
 
 But the most remarkable objects of antiquity ever known 
 in Scotland are a pair of gold ornaments, supposed to be ear- 
 rings (fig. 136), which were found in a stone cist on a gravelly 
 hillock at Orton, near Fochabers. The cist was exposed in 
 the course of making the railway between Elgin and Keith, 
 in the year 1863, and the two ornaments lay one on either 
 side of a " ridge of black dust," about a third from one end 
 Sir Noel Paton, who records this unique find, says : " The 
 ornaments were retained by the navvies by whom they were 
 discovered ; but they ultimately came into possession of 
 the daughters of the sub-contractor for that section of the 
 line, by whom they were transferred to the hands of a jeweller 
 
 1 See coloured plate in the ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. iii. p. 183.
 
 EARRINGS. 215 
 
 in Aberdeen, in exchange for certain objets de luxe of less 
 obsolete fashion. From this person the one now before us 
 was bought by Mr Walker, barely in time to save it from the 
 melting-pot." * 
 
 That these ornaments were earrings there seems no reason 
 to doubt, as similar objects in bronze have been found in the 
 Yorkshire barrows along with female skeletons. 2 
 
 No fibulae constructed on the safety-pin principle have 
 hitherto, to my knowledge, been discovered within the British 
 Isles which can be dated earlier than the Late Celtic period. 
 The simplest forms of this type 3 show clearly their evolution- 
 ary descent from the straight pin. 
 
 Canon Greenwell, whose experience in such matters is 
 unrivalled, makes the following remarks on the subject of per- 
 sonal ornament as it affected the barrow folk : " Ornaments 
 and objects of personal decoration are sometimes found 
 associated with burials in the barrows. They are, however, 
 much less frequently discovered than weapons and implements, 
 and appear to be confined to those of women, at least in the 
 barrows of the wolds. They accompany burials after crema- 
 tion, as well as those by inhumation. When met with in 
 association with a burnt body, in many cases they have not 
 been burnt with it, but have been placed amongst the calcined 
 bones, after they were collected from the funeral pile ; and 
 the same may be said of certain implements of flint. I have 
 found three burnt bodies which had jet beads placed amongst 
 the bones, and they showed by their perfect condition that 
 they had never been subjected to the action of fire. It will 
 give some idea of the rarity of ornaments when I state that 
 out of the whole number of 379 burials, only ten possessed 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 29. 
 
 2 British Barrows, fig. 47, p. 52. 
 
 3 See Lake-Dwellings of Europe, fig. 64, Nos. 22-25.
 
 2l6 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 anything of the kind ; and out of these, two, in barrows of 
 Cowlam, belong to the Early Iron Age a period later than 
 that of the ordinary barrows, which are alone taken into con- 
 sideration in these introductory remarks. The eight burials 
 which had ornaments associated with them were as follows : 
 One on Langton Wold, where a woman had been buried 
 with a humble necklace consisting of a single jet bead, two 
 shells, a piece of deer's tooth pierced, and the vertebrae of a 
 fish, &c. One at Cowlam, where a woman was interred with 
 two bronze earrings ; and another on Goodmanham Wold, 
 where what appear to have been two bronze earrings were 
 found close to the head of a woman, one on each side of it. 
 Two, each with a jet necklace, one being at Weaverthorpe, 
 the other on Goodmanham Wold. One on Flixton Wold, 
 where a young girl had four beads of bone, three of which 
 were ornamented on each side; and a woman on Good- 
 manham Wold, with a pierced pig's -tooth. Besides these 
 instances, there were found in a disturbed barrow at Helper- 
 thorpe two flat beads of jet, which had formed part of a neck- 
 lace. They are ornamented with a pattern, consisting of 
 minute punctured holes on the surface, and are similar to 
 many which have been discovered in other parts of Britain, 
 as in Wales, Derbyshire, Northumberland, and Scotland." l 
 
 5. Art of the Bronze Age. 
 
 The elements of decoration used in the Bronze Age in 
 Scotland, and indeed within the British Isles, so far as they 
 have been disclosed on objects of metal, bone, jet, and 
 pottery, consisted of a combination of incised or dotted 
 lines arranged in herring-bone, chevron, saltire, cross, and 
 other rectilinear patterns, so as to produce a variety of geo- 
 1 British Barrows, p. 51.
 
 ART ELEMENTS. 217 
 
 metrical figures. Circles, spirals, and curved lines also occur, 
 but they are generally confined to stone-work. No repre- 
 sentation of an organic or inanimate object has been dis- 
 covered in Scotland, so far as I know, which can be assigned 
 to the Stone or Bronze Age. With regard to sepulchral 
 pottery, it may be observed that in addition to incisions in 
 the soft clay, impressions were very often made by stamps. 
 From an inspection of the decorated urns, of which there is 
 such a splendid collection in the National Museum in Edin- 
 burgh, it will be readily observed that various kinds of stamps 
 had been used by the potters of the period, such as a piece 
 of wood or bone notched into dots, small triangles, squares, 
 &c., the teeth of a comb, twisted thongs in two or three plies, 
 the finger-nail, &c. These different patterns were generally 
 arranged in horizontal bands round the body of the vessel, 
 especially on its upper and middle parts, in such a variety of 
 ways that no two vessels have ever been found alike. A few 
 socketed celts have been discovered, 1 in different localities, 
 which are decorated with concentric circles in relief, the in- 
 cised pattern being in the mould; but otherwise, neither in- 
 cised circles nor spirals are to be seen on the metal-work 
 found either in England, Scotland, or Ireland presenting in 
 this respect a marked contrast to the bronze implements and 
 weapons of the Scandinavian archaeological area. A beautiful 
 specimen of the socketed celt ornamented with concentric 
 rings was found in a peat-moss on the farm of Knock and 
 Maize, in the parish of Leswalt, Wigtownshire, and is now 
 preserved in the cabinet of the Earl of Stair (fig. 86). 
 
 Of archaic sculpturing on stones and solid rock-surfaces in 
 
 the form of cups, cup-and-rings, concentric circles, spirals, 
 
 and irregular geometrical figures, there is no lack of examples 
 
 in Scotland; but although much has been written on the 
 
 1 Evans's Bronze Implements, figs. 137, 140, 142, and 144.
 
 2l8 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 subject, none of the theories advanced to explain their mean- 
 ing has met with general acceptance. That they had a sym- 
 bolic meaning in the religious conceptions of the people is 
 evident from the frequency with which they are found on 
 sepulchral monuments, but any interpretation hitherto ad- 
 vanced on the subject, beyond the general religious idea, 
 seems to me to be pure conjecture. Readers interested in 
 these mysterious memorials will find much solid matter in 
 the writings of George Tate, 1 Sir James Simpson, 2 Charles 
 Rau, 3 and George Coffey, 4 as well as in a number of articles 
 in different publications, references to which will be found in 
 one or other of those works. 
 
 On analysing the various decorative elements in these 
 lapidary sculpturings they readily fall to be classified as fol- 
 lows : (i) Simple cups. (2) Cup-and-rings. (3) Cup-and- 
 rings interrupted by gutter channels. (4) Concentric circles. 
 (5) Semi-concentric circles. (6) Spirals. (7) Stars, wheels, 
 and enclosed spaces. (8) Zigzag, wavy, or parallel lines. 
 
 I have represented on Plate IV. a few specimens of rock- 
 sculpturing, as depicted on some of the prehistoric monu- 
 ments of Western Europe, which may be compared with those 
 figured in the text on this important subject. The first 10 
 figures are mere diagrammatic illustrations, after the classifica- 
 tion of Sir James Simpson. Some explanatory notes on the 
 other figures will be found in the list of illustrations. 
 
 Nearly all these elements in one or more combinations are 
 to be found on sepulchral or memorial stones in Scotland. 
 Cups vary greatly in size, from about one to several inches in 
 diameter, and from half an inch to about one and a half inch 
 
 1 Sculptured Rocks of Northumberland, 1865. 
 
 Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings, &c. t 1868. 
 
 3 Contributions to N. American Ethnology, vol. v., 1881. 
 
 4 Jour. R. Soc. Antiq. of Ireland, 1894-97.
 
 PLATE IV. VARIOUS FORMS OF PREHISTORIC ROCK-SCULPTURINGS 
 FOUND IN WESTERN EUROPE. (For details see List of Illustrations.) 
 
 P
 
 ROCK-SCULPTURING. 2 19 
 
 in depth. They occur sometimes singly, but generally in 
 groups often forming the only ornament on a stone and 
 occasionally in combination with some of the other forms 
 above defined. Simple cups have a wide distribution in 
 Western Europe, comprising Portugal, the British Isles, Den- 
 mark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France. On 
 the same stone they may be seen in different sizes scattered 
 irregularly over its surface, or in groups of threes and fours. 
 Rings are not so deeply cut as cups, and they may be either 
 complete circles or interrupted by grooves running from the 
 centre cup to a distance beyond the outer circle. The radial 
 grooves, or gutter-channels, are found occasionally to end in 
 cups belonging to adjacent groups of cup-and-rings. It is 
 noteworthy that the cup-and-ring with gutter- channels has 
 not been found outside the British Isles. Both cup-and-rings 
 and concentric circles have also a much more limited area 
 of distribution than the simple cup, being, with one or two 
 exceptions, limited to Sweden, Great Britain, and Ireland. 
 The distribution of spirals, which is remarkable in many 
 ways, has lately attracted much attention throughout Europe. 
 The great development of this ornament in Mycenae is now 
 generally accepted by archaeologists as the result of direct 
 intercourse between Egypt and the shores and islands of 
 the ^Egean Sea, during the eighteenth dynasty (1580-1320 
 B.C.) From these regions there is reason to suppose that 
 it spread into Europe by the Danube route. That this was 
 the route by which the spiral ornament was introduced into 
 Bavaria, North Germany, and Scandinavia, is proved by the 
 fact that it is non-existent as an ornament on the bronze 
 remains of North Italy, France, and Britain. Mr Coffey 
 (loc. cit.} has recently advanced the theory that the spiral was 
 copied in Ireland from bronze implements introduced into 
 that country from Scandinavia, in consequence of commercial
 
 220 
 
 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 intercourse between the two countries, and that Ireland was 
 the centre from which this ornament spread into the adjacent 
 coasts of England and Scotland. He also adopts the theory, 
 advocated by Montelius and others, that concentric circles are 
 
 Fig. 137. Stone with spirals at the entrance to the Great Cairn, New Grange, 
 Ireland, (From a photograph by R, Welch,) 
 
 debased spirals, and that, consequently, in countries where 
 both spirals and concentric circles exist together, the latter 
 are chronologically later than the former. 
 
 At New Grange beautiful spirals are to be seen both out-
 
 SPIRALS. 
 
 221 
 
 side, as on the stone immediately below the entrance passage 
 to the chamber (fig. 137), and inside; but there are no con- 
 centric circles, or cups with spiral gutters. On the other hand, 
 at Dowth and Loughcrew all these forms are common. From 
 this, and other suggestive considerations, Mr CorTey thinks 
 that the simple cup is the oldest symbol ; next comes the 
 spiral, which, by a process of degeneration, gives place to the 
 concentric circles and cup-and-rings, with or without gutter- 
 channels. But, however much of truth may be in these 
 opinions, we have satisfactory evidence to show that the spiral 
 
 Fig. 138. Cover-stone of a cist at Coilsfield, Ayrshire (about 5 feet in length). 
 
 was used in Scotland during the Bronze Age as an ornament 
 on sepulchral slabs. It was found at Coilsfield, Ayrshire, on 
 the cover-stone of a cist which contained portion of a cinerary 
 urn 1 (fig. 138). Another cist with a cover, having its under- 
 side decorated in the same way as the one at Coilsfield, was 
 exposed in the course of constructing a road which leads to 
 Queensferry through the Craigiehall estate. 2 A slab from a 
 cist in Carnban, near the Crinan Canal, though not a cover- 
 stone, had five concentric lozenge -shaped sculptures. 3 In 
 1871 a cist near the village of Carnwath, Lanarkshire, was 
 
 1 Wilson's Prehistoric Annals, vol. i. p. 480. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 482. 8 Simpson, loc. a'/., p. 29, PI. xiii.
 
 222 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 discovered, which contained an ornamental urn of the drink- 
 ing-cup type, and which had the underside of its covering 
 
 Fig. 139. Cover of stone of cist at Carnwath (4/eet 3 inches long). 
 
 stone decorated with three groups of concentric circles and 
 two triangular markings 1 (fig. 139). Finally, in 1894, near 
 
 Fig. 140. Sculptured stone at Monzie Castle, Perthshire (6 feet 8 inches long). 
 
 or on the site of a stone circle in the vicinity of Tillicoultry 
 the stones having been removed for draining purposes 
 some forty years previously a cist covered with a large stone 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. x. p. 62.
 
 CONCENTRIC CIRCLES AND SPIRALS. 
 
 223 
 
 was discovered which contained an urn of the food-vessel 
 type with pierced ears. The sides and surface of this cover- 
 
 Fig. 141. Stone in Knockmany Cairn, Co, Tyrone, Ireland (^% feet above 
 ground). (From a photograph by R. Welch.') 
 
 stone were observed to have been sculptured with a series 
 of concentric circles, spirals, and lines. 1 
 
 A stone close to a small stone circle within the grounds of 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxix. p. 193.
 
 224 BRONZE AGE. 
 
 Monzie Castle, Perthshire, shows a number of circles and 
 cups. It is a whinstone boulder presenting a tolerably 
 smooth surface sloping a little to one side. It measures 
 6 feet 8 inches in length and 5 feet in breadth ; and the 
 largest group measures 12 inches across, while its central 
 cup is 3 inches in diameter. The following sketch (fig. 140), 
 
 Fig. 142. Cup-marked rock surface at High Banks, Kirkcudbrightshire. 
 
 taken on September 23, 1891, gives a general idea of the 
 size and arrangements of the other markings. 1 
 
 Fig. 141 represents a photographic view of cup-and-rings, 
 &c., on one of the stones of the ruined chamber in the de- 
 molished cairn of Knockmany, Co. Tyrone, recently described 
 by Mr George Coffey. 2 
 
 Cup-and-ring markings are often observed on exposed rock- 
 
 1 For a list of the cup-marked stones of Scotland see the appendix to a 
 paper by Mr Romilly Allen on " Some undescribed Stones with Cup- 
 markings in Scotland " in ' Proc. of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 
 land,' February 13, 1882. 
 
 2 Journ. R. Soc. Antiq. of Ireland, 1898, p. 93.
 
 CUP-AND-RING MARKINGS. 
 
 225 
 
 surfaces, such as those at Carnban, Auchenbreach, &c., in the 
 valley of the Crinan Canal, illustrated by Sir James Simpson 
 (loc. tit., plates xxi., xxii., and xxiii.) Since the publication of 
 this author's well-known monograph on the subject some curi- 
 ous examples have been described by Mr George Hamilton. 1 
 
 Fig. 143. Cup-marked rock surface at High Banks, Kirkcudbrightshire. 
 
 They were discovered on the top of a glaciated knoll at High 
 Banks, Kirkcudbrightshire, and having been for a long time 
 protected by a natural covering of turf, they are unusually 
 well preserved. Two of these groups are shown on figures 
 142 and 143. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxiii. p. 125.
 
 226 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL PHENOMENA OF THE EARLY IRON AGE 
 
 LATE CELTIC PERIOD. 
 
 HE advantages of substituting iron for 
 bronze in cutting implements would 
 not be so apparent to people long 
 conversant with the multifarious bronze 
 objects already in use, as to induce 
 them to make such an innovation per 
 saltnm. Although, in the metallic state, iron is rarely found 
 naturally, it must have been sufficiently common, as meteoric 
 iron, to have attracted the attention of the Stone Age people 
 who, from long practice, had an observant eye for all natural 
 products, had they recognised in it properties superior to 
 those of their ordinary stone materials. But, even should 
 they have failed to discover the utilitarian value of meteoric 
 iron, it is not likely that their successors, when they became 
 skilled in the manufacture of bronze involving the reduction 
 of copper and tin ores would remain ignorant of the method 
 of smelting iron from some of its more common ores, such as 
 bog ore and hrematite, both being readily recognised and 
 widely distributed. Some archaeologists, on these general 
 grounds, maintain that iron was among the earliest known
 
 ANTIQUITY OF IRON. 22/ 
 
 of the metals, although for various reasons it was the latest 
 to come into general use. According to the late M. G. de 
 Mortillet, 1 iron was first discovered by some of the savage 
 tribes in Africa, probably, as he suggests, from such an inci- 
 dent as a polished axe of haematite (a natural form of the 
 ore abundant in Africa) having fallen into the fire a degree 
 of heat which would be sufficient to disclose its metallic 
 basis. The same authority states his belief that the metal 
 was known in Egypt some 7000 years ago; nay more, that it 
 was with steel implements that the beautiful Egyptian statues 
 of syenite and porphyry had been sculptured. He also holds 
 to the frequently expressed opinion that bronze and iron (or 
 steel) are represented on the wall-paintings of the Egyptian 
 tombs by the colours red and blue ; that the name baa, by 
 which iron is designated, occurs in the most ancient inscrip- 
 tions ; and that the actual metal has been found in the 
 pyramids of the earliest dynasties. He agrees with M. 
 Chabas and others in ascribing the restricted use of iron, 
 in Egypt, to religious motives. 
 
 Bronze was, at all times, an expensive material, owing to the 
 rarity of its ores, and the delay and difficulty of transporting it 
 from foreign lands. During the initiatory stages of the com- 
 petition between iron and bronze it is probable that the result 
 of the struggle would depend on the comparative expense 
 in the production of the respective metals, the former, in 
 the first instance, being possibly the dearer of the two. It 
 cannot, however, be supposed that, in face of the abundance 
 and wide distribution of iron ores, the economic problem 
 would long stand in the way had there been no other diffi- 
 culty to be surmounted. It seems to me that the real hind- 
 rance to the adoption of iron in the manufacture of cutting 
 implements was the softness of the metal itself, as, until the 
 1 Formation de la Nation Fransaise, 1897, p. 260.
 
 228 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 method of tempering it, by suddenly plunging it when heated 
 into cold water, became known, implements and weapons 
 made of it would be actually inferior to those of bronze. 
 Polybius (book ii. c. 33) incidentally records a striking in- 
 stance of the comparative uselessness of untempered blades. 
 In describing the victory of Flaminius over the Insubres 
 inhabiting Cisalpine Gaul (B.C. 224) he thus writes: "The 
 Romans are thought to have shown uncommon skill in this 
 battle ; the Tribunes instructing the troops how they were to 
 conduct themselves both collectively and individually. They 
 had learned from former engagements that Gallic tribes were 
 always most formidable at the first onslaught, before their 
 courage was at all damped by a check ; and that the swords 
 with which they were furnished, as I have mentioned before, 
 could only give one downward cut with any effect, but that 
 after this the edges got so turned and the blade so bent, that 
 unless they had time to straighten them with their foot 
 against the ground, they could not deliver a second blow. 
 The Tribunes accordingly gave out the spears of the Triarii, 
 who are the last of the three ranks, to the first ranks, or 
 Hastati ; and ordering the men to use their swords only, 
 after their spears were done with, they charged the Celts 
 full in front. When the Celts had rendered their swords 
 useless by the first blows delivered on the spears, the Romans 
 closed with them, and rendered them quite helpless, by pre- 
 venting them from raising their hands to strike with their 
 swords, which is their peculiar and only stroke, because their 
 blade has no point. The Romans, on the contrary, having 
 excellent points to their swords, used them not to cut but 
 to thrust; and by thus repeatedly hitting the breasts and 
 faces of the enemy, they eventually killed the greater number 
 of them." i 
 
 1 Translation by E. S. Shuckburgh.
 
 ANTIQUITY OF IRON. 22Q 
 
 Those who deny the existence of a Bronze Age as distinct 
 from that of Iron, are in the habit of accounting for the 
 entire absence of iron relics in graves and early habitations 
 by the theory that they have disappeared in consequence 
 of the natural law of decomposition it being well known 
 that iron is more liable to oxidation than copper or bronze. 
 But this is not an adequate explanation of the facts, as there 
 are many natural conditions in which iron may for a long 
 time resist atmospheric action. It is difficult to believe 
 that steel implements, in such a dry climate as that of Egypt, 
 could have been in use from the earliest times without having 
 left some traces of their existence. Professor Flinders Petrie 
 exhibited at the Loan Collection of the British Association 
 at Liverpool, in 1896, an interesting set of iron tools, in- 
 cluding files and saws, which had been found in Egypt. 
 They were catalogued as belonging to the seventh century 
 B.C. ; but it was added that they were of Assyrian origin, as 
 such tools were quite unknown in Egypt till later times. 
 
 Professor Rolleston, while advocating the view that the con- 
 tents of the British barrows clearly prove the priority of 
 bronze relics to those of iron, thus notices the oxidation 
 theory : " It will be said by some in answer to this that 
 iron is oxidi sable and perishable in an eminent degree, and 
 that it would disappear, whilst the bronze would remain 
 This suggestion I will not characterise as one of the study 
 as opposed to one of the Barrow, but as one of the labora- 
 tory, and the laboratory with its strong reagents supports it 
 in a way that the slow and weak or wholly inert chemistry 
 of the deep sand, or rubble, or gravel-filled grave does not. 
 Of course, if you conceive a stream of water, acidulated even 
 slightly with nitric acid, to pass constantly over an iron spear- 
 head, there is no difficulty in estimating the time which will 
 be necessary for the entire disappearance of an implement so
 
 230 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 tested. But no such agent is available in many, I might 
 say most, Bronze Period graves. In some such graves you 
 may find the objects they contain encrusted with a deposit 
 of carbonate of lime, which would have protected an iron 
 weapon of the Bronze Period if there had been any to pro- 
 tect; or you may find, as I am happy often to have seen, 
 the bones in a capital state of preservation, and contrasting 
 to great advantage with the corroded and " perished " bones 
 of Saxons, whose iron weapons were, nevertheless, very 
 present with them ; or the grave itself may contain a con- 
 siderable quantity of free carbonic acid, as other sunk wells 
 do, and yet may be so dry from conditions of superjacent 
 and subjacent rubble and soil as to have afforded no means 
 for the removal of any results of any slight erosion which 
 its contents might have suffered. The phenomena disclosed 
 by the spade must be compared with those disclosed by 
 the test-tube; and there is here a makro as well as a 
 mikro chemistry." 1 
 
 Mr Engelhardt, in his work on the remarkable hoards of 
 the Early Iron Age found at Thorsbjerg and Nydam, in 
 south Jutland, makes the following remarks on the differ- 
 ence between these two peat-bogs as regards their corrosive 
 action on iron : " Iron is almost entirely consumed by the 
 water of this peat-bog [Thorsbjerg moss]. In many places 
 vestiges of corroded iron were seen in the black peat, indi- 
 cating that iron articles had been thrown in along with 
 the others, but only very small fragments of iron objects 
 had been preserved, and these were almost exclusively found 
 in the upper layer, about a foot above the other remains. 
 It is fortunate that the tannic acid of the Nydam moss has 
 not this corrosive quality in the same degree as that of the 
 
 1 Trans, of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch. Soc., 1878 ; Reprint, 
 p. 5.
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 231 
 
 Thorsbjerg moss. Numbers of iron weapons and implements 
 of about the same period have been preserved in Nydam, 
 and this deposit, in connection with that of Thorsbjerg, 
 presents a vivid picture of the civilisation of the Early Iron 
 period, in so far as it may be inferred from the remains of 
 dress, weapons, household utensils, horse furniture, and ship- 
 building." l 
 
 Dr Schliemann also very pointedly directs attention to the 
 total absence of iron remains in the prehistoric cities of Troy, 
 while relics of copper and bronze were abundantly present. 
 " Nothing," he writes, " could better testify to the great an- 
 tiquity of the prehistoric ruins at Hissarlik and at Mycenae, 
 than the total absence of iron. It is true that Hesiod dis- 
 tinctly states that iron was discovered later than copper and 
 tin, for, in speaking of the peoples who were ancient even in 
 his day, he says that they used bronze, and not iron. But 
 still, in order to show how old the knowledge of iron and 
 steel was, he represents Gaea as making a sickle for Kronos 
 of greyish glittering steel, and he gives to Herakles, besides 
 armour of gold and greaves of bronze, a sword of iron and 
 a helmet of steel." 2 
 
 We may therefore safely conclude that, had iron been in 
 use to any great extent contemporaneously with the imple- 
 ments and weapons generally recognised as characteristic of 
 the Bronze Age in Europe, we would, by this time, have 
 found some archaeological evidence of the fact. But there 
 appears to be none. Whatever may have been the causes 
 which kept this useful metal so long in the background, there 
 are indications that, on its first introduction into Europe, it 
 was a scarce commodity, as we find it used in small encrusted 
 bands to decorate bronze objects. It was thus occasionally 
 used among the Swiss lake-dwellers at the stations of Moer- 
 1 Denmark in the Early Iron Age, pp. 25, 26. a Ilios, p. 252.
 
 232 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 ingen, Cortaillod, Auvernier, and Corcelettes, to ornament 
 bronze swords and bracelets. 1 From these considerations it 
 is evident that the mere knowledge of iron as a metal is not 
 to be regarded as synonymous with its general introduction 
 into the arts and industry of human civilisation. 
 
 The evolutionary stages through which the iron industry 
 has passed, in its struggle for the mastery over bronze, may be 
 regarded as only distantly connected with Scottish archaeology, 
 as there is ample evidence to show that a fully developed 
 Iron Age obtained in Central Europe, long before the metal 
 was utilised in the British Isles and other parts of north- 
 western Europe. But although these metallurgical changes 
 were perfected outside the archaeological area with which we 
 are here specially concerned, it is incumbent on us to show 
 whence these finished products of the Iron Age, or the skill 
 which produced them, reached our shores. 
 
 The culture elements industrial and warlike to which 
 one gets familiarised by a study of the archaeological remains 
 found at Hallstatt and La Tene, are the greatest landmarks in 
 the history of early European civilisation. They radiated 
 around these centres in successive waves from about the 
 eighth to the second century B.C., and their influence 
 ultimately became felt throughout the largest portion of 
 Europe. La Tene civilisation, being a later development 
 and geographically nearer to Britain, naturally affected the 
 social organisation of the inhabitants of the British Isles more 
 deeply than that of Hallstatt ; but, however widely apart its 
 products may 'be found, whether in Illyricum or in Ireland, 
 they disclose a remarkable similarity, apparently due to unity 
 of origin. The repeated intrusion of the Gauls into the valley 
 of the Po, some centuries before the Christian era, is attested 
 
 1 For illustrations of some of these objects see ' Lake-Dwellings of 
 Europe,' figs. 186, No. 6, and 188, No. 6.
 
 HALLSTATT AND LA TfcNE. 233 
 
 on the most explicit historical and traditional statements, but 
 had history been altogether silent on these warlike episodes 
 of the people who used La Tene weapons and armour, the 
 archaeological evidence alone would have been sufficient to 
 establish their truth. 
 
 As the result of repeated peregrinations on the trail of the 
 Iron Age in Europe, I have come to the conclusion that the 
 introduction of iron into the British Isles was due to the 
 continuance westwards of the advanced culture elements 
 which successively flourished at Hallstatt and La Tene. To 
 epitomise the evidence on which this opinion could be 
 satisfactorily substantiated would necessitate a deviation into 
 a wide field, involving not only a considerable amount of 
 writing but also a large number of illustrations. Had there 
 been space, a short account of the civilisation and social 
 conditions which flourished respectively at these two centres 
 of the early development of the iron industry would be 
 pertinent to the object and scope of this book, and all the 
 more so as there is no work in the English language which 
 deals with the subject. Nor, indeed, with the exception of 
 one or two special monographs on the Oppidum La Tene 
 and the cemetery of Hallstatt, is there any Continental work, 
 known to me, which gives a general description of these two 
 civilisations, and their relation to each other ; nor of the 
 archaeological remains found on the wider areas to which 
 objects analogous to those of Hallstatt and La Tene ex- 
 tended. The works of MM. Bertrand and Reinach, 1 Dr 
 Hoernes, 2 and Dr Undset 3 may, however, be read with 
 advantage on this subject. 
 
 1 Les Celtes dans les Vallees du P6 et du Danube. 
 
 2 Urgeschichte der Bildenden Kunst in Europa. 
 
 3 Erstes Auftreten des Eisens in Nord-Europa.
 
 234 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 LATE CELTIC PERIOD IN BRITAIN. 
 
 We now come to the investigation of the early Iron Age in 
 Britain, for it is not yet possible to eliminate Scotland from 
 the wider area. The effect of the foreign influences emanating 
 from Central Europe on the civilisation of these " barbarians 
 in the ocean " was to develop a new school of art, which, 
 though retaining the primary features of its Continental proto- 
 types, presented so many deviations, both in design and execu- 
 tion, that it is now regarded as a third and final stage in the 
 evolution of the Celtic art of Europe. Among the first to 
 clearly define this remarkable group of antiquities in Britain 
 was the late Sir A. W. Franks, who, as one of the editors of 
 Kemble's ' Hora? Ferales,' named it " Late Celtic " an 
 expression which has since become common in archaeological 
 literature. His description of the principal objects in that 
 group, so far as they were then known to him, is prefaced by 
 the following remarks : 
 
 " In the peculiar class of antiquities now to be considered, 
 the British Islands stand unrivalled ; a few ancient objects, 
 analogous in design, may be found in various parts of the 
 Continent, and more extended researches in local museums 
 may bring many others to light, but the foreign contributions 
 to this section are scanty when compared with those of our 
 own country. 
 
 " The antiquities under consideration consist of shields, 
 swords, and daggers, horse-furniture, personal ornaments, and 
 a number of miscellaneous objects, some of iron, some of 
 bronze, and frequently decorated with enamel. All these 
 antiquities exhibit a style of decoration remarkable for its 
 peculiar and varied forms, and testify to extraordinary skill in 
 working metals." 1 
 
 1 Horse Ferales, p. 172.
 
 ORIGIN OF LATE CELTIC ART. 235 
 
 On finishing his descriptive details of the objects in 
 question the more perfect and highly decorated being 
 delineated on seven plates of beautiful illustrations he pro- 
 ceeds to show that their original owners could be no others 
 than the Celts. By a process of analytical elimination he 
 rejects the claims of the Romans, Saxons, and Danes, to be 
 regarded as the owners and founders of this unique style of 
 art. " We have, therefore," he writes, " only the Celtic races, 
 or some branch of these races, to fall back upon. Moreover, 
 the only designs at all similar, of which the origin is certain, 
 are to be found in early Irish manuscripts ; though there 
 intermingled with patterns of a very different kind, and 
 derived probably from a different country. For if we examine 
 carefully the illuminations of Irish MSS., we shall observe 
 that the designs are of two kinds : one composed of the 
 singular wavy or trumpet patterns which occur also on these 
 bronzes, but which, in the hands of the illuminator, become 
 still more intricate and singular ; the other exhibiting inter- 
 laced patterns of great variety both as to form and as to 
 their component parts. The interlacings may possibly have 
 been introduced with the Christian religion ; in a simpler 
 form we find them in Anglo-Saxon designs, and even occa- 
 sionally in the later Roman mosaic pavements. They are 
 seldom, however, combined with the wavy pattern in England, 
 and then generally in the North of England, or in those 
 places where the influence of the Scott or Irish monks 
 prevailed ; we may name as an instance, the famous Gospel 
 of St Cuthbert. Another peculiarity worthy of remark is the 
 greater frequency of the trumpet patterns in the earlier MSS., 
 and the gradual superseding of them by the interlaced patterns 
 in the later MSS. and works of art." l 
 
 In briefly noticing some of the Late Celtic remains found 
 1 Horae Ferales, p. 184.
 
 236 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 within the British Isles, I shall first deal with the more 
 isolated examples, with regard to which the circumstances 
 of the discovery count for little, their archaeological value 
 being determined by some special features in their manu- 
 facture or style of ornamentation. Afterwards some of the 
 more important objects found in association with collateral 
 remains, such as the contents of graves, camps, hoards, &c., 
 will be considered. As most of the Late Celtic remains 
 described in ' Hone Ferales ' belong to the former category, 
 it will be convenient to follow, as far as possible, the order 
 of classification adopted in that work. 
 
 Shields. Two entire shields and portions of six others 
 are described in ' Horae Ferales.' One of the entire speci- 
 mens was found in the river Witham, and the other in the 
 Thames. They are both oval or oblong in shape, and dec- 
 orated with raised designs of Late Celtic character. The 
 boss of the former contains five studs of red coral, and its 
 surface is clearly defined with the stained space on which 
 the figure of an " exaggerated " boar, with very long legs, had 
 been riveted. The second is also ornamented with several 
 groups of studs of red enamel. Some idea of the style of 
 art and perfection of the workmanship on these shields may 
 be gained from the accompanying pencil sketch of the speci- 
 men from the river Thames (PI. V.) Of the other frag- 
 mentary portions two bosses are also from the Thames, 
 three from Polden Hill (p. 247), and one from a barrow 
 in Yorkshire. " These," writes Sir W. Franks, " are the only 
 remains of shields of the kind with which I am acquainted. 
 It will be seen that they have not been found out of England ; 
 their form seems to have been oval, and they varied in length 
 from 3 feet 9 inches to 2 feet 6 inches." 
 
 Every one interested in this class of antiquities should 
 find an opportunity of inspecting these very remarkable re-
 
 PLATE V. BRONZE SHIELD FOUND IN BED OF THAMES. 
 British Museum (length 2 feet (>% inches).
 
 SHIELDS. 237 
 
 mains, now preserved in the British Museum ; or at least 
 the coloured illustrations of them in ' Horas Ferales,' pi. 
 xiv.-xvi. 
 
 I may observe that the shields represented on the Gundes- 
 trup silver vase l are oblong, while those on the bronze situlse 
 found in the Illyrico-Venetic province are either round, oval, 
 or oblong. Various portions of shields have been found in 
 Oppidum La Tene, including handles, bosses, and circular 
 ornaments, generally of bronze, but sometimes of iron, which 
 were fastened on the wooden framework of the shield. 2 
 
 Helmets. No British helmet earlier than Roman times 
 was known to Sir W. Franks when he wrote his notes in 
 1863, and only one or two German specimens. He refers 
 to one remarkable specimen, found in an ancient channel 
 of the Seine, and figures a number from Greece and Italy. 
 Since then, however, our knowledge of pre-Roman helmets 
 in Europe has greatly increased. They have been found 
 in Gaulish tumuli, in the cemeteries of Hallstatt, Watsch, 
 Ambras, and other localities in the Illyrico-Venetic archaeo- 
 logical area. A very remarkable helmet, found in a tomb at 
 St Margarethen, was made of a kind of basket-work, over 
 which there was a leathern covering. Outside the cap thus 
 formed there were fastened six circular discs of bronze, sur- 
 rounding a larger central disc which formed the summit, 
 and from the middle of which an iron spike projected. It 
 is now surmised that similar discs, many of which were 
 formerly regarded as shield ornaments, were really parts of 
 helmets of the same type as that at St Margarethen. A 
 helmet of a decidedly Grecian character was found in one 
 of the tumuli of Glasinac. 3 
 
 1 See Sophus Miiller : Nordiske Fortidsminder, 2 Hefte. 
 
 2 See group fig. 89 of the ' Lake-Dwellings of Europe.' 
 
 3 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, &c., fig. 36.
 
 238 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 Some of the warriors figured on the famous situlae from 
 Bologna, Watsch, &c., wear helmets. One scene represents 
 two pugilists with a crested helmet between them, apparently 
 the prize contested for. Actual specimens of these helmets 
 have been found without a crest, and others with one or two 
 crests. It may also be mentioned that the helmets on the 
 mounted figures on the Gundestrup vase are ornamented by 
 various devices, probably badges, such as a crescent, two 
 horns, a boar, and a bird. The officer in command of the 
 infantry has also a helmet crowned with the figure of a boar. 
 
 Two fragmentary portions of bronze found on Scottish soil, 
 which are justly regarded as parts of helmets, have a close 
 resemblance to those horned and boar-headed helmets figured 
 on the Gundestrup vase. They are described by Dr J. 
 Alexander Smith in one of those exhaustive monographs by 
 which he has so greatly enriched Scottish archaeology. 1 
 One of these objects (fig. 144) was found, about the year 
 1820, in a morass, on the farm of Torrs, in the parish of 
 Kelton, Kirkcudbrightshire, and, having passed into the pos- 
 session of Sir Walter Scott, is still preserved at Abbotsford. 
 It is made of thin beaten bronze like a mask, with eye-holes 
 an inch in diameter, and two curved hollow horns rising from 
 between them. The ornamentation on the body is in re- 
 pousst, in the form of divergent spirals ending in volutes, &c., 
 all highly characteristic of Late Celtic work. The horns are 
 also ornamented with " a continuous series of corresponding 
 curvilinear lines and scrolls of finer character, the patterns 
 being less prominent, and formed rather by their outline 
 being depressed or indented in the metal." 
 
 The other analogous relic, which takes the shape of a boar's 
 head, was found, at a depth of 6 feet, in mossy ground resting 
 on the underlying clay, at Liechestown in the parish of Desk- 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 334.
 
 HELMETS. 
 
 239 
 
 ford, Banffshire. It was discovered about the year 1816, 
 and is now preserved in the Banff Museum. Though not 
 so elaborately decorated as the former, it is clearly of the 
 
 Fig. 144. Bronze with horns found at Torrs, Kirkcudbrightshire 
 (i6K inches in greatest length). 
 
 same style of work, and probably of the same period. Dr 
 Joseph Anderson illustrates his account of these objects in 
 his Rhind lectures by a woodcut of a bronze plaque, found 
 in Oland, representing two warriors with remarkably similar
 
 240 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 helmets. This plaque is one of four, with similar quaint 
 figures, found in a cairn, and classified by Montelius as be- 
 longing to the third period of the Iron Age i.e., seventh to 
 eleventh centuries. 1 
 
 Mr Llewellynn Jewitt describes 2 a remarkable grave at 
 Barlaston, in Staffordshire, in which were a number of enam- 
 elled discs which he believed to have been portions of a 
 helmet. Although this grave was regarded by the author as 
 Anglo-Saxon, the ornamentation on some of the objects is 
 so pronounced that there can be little doubt that it is Late 
 Celtic work. The grave, which was 7 feet long by 2 feet 
 wide, was partly cut out of the solid stone, and contained a 
 basin-like cavity for the helmeted head. It was in this 
 hollow that the relics now in question were found. "The 
 fragments in the cavity," writes Mr Jewett, "consisted of 
 several pieces of curved bronze, highly ornamented, which 
 had probably, with other plain curved pieces, formed the 
 framework of the helmet ; some thin plates of bronze ; a flat 
 f ring of bronze, beautifully ornamented (fig. 434), which is 
 conjectured to have been the top of the framework of the 
 helmet ; and three enamelled discs of a similar character to 
 what have been elsewhere found, with hooks for suspension 
 or attachment to leather or other substance. One of these 
 is engraved,- of its real size (fig. 435). The centre is of 
 enamel mosaic work, ground down level with the metal, as 
 in the old Chinese enamels." Similar relics (figs. 436, 437) 
 were not unfrequently met with in other localities, as for in- 
 stance in a barrow on Middleton Moor, Derbyshire, where 
 they were associated with the iron umbo of a shield, and a 
 thin vessel of bronze, which probably, according to Mr Jewett, 
 formed portion of a helmet. 3 
 
 1 Antiquites Suedoises, p. 150. 
 - Grave-Mounds, p. 258. * Ibid., p. 261.
 
 SWORDS. 241 
 
 Swords. Some twenty iron swords with bronze sheaths, 
 or the bronze sheaths without the swords, are recorded in 
 ' Horae Ferales ' as having been found in widely separated 
 districts in Britain ; also about an equal number of La Tene 
 types, which are introduced for the purpose of comparison. 
 The same author, writing in iSSo, 1 states that to his know- 
 ledge the geographical distribution of these swords or their 
 sheaths in England was as follows : Bed of the Thames, 8 ; 
 Yorkshire, 5 ; Lincolnshire, 4 ; Dorsetshire, 2, besides frag- 
 ments ; Hertfordshire, Cumberland, and Lancashire, i each. 
 Since then a few more specimens have come to light, notably 
 two in Hunsbury Camp, near Northampton (fig. 145), one in 
 Ayrshire (fig. 146), and four in the bog of Lisnacroghera in 
 Ireland (fig. 147). The Hunsbury Camp and its relics will be 
 described later on, but meantime the more perfect of the 
 sword-sheaths may be noticed, as it is one of the most typical 
 of the class yet known. It has already been figured and de- 
 scribed by Sir Henry Dryden, 2 along with the other remains 
 found in the camp, and also by Mr C. H. Read. 3 "This, 
 beautiful specimen," writes Mr Read, "is formed of a thin 
 bronze plate on one face, the other face being open, and pro- 
 vided only with transverse ornamented plates ; the edge is of 
 the usual character that is, a rounded recurved plate, the two 
 edges of which clasp the plates forming the face and back of 
 the sheath. The end of the sheath is of thicker metal, and of 
 the usual heart-shaped form which characterises other sheaths 
 of the same period. Towards the lower part, 8 inches from 
 the point, is a pair of ornamental bosses formed of curves and 
 circles, resembling birds' heads. At the back of this part is 
 an engraved plate with scrolls and circles, and two lower 
 
 1 Arch?eologia, vol. 45, pp. 251-266. 
 
 8 Associated Architectural Societies' Reports, vol. xviii. 
 
 3 Archreologia, vol. 52, p. 762.
 
 242 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 bands, also engraved, which do not correspond with anything 
 on the front. The upper end of the front of the sheath has 
 an elegant pattern of scrolls and circles of the usual I .ate 
 
 Fig. 145. Bronte sword-sheath found at Hunsbury Camp, Northampton (). 
 
 Celtic type, very like the engraved ornaments on the bronze 
 mirror from St Keverne, in Cornwall. 1 As a type, it is quite 
 characteristic of Late Celtic work, and in no part has it any 
 
 1 See fig. 1 74, p. 266.
 
 SWORD-SHEATHS. 
 
 243 
 
 resemblance to, or connection with, the production of Saxon 
 times, as has been suggested." 
 
 The Ayrshire specimen (fig. 146) was found many years 
 ago in the course of draining, near Bargany House on the 
 banks of the river Girvan, and presented to the Museum of 
 St Andrews. Here I saw it in 1893, an< 3 subsequently con- 
 
 Fig. 146. Bronze sivord- sheath found in Ayrshire (^). 
 
 tributed a description of it to the ' Archaeological Collections 
 of Ayrshire and Galloway' (vol. vii. p. 48, pi. i.) Although 
 not decorated on its surface with the characteristic scrolls of 
 spiral and curved spaces, like most others of its kind, it bears 
 in all its structural details unmistakable evidence of belonging 
 to the same class of work. It has an elegant form, slightly
 
 244 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 \f. 
 
 tapering towards the point, and measures 24 inches in length 
 by \y inch in breadth. It is made of two plates of bronze, 
 one sufficiently large to be bent round at the margins so as to 
 
 overlap the other. The 
 plates were then riveted 
 and soldered together. 
 The point is strengthened 
 by a stout chape, from 
 which a marginal mould- 
 ing runs for several inches 
 on both edges, and from 
 which again an ornamental 
 band extends across the 
 body of the sheath. 
 
 The only other speci- 
 men of Late Celtic sword- 
 sheaths found in Scotland, 
 known to me, is that in 
 the National Museum in 
 Edinburgh (fig. 148). 
 There is no history of the 
 circumstances in which 
 this sheath was discovered, 
 beyond an inscribed label 
 to the effect that it was 
 found on the Mortonhall 
 estate, at the foot of the 
 Pentland Hills. It meas- 
 ures 23^ inches in length by i ^ inch in breadth, and, 
 according to Dr Joseph Anderson, " is formed of thin beaten 
 bronze; the ornamental cup-shaped expansions at the lower 
 end are solid castings, and the ornamental strap carrying 
 the loop in front is fastened on with pins. The back of 
 
 ' 
 
 ^ 
 w 
 
 Fig. 147. Bronze sword-sheath found in 
 the bog of Lisnacroghera, Ireland ( J).
 
 SWORD-SHEATHS. 
 
 the sheath is a thin slip of bronze sliding 
 in grooves in the inner margins of the two 
 sides." ! 
 
 Another bronze sheath of this type was 
 found by fishermen in the river Tweed, near 
 the village of Carham, now preserved in the 
 collection of Canon Greenwell. It is 21 
 inches long and i ^ inch broad. " It con- 
 sists of the front of the sheath with a raised 
 line in the centre, terminating in a triangle 
 and with a solid end ; of the back only the 
 lower part remains, the rest having been 
 probably made of leather." 2 
 
 A very fine iron sword, still in its bronze 
 sheath, was found, in 1868, in a barrow 
 at Grimthorpe, associated with the bronze 
 mountings of a wooden shield and a small 
 disc decorated with raised trumpet-shaped 
 ornaments all of Late Celtic work. 3 Near 
 the same locality, at a place called Bugthorpe, 
 a body was discovered with which an iron 
 sword in a bronze sheath and an enamelled 
 bronze brooch were associated. 4 
 
 For additional illustrations of these sword- 
 sheaths in England, I would refer my readers 
 to ' Horae Ferales ' ; ' Collectanea Antiqua ' 
 (vol. iii. pi. xvi., and vol. iv. pi. xxxiii.) ; 
 and ' Catalogue of Antiquities in Alnwick 
 Castle.' 
 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 120. 
 
 2 Archseologia, vol. 45, p. 256, pi. xvi. 
 
 3 Reliquary, vol. ix. p. 1 80 ; and Grave-Mounds, 
 pp. 238, 245, and 263 
 
 4 British Barrows, p. O o.
 
 246 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 
 Daggers. Of six specimens of iron daggers with bronze 
 sheaths described by Sir W. Franks, five were found in the 
 Thames and one in the Witham. This latter (fig. 149), one 
 of two which still retained their bronze handles, is remark- 
 able for the two horn-like projec- 
 tions on its hilt. Weapons with 
 this type of handle have been 
 found at Hallstatt and several 
 places throughout Europe, ex- 
 tending in a narrow band from 
 Bologna to the Pyrenees, but 
 reaching northwards only to the 
 southern limits of Belgic Gaul. 
 MM. Bertrand and Reinach l 
 enumerate no less than twenty- 
 five localities within this area, 
 chiefly graves after incineration, 
 which have yielded one or more 
 specimens. According to these 
 eminent authorities, the horned 
 weapons (/pies a antennes) are 
 products of the proto - Celtic 
 stratum which, chronologically, 
 lies between the earlier megalithic 
 chambers and the later Gaulish 
 Fig. 149. iron dagger with tumuli both these, be it observed, 
 ^o,,ze sheath found in the b{ characterised by burials after 
 
 river Witham (J). ' 
 
 the rites of inhumation. Their 
 
 bronze sheaths were constructed and ornamented after the 
 fashion of those of the short swords of the period, with 
 which the larger specimens are sometimes confounded. 
 One of the sheaths from the Thames, figured in ' Horae 
 1 Op. tit., p. 68.
 
 HORSE-TRAPPINGS. 247 
 
 Ferales ' (pi. xviii. fig. 3), and in the ' Archaeological Journal ' 
 (vol. x. p. 259), has a strong resemblance to another found 
 in the Thames, and figured in 'Archaeologia' (vol. 54, p. 497). 
 
 Horse-trappings. The mountings of horse-harness, rings, 
 bridle-bits, &c., are of much importance in illustrating the 
 Late Celtic culture of Britain, more especially the art of 
 enamelling, which is known historically to have been prac- 
 tised by the Celts of Western Europe. But as it would 
 greatly exceed my limits to give a detailed rhume of the 
 numerous discoveries of this kind which have been put on 
 record, I must confine myself to a bare statement of a few 
 of the more important. 
 
 At Polden Hill, near Bridgewater, the following objects 
 were turned up by a man ploughing a field : three bosses 
 of shields, fourteen bridle-bits, a nose ornament for a horse, a 
 torque of iron with bronze wire, a large number of rings 
 and ornamented plates of bronze, some being decorated 
 with enamel. 1 
 
 At Hagbourn Hill, Berkshire, several oblong pits were ex- 
 posed at a depth of about 4 feet, and in one of them there 
 was a circular excavation containing two bronze bridle-bits, 
 some rings with bronze knobs on an iron plate, a bronze 
 celt, and two javelin-heads. Two silver coins are also said 
 to have been found with these objects. 2 
 
 In a pit within the intrenchments at Stanwick, Yorkshire, 
 at a depth of about 5 feet, were found bridle -bits, rings, 
 plates, fragments of repousst work, portions of iron chain- 
 mail, a sword-sheath, and other fragments having traces of 
 enamel on them. Adjacent to these were the tyres of chariot 
 wheels. 3 
 
 On the opening of a barrow at Arras, Yorkshire, the 
 
 1 Archseologia, vol. 14, p. 90. y Ibid., vol. 16, p. 348. 
 
 3 Arch. Institute, York Vol., p. 10. 
 
 R
 
 248 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 v 
 
 following objects were found in a circular cist cut down 
 to a depth of i ^ foot in the chalky rock : two chariot 
 wheels, one on each side of a human skeleton lying supine, 
 the heads of two wild boars, and some horse bones, near 
 which were two bridle-bits made of iron, and plated with 
 bronze. The diameter of the wheel tyres was 2 feet 
 
 1 1 inches. Another 
 barrow in the same 
 group at Hessleskew 
 contained the remains 
 of wheels, a bridle-bit, 
 a fibula, and other 
 objects. 1 
 
 At Saham Toney, in 
 Norfolk, five rings and 
 two enamelled orna- 
 ments were discovered. 2 
 At Westhall, near 
 Halesworth, Suffolk, a 
 number of rings, some 
 being enamelled, were associated with "a bronze lamp of 
 good Roman workmanship." 3 
 
 At Hamden Hill, Somersetshire, several human skeletons, 
 tyres of wheels, lance- and arrow-heads of iron, and some 
 bronze objects were found. 4 
 
 As examples of the enamelling of these harness ornaments, 
 I have given a couple of pen - and - ink sketches from the 
 coloured illustrations in 'Horse Ferales.' One (fig. 150), from 
 Westhall in Suffolk, shows the enamelled portion darker, so as 
 to bring out at a glance the elegant spiral scrolls. The other 
 
 1 Arch. Institute, York Vol., p. 26 ; and Crania Britannica, pi. vii. 
 
 - Norfolk Arch., vol. ii. p. 400. 
 
 3 Archoeologia, vol. 36, p. 454. 4 Ibid., vol. 21, p. 39. 
 
 Fig. 150. Enamelled ring, Westhall, 
 Suffolk ().
 
 ENAMELLING. 
 
 249 
 
 ' Enamelled ornament for harness, 
 Norton, Suffolk (). 
 
 (fig. 151) was found at Norton, also in Suffolk, and shows 
 two coloured enamels, the small circles being bright yellow 
 and the dark portion 
 red. 
 
 These harness mount- 
 ings, both with and with- 
 out enamelling, are not 
 unknown in Scotland. 
 Sir Herbert Maxwell 
 describes one specimen, 
 found by a drainer at 
 Auchendolly, Kirkcud- 
 brightshire, which shows 
 a design in yellow and 
 
 red enamel not unlike 
 
 that from Westhall just 
 
 mentioned. 1 A round button-like object, ornamented with a 
 
 setting of red enamel, was found in the broch at Torwoodlee, 
 
 associated with a bronze har- 
 
 ness ring and some Roman 
 
 pottery and glass. 2 A circular 
 
 ornament picked up on the 
 
 exposed bed of the Loch of 
 
 Dowalton (fig. 152) has 
 
 trumpet-shaped spaces which 
 
 appear to have been filled 
 
 with enamel. 
 
 Bridle-bits of Late Celtic 
 workmanship have been re- Fi S- X 52. Ornament found in Loch of 
 
 Dowalton (2 inches diameter). 
 
 corded from various localities 
 
 in Scotland and Ireland. One well-known specimen, found 
 
 in a moss at Birrenswark (fig. 153) more than a century 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xx. p. 396. - Ibid., vol. xxvi. p. 81.
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 ago, and now preserved in 
 the National Museum in 
 Edinburgh, exhibits this 
 style of art both in enamel 
 and metal work. It is 
 figured and described by 
 Dr J. A. Smith, along with 
 a couple of bronze rings 
 from a cairn at Towie, 
 Aberdeenshire. 1 
 
 In the year 1737 two 
 bridle-bits, rings, and other 
 ornaments, apparently the 
 harness furniture for a 
 couple of horses, were found 
 in a moss at Middlesby, 
 Annandale. The find is 
 described by Sir D. Wilson, 2 
 who compares them with 
 the analogous antiquities 
 found at Stanwick, in 
 Northumberland, with which 
 "they are nearly identical 
 in type." "The bridle- 
 bits," he remarks, "though 
 plainer than the one found 
 at Birrenswark, are of the 
 same type, and one of them 
 corresponds to it in the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. 
 p. 320. 
 
 2 Prehistoric Annals, vol. ii. p. 
 Fig. 153. Bridle-bit found in a moss 
 
 at Birrensu'ark, Dumfriesshire (6J 1 S' 
 inches in length).
 
 ENAMELLING. 25 1 
 
 want of uniformity of the two rings : designed, as has been 
 suggested, for use by the charioteer with a pair of horses, 
 where the more ornamental ring would be worn on the 
 outside, and fully exposed to view." 
 
 While discussing the subject of ancient enamelling, I may 
 as well dispose of the few remaining specimens of this art 
 found in Scotland. A hollow bronze disc, i^ inch in 
 diameter, apparently some kind of mounting, having a central 
 dot of yellow enamel surrounded by concentric circles in red 
 enamel, was found by Dr Angus Smith while excavating in 
 the vitrified fort of Dun Mac Uisneachan. 1 
 
 Perhaps the finest specimen of enamelled work known to 
 have been found in Scotland is a bronze cup, or patera, 
 from Linlithgowshire, and described in the Proceedings of 
 the Society of Antiquaries (vol. xix. p. 45). The form is 
 that of an ordinary Roman patera in bronze, ornamented 
 in enamel of blue, red, and green colours, and forming a 
 combination of elegant patterns of a wreath, a floriated scroll, 
 and bands with serrated edges. It carries a flat handle, 3^ 
 inches in length, and the bowl measures 4^ inches in diam- 
 eter and 2^ inches deep. Similar vessels have been found 
 only in the Celtic area of Western Europe ; and of three 
 other specimens known to exist, two were found in England 
 one at Braughing, in East Herts, and the other at Bart- 
 low, in Essex. The third specimen was dug up in a moss at 
 Malbeck, in Denmark. 
 
 Personal Ornaments. Torques of Late Celtic art, or frag- 
 ments of them, are recorded in ' Horse Ferales ' as having been 
 discovered in the following localities in England : a bronze 
 torque formed of two portions united by iron tenons, one flat 
 and the other composed of eleven wreathed beads, found in a 
 stone quarry in the parish of Rochdale, Lancashire ; another 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xix. p. 248.
 
 252 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 of a similar type was found between limestone flags on a moor 
 above Embsay, near Skipton, Yorkshire ; a portion of a bronze 
 torque resembling the vertebrse of a fish is recorded from 
 Perdeswell, near Worcester; a bronze torque weighing 2 Ib. 
 12^ ounces, ornamented with wavy patterns and sockets for 
 gems, found near Tower House, Wraxal, Somersetshire ; 
 fragments of a bronze collar similar to the last -mentioned, 
 found at Trenoweth, in Cornwall. 
 
 A few torques of Late Celtic art have also been discovered 
 in Scotland. A beautiful specimen of the Beaded Torque was 
 found, enclosed in a bronze bowl, by a labourer while cutting 
 turf in Lochar Moss, Dumfriesshire. As shown on figure 4, 
 it consists of (i) a solid piece highly ornamented, and (2) 
 fourteen ribbed beads, with a smaller bead separating each 
 pair, like the vertebral bones of a fish. " The beads," writes 
 Sir Daniel Wilson, 1 " are disconnected, having apparently 
 been strung upon a metal wire, as was the case in another 
 example found in the neighbourhood of Worcester. A waved 
 ornament chased along the outer edge of the solid piece 
 seems to have been designed in imitation of a cord, the last 
 tradition, as it were, of the string with which the older neck- 
 lace of shale or jet was secured. Altogether, this example of 
 the class of neck ornaments styled Beaded Tores furnishes 
 an exceedingly interesting illustration of the development of 
 initiative design, in contradistinction to the more simple and 
 archaic funicular tore, which, though continued in use down 
 to a late period, pertains to the epoch of primitive art." 
 
 Another torque of the same type, but in fragments, has been 
 recently found on a crannog near the town of Lanark (fig. 
 154). The back portion, which was apparently an iron rod, 
 is almost entirely decomposed, and only small fragments of 
 it remain ; but several of the beads, which are enveloped in 
 1 Prehistoric Annals, vol. ii. p. 141.
 
 TORQUES OR NECK-COLLARS. 
 
 253 
 
 rust of iron and bronze, have been recovered. They were 
 strung together by means of an iron wire which passed 
 through a small rectangular hole in the centre of each bead. 
 
 Fig. 154. Portion of beaded torque found on the Hyndford Crannog($). 
 
 The ribbed beads have alternating with them thinner and 
 smaller beads precisely similar to the Lochar moss specimen. 
 
 A bronze collar (fig. 15 5) was discovered in 1747, about 
 7 feet below the sur- 
 face, while digging a 
 well, at the east end 
 of the village of 
 Stitchel, in Rox- 
 burghshire. Its or- 
 namentation, which 
 is highly character- 
 istic of Late Celtic 
 
 art, is analogous to Fig. 155. Bronze collar found near Stiff fiel, Rox- 
 , burfhshire (greatest diameter, jft inches). 
 
 that on a bronze 
 
 armlet found in 1826, near Plunton Castle, Kirkcudbrightshire 
 (fig. 156). Both these relics open by means of a hinge and 
 are closed by a pin clasp. 1 
 
 Two massive bronze armlets, found on the farm of Pit- 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. pp. 348, 351.
 
 254 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 kelloney, near Muthill, Perthshire, and now in the British 
 Museum, show a broad coiled pattern with oval medallions of 
 red and yellow enamel at both ends. 1 
 
 The Pitkelloney armlets belong to a type which is peculiar 
 to Scotland, and of which many specimens have been found 
 in different parts of the country. They consist of a solid 
 casting of bronze, smooth on the inner surface and embossed 
 on the outer by running scrolls in high relief. They are pen- 
 annular and more or less oval in shape, with ends rounded, 
 slightly expanded, and perforated with a circular opening for 
 
 Fig. 156. Bronze armlet found in the parish of Borgue, Kirkcudbright (|). 
 
 an enamel disc. The decoration usually takes the form of 
 three convex and parallel bands ornamented with trumpet- 
 shaped elevations, and connected by oblique ridges. 
 
 Dr J. A. Smith, who has written an elaborate account of 
 these remarkable armlets, 2 recognised some differences in 
 their ornamental details sufficient to entitle him to classify 
 them into two varieties, which he distinguishes as the " oval " 
 and the " spiral " patterns. In the former the outer band is 
 a continuous link which closely surrounds the central band, 
 
 1 Archreologia, vol. 28, p. 435. 
 
 - Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 316.
 
 BRONZE ARMLETS. 
 
 255 
 
 except at the vacant end spaces (fig. 157). In the other 
 "the design is a spiral starting from one side and passing 
 round the opposite medallion, then recurved back and passing 
 
 Fig. 157. Bronze armlet found at Auckenbadie, AlvaA, Ban/shire (|). 
 
 round the other medallion and then back again, and termin- 
 ating as at the other end." 
 
 To the latter class the Pitkelloney specimens belong, as 
 well as one of two reported to have been found many years 
 ago at Bunrannoch, Perthshire. Another armlet of this 
 variety was found by a man while digging a field near Sea- 
 field Tower, between Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy, in Fife (fig.
 
 256 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 158). To the same group also belong some fragments of 
 an armlet preserved in the Perth Museum, as well as the only 
 specimen discovered out of Scotland. This tetter was found 
 near Newry, Co. Down, Ireland, by a man digging into a 
 
 Fig. 158. Bronze armlet found near Seafield Tower, Fife (^). 
 
 bank of earth, and is now in the Museum of the Royal 
 Irish Academy. 
 
 Specimens of the oval pattern have been found in the 
 following localities : a pair was discovered in an earth-house 
 in the garden of Castle-Newe, Aberdeenshire (fig. 159); one 
 was ploughed up in a field on the farm of Mains of Auchen- 
 badie (fig. 157), parish of Alvah, Banffshire, and presented 
 to the National Museum in 1864. A pair was found about 
 6 feet under the surface on the links of Drumside, parish of
 
 BRONZE ARMLETS. 257 
 
 Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire. Three were found near Aboyne, 
 while ploughing ground which apparently had not been be- 
 fore broken up. But perhaps the most important discovery 
 was in 1876. Mr Lindsay, the tenant of the farm of Stan- 
 hope, Peeblesshire, while searching for a rabbit beneath a 
 
 Fig. 159. Bronze armlets found at Castle-Newe, Aberdeenshire 
 (5 Ji inches in greatest diameter). 
 
 large flat stone, found an armlet, of the kind now under dis- 
 cussion, which is of special significance, inasmuch as it was 
 associated with two other bronze relics viz., a buckle and a 
 Roman saucepan. 
 
 The spiral variety of these armlets is regarded as a transi- 
 tion link between the oval pattern and the spiral snake-like
 
 258 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 armlets, which are of the same style of art but showing a 
 more decided zoomorphic character. A magnificent armlet 
 of this latter class was picked up in 1827 on the Culbin 
 sands. Another was found as long ago as 1732 at Pitalpin, 
 near Dundee, but unfortunately no history of the discovery 
 has been transmitted a remark which applies to a third 
 example now in the National Museum. With regard to a 
 fourth, however, the circumstances of the discovery are most 
 
 -instructive (fig. 160). It 
 was found in an earth- 
 house at Grange of Conan, 
 near Arbroath, a fact 
 which brings it on the 
 chronological horizon of 
 the massive bronze arm- 
 lets, a pair of which, as 
 already mentioned, was 
 found in a similar under- 
 ground dwelling at Castle- 
 Newe, Aberdeenshire. Dr 
 
 Fig. 160. Bronze spiral armlet jound at j A Smith, in his descrip- 
 Grange of Conan, near Arbroath (2^6 
 inches internal diameter}. tion of the Snake - like 
 
 armlets, 1 comments on it 
 
 thus : "It is of the same general form and style of orna- 
 ment as the others, a snake -like creature, terminating 
 in zoomorphic or conventional style of head at each of 
 its extremities, with well-marked transverse lines crossing 
 the body, the rest being ornamented by a double cord 
 pattern running along the centre of the spiral band, in 
 a groove, towards the heads; where there are also longi- 
 tudinal and stronger oblique and transverse projections or 
 terminal ornaments." This specimen has one of the heads 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 350.
 
 BRONZE FIBULA. 259 
 
 broken off, but in all other respects it has the special char- 
 acters of the group. In the same locality were found the 
 following objects : a bronze ring 3 ^ inches in diameter, a 
 needle of bronze 2 inches long, some broken stone and 
 earthen vessels, bones of animals, &c. To this class may 
 also be assigned the fine bracelet (fig. 161) found at Barhullion, 
 Wigtownshire, and included in the valuable collection of 
 
 Fig. 161. Snake-headed armlet from Barhullion , Wigtownshire (\}. 
 
 antiquities presented to the National Museum by Sir Herbert 
 Maxwell. 1 
 
 Harp-shaped and other characteristic fibulae of the Late 
 Celtic period have been occasionally met with both in Britain 
 and Ireland. Three from the latter country are engraved in 
 'Horse Ferales' (PI. xxi. figs. 1-3), and others in Wilde's 
 Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, of which three speci- 
 mens are here figured (figs. 162, 163, and 164). One fine 
 example from a Yorkshire barrow, and associated with the 
 remains of a chariot, is figured in 'Crania Britannica.' A 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxiii. p. 151.
 
 260 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 few have been found in Scotland, and are now preserved in 
 the National Collection notably two from the valley of the 
 
 Forth, one of which, found 
 near Falkirk (fig. 165), clearly 
 discloses its relationship to 
 Hallstatt types. 
 
 Some bowl - shaped bronze 
 dishes were found in one of 
 
 Fig. ^.-Bronze fibula found h, ^ &Q ^ ^^ inhumation 
 
 Ireland ({). 
 
 at Birdlip, near Bristol, 1 which, 
 
 judging from the objects associated with them, leave no doubt 
 that they belong to this period. A bronze bowl, 9 inches in 
 
 Fig. 163. Bronze fibula with snake's head found in Ireland (\). 
 
 diameter, lay inverted over the face of a skeleton ; and among 
 the other contents of the cist were a smaller bowl of bronze, 
 
 Fig. 164. Bronze fibula found on crannog of Ardakillen, Irelan 
 
 a mirror ornamented with characteristic Late Celtic designs, a 
 harp-shaped fibula of silver plated with gold, a bracelet, a key- 
 
 1 Proc. Bristol and Gloucester Arch. Soc., vol. v. p. 137.
 
 BRONZE BOWLS, ETC. 26 1 
 
 handle, some beads of jet and amber, &c. The smaller bowl 
 is very similar to one found in the Glastonbury lake-village. 
 In regard to the other bowl which is described as covering 
 the face of the skeleton, it may be of interest to mention that 
 similar instances of covering the head have been noticed in 
 the tumuli of Glasinac in Bosnia. 1 
 
 Late Celtic ornamentation has also been noticed on a series 
 of spoon-like objects found in England and Ireland. A pair 
 of these peculiar objects was found in excavating a quarry at 
 Weston, near Bath ; and another pair was disinterred in a 
 railway cutting in the parish of Llanfair, Denbighshire. One 
 
 Fig. 165. Bron zcfibuLi found near Falkirk (). 
 
 found in London is in the British Museum, two found near 
 Cardigan are in the Ashmolean Museum, and two pairs are in 
 the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. These and others 
 of the kind are described, and their purpose discussed, by Mr 
 Albert Way 2 and the Rev. E. L. Barnwell. 3 
 
 Among sporadic finds of Late Celtic art may be noticed a 
 curious ornament of bronze, with inlaid encrinite stem, found 
 in Northamptonshire, and preserved in the Museum of North- 
 ampton (fig. 1 6 6). To the same period, but probably of 
 earlier date, may be referred the bronze caldrons found es- 
 pecially in Scotland and Ireland. See figs. 1-3, pp. 38-40. 
 
 1 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, &c., p. 142 and fig. 37. 
 
 2 Arch. Journal, vol. xxvi. p. 52. 
 
 3 Archseologia Cambrensis, vol. viii., 3rd Series, p. 208, and vol. x. p. 57.
 
 262 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 Fig. 166. Front, back, and side views of a Late Celtic bronze ornament 
 found in Northamptonshire (\).
 
 HOARD AT BALMACLELLAN. 
 
 263 
 
 Special Finds of the Late Celtic Period. 
 
 Four parcels containing a number of bronze objects 
 wrapped in cloth were turned up in draining a bog half a 
 mile from the manse of Balma- 
 clellan, Kirkcudbrightshire. The 
 drains were from 2^ to 3 feet in 
 depth, and the objects appear to 
 have been found at the bottom of 
 one of them, associated with an or- 
 namental upper stone of a quern- 
 mill (fig. 167). Among the bronze 
 objects were a circular mirror (fig. Fig> l67 V~ Up , per t 3t n f O ' a , 
 
 J quern found at Balmaclel- 
 
 169), 8 inches in diameter, with /, Kirkcudbrightshire (i 
 
 . inches in diameter}. 
 
 a handle 3 inches long, and a 
 
 number of peculiarly shaped plaques. The lower end of 
 
 the handle of the mirror contains three semilunar openings, 
 
 Figs. 168, 169. Bronze mirror and crescent-shaped ornament, Balmaclellan. 
 
 and at its junction with the disc there is a highly orna- 
 mented plate (fig. 170). A large crescentic collar-shaped 
 object, 2 inches wide, is decorated with incised scrolls of the 
 
 s
 
 264 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 usual Late Celtic patterns (fig. 1 68). Of the smaller plaques 
 some are plain bands, others are triangular in shape, with 
 
 Fig. 170. Ornamental plate of thin bronze at the junction of the handle to the 
 mirror found at Balmaclellan (\}. 
 
 one straight and two concave sides, and they contain small 
 holes as if they had been pinned on to something. 1 
 
 A cemetery was investigated in 1865 at Mount Batten, near 
 
 Plymouth, which yielded 
 Late Celtic remains. The 
 graves were dug to a depth 
 of 4 to 4 y 2 feet, three- 
 fourths of which had been 
 excavated in the rock un- 
 derlying the surface soil. 
 Among the relics found 
 in them were fragments 
 of wheel-made pottery and 
 of glass vessels, bronze 
 * , ornaments fibulae (fig. 
 
 fibula, Mount Batten, Plymouth (). 
 
 171), armlets (fig. 172), 
 
 and rings a pair of iron shears, an iron dagger in a bronze 
 
 sheath, a bronze mirror 8 inches in diameter, and portions 
 
 of the handles of other similar mirrors (fig. 173). The 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. iv. pp. 294, 417.
 
 GRAVES AT MOUNT BATTEN AND ST KEVERNE. 265 
 
 back of the mirror had been decorated with engraved designs 
 of spiral scrolls formed by diverging and converging lines, the 
 spaces thus enclosed being filled with hatching. 1 
 
 Another series of graves was encountered in the course of 
 making a road at Trelan 
 Bahow, in the parish of 
 St Keverne, Cornwall, in 
 which similar remains 
 were discovered. In this 
 case the graves were stone 
 cists made of six slabs 
 set on edge, one at each end and two on either side, and 
 covered with large stones. In one of these cists a bronze 
 mirror, some rings, fragments of fibulae, beads of variegated 
 
 tig. 172. Bronze armlet opening by a 
 hinge, Mount Batten (f ). 
 
 Fig. 173. Handles ofbronse mirrors, Mount Batten (J). 
 
 glass, and other ornaments were found. The mirror (6 
 inches in diameter) retains its handle, and is ornamented 
 on the back with Late Celtic ornamentation of the same 
 style as that on the other mirrors (fig. I74)- 2 
 
 1 Archzeologia, vol. 40, p. 500. * Arch. Journal, vol. xxx. p. 268.
 
 266 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 In 1894, during excavations on the site of JEsica one of 
 the camps on the Roman wall about half-way between New- 
 castle and Carlisle two remarkable fibulae were found among 
 the rubbish accumulated within the western guard-chamber 
 
 Fig. 174. Bronze mirror from St Keverne, Cornwall (6 inches in diameter}. 
 
 of the south gate, which Mr Arthur Evans claims to be 
 products of Late Celtic work of the second century of 
 our era. 1 
 
 To the ready pen of the same author we are indebted 
 for the description of another remarkable hoard found by 
 
 1 Archseologia, vol. 55, p. 179.
 
 GOLD HOARD IN IRELAND. 267 
 
 a man ploughing near the sea on the north-west coast of 
 Ireland. "The objects, which are all of gold, consist of a 
 small boat with rowing benches and a place for a mast, 
 miniature yards, oars, a grappling-iron, and other implements ; 
 a bowl, apparently intended for suspension from four rings ; 
 two chains of very fine fabric ; two twisted gold neck-rings, 
 one of them broken ; and a hollow gold collar with repousst 
 work designs, beyond question the most magnificent object 
 of its kind ever discovered." This hoard Mr Evans assigns 
 to the first century of our era." 1 
 
 Canon Greenwell - explored a group of four barrows in the 
 parish of Cowlam, Yorkshire, which proved to be of the 
 Early Iron Age, and of about the same period as those 
 previously opened at Arras and Hessleskew, already referred 
 to. These graves and their contents are of extreme in- 
 terest as showing the method of interment and general 
 culture prevalent in Late Celtic times, of which hitherto no 
 parallels have been found in Scotland. They contained un- 
 cremated bodies ; and, associated with a female skeleton in 
 one barrow, were a bronze armlet, a fibula, and seventy glass 
 beads of a blue colour with a zigzag pattern in white. The 
 original pin of the fibula, which seems to have been of 
 bronze, had been replaced by an iron pin. In another barrow 
 there was a beautiful armlet like those found at Arras. 3 All 
 these ornaments belong to types which are represented at 
 Hallstatt or La Tene. 
 
 "There was nothing in these four barrows," writes Mr 
 Greenwell, " to show that they belonged to a period different 
 from that of the ordinary class, so many of which have been 
 already described, except the glass beads, the fibula, and the 
 armlets ; the occurrence of the bones of the horse is also 
 
 1 Archoeologia, vol. 55, p. 397. a British Barrows, p. 208. 
 
 3 See British Barrows, figs. 110-113.
 
 268 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 unusual, though it has occasionally been met with in the bar- 
 rows. The bodies were in the contracted position so universal 
 throughout the burials of the wolds ; the usual accompani- 
 ments of charcoal, flint chippings, and potsherds were found 
 here also ; and, although the pottery was of a different ware 
 from that of which the common cinerary urns, ' food vessels,' 
 and ' drinking-cups ' are made, yet I have met with the same 
 kind of hard, well -baked, dark - coloured, plain pottery in 
 barrows of the ordinary kind. The holes, too, were like 
 those which have been so often noticed, except that one 
 had been made use of for lighting a large fire in, and that 
 they contained more animal bones, potsherds, and chippings 
 of flint than perhaps is common. Had the bodies occurred 
 without the necklace, fibula, or armlets, I should not have 
 hesitated the least about classing these four barrows with 
 the other barrows in the immediate vicinity, which were of 
 the time of Stone, or more probably of Bronze, and con- 
 tained implements of flint and earthenware vessels of the 
 ordinary round barrow type." 1 
 
 In 1886, in the course of removing the surface-earth above 
 a gravel and sand pit at Aylesford in Kent, the following 
 relics were discovered : a wooden pail or situla, with a bronze 
 band ornamented with Late Celtic designs ; a bronze jug 
 cenoehoe ; a long-handled pan and two fibulae, also of bronze, 
 together with calcined bones and fragments of pottery. " These 
 objects were discovered in what had been a round burial-pit, 
 about 3^ feet deep, the sides and bottom of which had 
 been coated with a kind of chalky compound. The bronze 
 situla contained burnt bones and the fibula, the bronze vase 
 and pan lying outside it, while around were the remains of 
 several earthenware urns, some of which had been used as 
 cineraries." The discovery, fortunately, came under the 
 1 See British Barrows, p. 211.
 
 URN-FIELD AT AYLESFORD. 269 
 
 notice of Mr A. J. Evans, who, recognising the archaeological 
 importance of these objects, lost no time in making a full 
 inquiry into the circumstances. The result of his researches 
 was a comprehensive paper "On a Late Celtic Urn -Field 
 at Aylesford," which appeared in iSgo. 1 The conclusion 
 to which Mr Evans comes, after a wide comparison of 
 Continental ceramics, is that the Aylesford urns are "the 
 derivatives of North Italian, and, in a marked degree, old 
 Venetian prototypes." 
 
 The ornamentation on the upper of three bronze bands 
 or hoops, which encircled the wooden staves of the pail, 
 was almost identical with designs on sword-sheaths found 
 in Oppidum La Tene, especially the famous one with three 
 fantastic animals, like those so frequently represented on 
 Gallic coins, and so well known to readers of lake-dwelling 
 literature. 2 The fibula (figs. 175 and 176) were also La Tene 
 types. Another relic found in one of the graves at Ayles- 
 ford was a double- handled tankard, which, in its art and 
 style of manufacture, can be precisely paralleled, not only 
 with the pail above referred to, but with another tankard 
 (fig. 177) discovered in a cremation burial at Elveden, Essex. 
 The bronze plates of the latter are ornamented with medal- 
 lions in repousst, containing triquetral designs of unmistakable 
 Late Celtic art. But for further details of these remarkable 
 discoveries I must refer readers to Mr Evans's elaborate 
 article on the subject. 
 
 Hunsbury, or Danes' Camp, is situated about two miles 
 south-west of the town of Northampton, on elevated ground 
 commanding extensive views of the surrounding country. 
 Close by it runs an ancient road or trackway connecting 
 
 1 Archseologia, vol. 52. 
 
 2 See Lee's 2nd ed. of Keller's Lake-Dwellings, PI. cxxviii., No. 6 ; and 
 Lake- Dwellings of Europe, fig. 87, No. 9.
 
 270 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE 
 
 it with the camp at Arberry Hill, and other British camps. 
 The camp is oval, or rather egg-shaped (560 feet by 445 feet), 
 and covers about 4 acres of arable land, besides the " scarp, 
 
 Fig. 175. Two views of a fibula from Aylesford, Kent (^). 
 
 fosse, and counterscarp, which together occupy about i^ 
 acre." The ditch is 50 to 65 feet wide, and on an average 
 1 5 feet deep, but it has got filled up to the extent of 5 feet 
 
 BELOW 
 
 ABOVE 
 
 SIDE 
 
 Fig. 176. Fibula from urn-field at AylesforJ, Kent ({). 
 
 from its bottom. The dyke, which lies on the inner side of 
 the ditch, looks loftier than it did previous to the excavations, 
 as the ironstone bed, from 10 to 14 feet deep, has now been
 
 HUNSBURY CAMP. 
 
 271 
 
 removed from its inner area. It was during this industrial 
 operation that the antiquities hereafter referred to were discov- 
 ered. Sir Henry Dryden, in his excellent account of these 
 discoveries, with eight plates of illustrations, 1 thus describes 
 
 Fig. 177. Tankard with bronze mounting from Eh'cdcn, . 
 (6Ji inches in diameter). 
 
 the circumstances under which the relics were found : 
 
 " Over the whole area of the camp were found, at a few 
 feet or yards apart, pits sunk to the bottom, or nearly to the 
 bottom, of the 6 feet or 7 feet of soil. These pits varied from 
 
 1 Associated Arch. Soc. Reports, vol. xviii. pp. 53-61.
 
 272 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 5 feet to 10 feet in diameter, rudely circular in form, and nearly 
 perpendicular as to their sides. They were distinguishable 
 by being full of black mould. In them most of the remains 
 hereafter described were found. In scarcely any instance did 
 they penetrate the ironstone. In all there must have been 
 over 300 of these pits. About six or seven of these pits were 
 walled with small flat stones, chiefly limestone. The enclosed 
 diameter of them was about 5 feet. These pits were evidently 
 for the reception of refuse of various kinds. When a pit had 
 
 been used for a time it was filled 
 
 up and another one made ; so 
 that only a small portion of those 
 found were open at any one 
 time. 
 
 "There is no reason to sup- 
 pose that the remains found at 
 Hunsbury differ widely in date 
 from each other, and, if so, 
 probably the occupiers were also 
 
 Fig. 178. -Fragment of pottery the Constructors of the Camp. 
 
 from Hunsbury Camp (about Unfortunately we have no coins 
 
 3/" 
 
 for guides. The pottery is not 
 
 decisive. The scabbards are of forms said to be Saxon, 
 whilst the ornament is said to be Celtic." 
 
 For the privilege of inspecting these antiquities I am in- 
 debted to the courtesy of Mr T. J. George, who freely exposed 
 the objects I was interested in. In glancing over the collec- 
 tion, I found it contained fragments of pottery representing a 
 large number of vessels of different forms and sizes some 
 fragments (fig. 178) having a strong resemblance to Late 
 Celtic pottery from the Glastonbury lake-village portions 
 of 150 querns, some charred corn, a few glass beads, bronze 
 fibulas and rings, spindle whorls, long-handled combs, clay
 
 HUNSBURY CAMP. 
 
 273 
 
 supports, perforated loom weights and triangular bricks, sawn 
 portions of deer-horn, bone and horn handles, &c. (fig. 179). 
 A considerable quantity of bones was found, chiefly in the 
 
 Fig. 179. Various objects found in Hunsbury Camp, Northampton, 
 
 i, Iron dagger ; 2 and 3, Long-handled combs of bone ; 4, Iron saw with portion of 
 handle ; 5, 6, and 7, Fibulae more or less fragmentary (all J). 
 
 pits, comprising those of human beings, shorthorn cattle, 
 red and roe deer, goat, pig, and sheep. 
 
 Prior to the discovery of the remarkable relics at Lisna- 
 croghera, there were only a few fragments of scabbards rec- 
 ognised in Ireland as belonging to weapons of Late Celtic
 
 274 
 
 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 work, among them being two chapes of sword -sheaths, one 
 of which is said to have been found in County Galway. 1 
 The relics of special interest from Lisnacroghera consist of 
 four more or less perfect bronze sheaths, ornamented with 
 characteristic Late Celtic designs (fig. i47 2 ); four iron 
 swords, only one being in good condition (PI. VI. No. i), 
 19^ inches long, and another still in its sheath; an iron 
 spear-head i6*4 inches long (No. 3); the bronze knobs 
 
 Fig. 1 80. Bronze caldron found in Carlingwark Loch. 
 
 of seven or eight lance-shafts (Nos. 28, 29, 30) and their 
 ferrules (Nos. 23, 24, 25); various bronze mountings, one 
 ornamented with the triskele and another with the swastika, 
 supposed to be shield ornaments ; also various beads and 
 a coiled bracelet (No. 15). 
 
 The only important hoard of the Iron Age as yet found in 
 Scotland was a collection of implements and tools contained 
 in a bronze caldron (fig. 180), which was dredged up in 1866 
 from Carlingwark Loch, Kirkcudbrightshire. This caldron 
 
 1 Horce Ferales, PI. xvii. 
 
 2 For designs on the other sheaths, see ' Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' 
 p. 381-
 
 PLATE VI.-OBJECTS FOUND AT LISNACROGHERA. 
 Nos. 4, 5, and io=J^, the rest = J4 real size.
 
 BRONZE CALDRON WITH IRON TOOLS. 
 
 275 
 
 is of the same type as the caldrons previously noticed and 
 assigned to the late Celtic period, but its clouted appearance 
 would suggest that it had been long in use. In it were found 
 the following articles (fig. 181): an adze, 7 inches in length 
 
 Hr 
 
 Fig. 181. Objects in the caldron found in Carlingwark Loch. 
 
 (fig. i); three axe-heads, 4^ to 5^ inches in length (2, 
 3, 4) ; four small picks or hammers from 6 to 7 ^ inches 
 in length (5); a broken portion of a hammer-head, and 
 another with flattened ends (6); portion of a small saw,
 
 276 EARLY IRON AGE. 
 
 inches in length, with part of the wooden handle still riveted 
 to the iron (7); portion of a fine cut saw, 2 l / z inches long; 
 nine portions of double-edged blades, with pointed extrem- 
 ities resembling sword-points; nails of various lengths, one 
 with a square head and a cross marked on each side (8); 
 a small chisel, 5 inches long, and portion of another; three 
 punches about 5 inches in length (9) ; four split bats with 
 eyes (10 and n); two large holdfasts; six hooks, varying 
 in size from 2^ to 5 inches in length (12); an iron buckle 
 (13); dwo handles with loops, apparently of a bucket (14, 
 15, and 16); wooden handle (17); an iron implement (18); 
 an iron tripod (19); an iron frame with numerous bars like a 
 gridiron, having two feet, the other two apparently awanting ; 
 five pieces of iron handles (20); a snaffle horse-bit, with 
 check-ring 3 inches in diameter (21); a file, 9^ inches in 
 length ; and fragments of iron plates and hoops ; portion of 
 a bronze vessel, 4 inches in diameter and 3 inches in height ; 
 ornamented bronze handle (22) ^portions of chain-mail formed 
 of small rings ; portions of green glass one piece, 3 by 2 
 inches, has in relief the letters A and I, which may be a 
 portion of M or some other letter. 1 
 
 Among objects which do not readily fall under any system 
 of classification may be mentioned an ornamental bronze ball 
 (fig. 182) found in Lanarkshire. Its surface is divided into 
 six discs, each of which is decorated by a spiral groove with 
 a zoomorphic ending, and separated from each other by 
 deeply hollowed grooves. This object is usually paralleled 
 with the ornamented stone balls previously noticed. 
 
 In casting the eye over the distribution of Late Celtic 
 remains, as shown in the previous sketch, the following 
 deductions may be noted : 
 
 i. The presence of querns and long -handled combs in 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 7.
 
 LATE CELTIC GRAVES. 
 
 277 
 
 the Glastonbury lake-village and in the Hunsbury camp, asso- 
 ciated with the dtbris of continued occupancy in which no 
 characteristic Roman remains are found, points to a pre- 
 Roman civilisation probably due to an immigration of Belgic 
 or Gaulish tribes. 
 
 2. Such relics (querns and long-handled combs) are found 
 in crannogs and brochs in North Britain associated with 
 sporadic remains of both Late Celtic and Roman civilisations, 
 thus indicating a later or post-Roman date. 
 
 Fig. 182. Bronze ball found at Walslon, Lanarkshire (|). 
 
 3. Objects characteristic of the Late Celtic civilisation in 
 Southern Britain, such as enamelled horse-trappings, articles 
 of military equipments, mirrors, brooches, bracelets, and 
 torques, are but sparingly found in Scotland and Ireland. 
 And as no settlements or cemeteries of the period have been 
 found in Britain farther north than Yorkshire, nor in any part 
 of Ireland, it is suggested that the products of this special 
 culture and civilisation spread to these regions by means of 
 commercial and social intercourse, rather than by an immigra- 
 tion of a new race.
 
 2/8 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ABODES AND MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 HEN man's thoughtfulness reached the 
 stage of his being able to realise, by 
 the power of reflection and experience, 
 that physical death is the fate of all 
 living things, nothing seems more natural 
 than that he should come to regard the 
 mysterious manifestations of his material surroundings as the 
 work of the shadowy agents of an unseen world, the reality 
 of which was so forcibly and frequently brought before 
 him in dreams and other psychological phenomena. In the 
 supernatural system thus conjured up, the momentous ter- 
 mination of his own earthly career became the central pivot 
 of a religious cult which presaged the continuation of his 
 spiritual existence his alter Ego or ghost in the world 
 of spirits. The idea that death was a severance, for ever, 
 of all social ties and friendships formed on earth would be, 
 probably, more repugnant to Neolithic man than to some 
 of the philosophical minds of the present day. To him, 
 death seems to have been nothing more than the mere portal 
 which conducted into the community of departed heroes and 
 friends, and to which he looked forward, across the span
 
 RELIGIOSITY. 279 
 
 of human life, with hopeful anticipations of a more perfect 
 state of existence. When, and by what means, this higher 
 phase of humanity, which led him on to the rails of religios- 
 ity, assumed the mastery over the mere animal propensities 
 which he inherited from the organic world, are questions which 
 it would be out of place here to discuss. But, whatever these 
 influences and moulding agencies may have been, we have strong 
 presumptive evidence for believing that when prehistoric man 
 first appeared within the geographical limits of what is now 
 called Scotland, he was in the true sense of the word a reli- 
 gious being. Already his belief in the supernatural and in 
 his own future destinies had powerfully moulded his conduct 
 in life. When a great man died 'we have reason to believe 
 that his favourite wives, slaves, and pet animals were sacrificed 
 on his grave so as to accompany him in his journey to the 
 future world. His weapons, ornaments, and other cherished 
 objects, as well as suitable viands for the journey, were laid 
 in his tomb all of which facts are incompatible with 
 any other theory than that it was then the current opinion 
 that life in the world beyond the grave varied little from that 
 on earth. Consequently, in actual life the abodes of the dead 
 came to be of far more importance than those of the living. 
 In support of this we have the singular fact that whilst 
 hundreds of the former are found scattered over Europe, there 
 are but the faintest indications of the latter. The houses, 
 generally built of such perishable materials as wood, turf, or 
 clay, soon crumbled into dust. On the other hand, the tomb 
 was constructed of the most durable materials, and placed on 
 an eminence, so as to be seen from afar, and to be a lasting 
 memorial among succeeding generations. Thus we see pre- 
 historic man inspired with hopes and convictions which 
 carried his mental vision beyond the affairs of this life. The 
 grave was, therefore, to a large extent, a reflex of current
 
 28O MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 civilisation, and, as a tribute of respect to the departed, there 
 were occasionally deposited in it the choicest art products of 
 the age. The most natural method of protecting the remains 
 of the dead, and of commemorating their deeds while in life, 
 was by rearing a mound of stones or earth over the grave. 
 To this custom we owe some of the most striking and lasting 
 monuments in the world's history the pyramids of Egypt, 
 the topes and dagobas of India, the mighty mounds of Silbury 
 and New Grange, the megalithic circles of Stonehenge, Ave- 
 bury, and other hoary monuments which are so abundantly 
 found scattered on the outskirts of Western Europe from 
 Scandinavia to Africa. 
 
 Sepulchral memorials are found under such varying condi- 
 tions, as to structure and composition, that it is difficult to 
 appropriate their physical characters as a basis of description. 
 Another element which adds to the difficulty is the custom 
 of cremation, which appears to have spread over the British 
 Isles towards the close of its Stone Age, and to have initiated 
 considerable changes in the manner of disposing of the dead. 
 The body, reduced to a few handfuls of ashes and burnt bones, 
 was sufficiently preserved in a clay urn, there being no longer 
 any necessity for constructing great chambers. Hence sprung 
 up a tendency to diminish the size of the abodes of the dead, 
 even by those who still adhered to the earlier method of 
 burial by inhumation. Some of the problems thus raised will 
 be subsequently discussed. All I wish at present to emphasise 
 is, that we have indisputable archaeological evidence to show 
 that, during the whole of the Bronze Age, both methods 
 of disposing of the dead were practised within the British 
 Isles apparently at the same time. 
 
 Burials may, therefore, be classified in various ways, as, for 
 example, according to whether the body had, or had not, been 
 cremated. The unburnt body was deposited, either within a
 
 SEPULCHRES. 28 1 
 
 chamber constructed of stones and covered by a cairn or 
 mound, leaving a permanent passage for future access to the 
 chamber ; or in a stone cist, without an accessory passage, 
 generally formed of slabs set on end, but only of dimen- 
 sions sufficiently large to admit of the body in a doubled-up 
 position, and then covered over with a mound of stones or 
 earth ; or in a wooden coffin formed out of the trunk of a 
 tree, similar to a dug-out canoe ; or simply in the bare earth, 
 without any protecting envelope between it and the materials 
 of the mound ; or, indeed, without a mound at all or any other 
 external indications to mark the site. 
 
 On the other hand, when the body was cremated the 
 remains were usually placed in an urn, and deposited some- 
 times in a chamber, sometimes in a cist, and sometimes in 
 the bare earth. When no urn was used the incinerated re- 
 mains were generally laid in a little heap, either in a chamber 
 or on the floor of the tumulus. 
 
 The external form of the mound or barrow has also given 
 rise to a number of qualifying epithets, such as long, round, 
 oval, or bell-shaped barrow, &c. 
 
 Burial mounds, it may be noted, are called cairns when 
 their material consists of small stones, and barrows when it 
 consists of earth ; but not unfrequently both materials were 
 used in combination a small cairn being often inside the 
 earthen mound. Sometimes the mound was surrounded by 
 a ditch, or a stone circle, or both ; and instances are on 
 record in which one or both of these features were found 
 within the area covered by the mound. Also an interment, 
 whether by inhumation or cremation, may be found beneath 
 the natural surface without any superincumbent mound, or 
 any surface indications whatever. At other times, when the 
 mound or cairn is absent, a standing stone, or a circle of 
 stones, or a ditch, may indicate the site of a burial.
 
 282 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The theory that long and round barrows contain respect- 
 ively the remains of a long-headed and a round-headed race, 
 which somehow has taken a singular hold on the minds of 
 archaeologists since Dr Thurnam's time, seems to me too fan- 
 ciful to have much significance attached to it. The idea 
 appears to be based on an observation which has been fairly 
 well established as a fact viz., that the skulls found in 
 long barrows in England are those of a long-headed, or 
 dolichocephalic, race (i.e., when the antero-posterior diameter 
 stands to the transverse diameter in the proportion of about 
 100 to 75 or less), which preceded a brachycephalic race (i.e., 
 when these diameters are as 100 to 76 or more). But this 
 is a mere coincidence arising from the structural character- 
 istics of the grave, which, being generally a compound cham- 
 ber, necessarily assumed an elongated form. These mega- 
 lithic chambers could only be made of a certain breadth, not 
 exceeding the length of stones available for covering them, 
 and hence extension of the sepulchral chamber was most 
 conveniently attained by adding to its length. The shape 
 of the chamber generally determined the form of the barrow ; 
 but whatever that might be, the skulls were usually those of 
 the long-headed race. In chambers with cremated burials 
 there are, of course, no means of determining the cranio- 
 logical characters of the race. At any rate, the idea cannot 
 for a moment be entertained that, in the construction of their 
 sepulchral abodes, these people were in any way influenced 
 by the shape of their heads, for in that case there would be 
 no round barrows at all, as there is not, and never was, a 
 human race with actually round heads. Nor is it a fact, as 
 we shall afterwards see, that dolichocephalic and brachy- 
 cephalic skulls are confined to long and round barrows 
 respectively. The probability is that the constructors of 
 dolmens and other chambered cairns, being the first on
 
 CAIRN OF ACHNACREE. 283 
 
 the field, continued their sepulchral methods after they 
 were joined by other races practising different methods, 
 such as cremation, and that consequently a certain amount 
 of intermingling of the various systems took place. 
 
 As a rule the size of the mound, as well as the value of the 
 grave-goods, was in proportion to the distinction of the in- 
 dividual. This deference to social position accounts for the 
 occasional isolation of sepulchral memorials, some of which 
 may be seen here and there on conspicuous eminences com- 
 manding extensive views of the surrounding neighbourhood. 
 But, more frequently, cairns and mounds are found grouped 
 together in the form of cemeteries, among which those repre- 
 senting persons of distinction may be recognised by their 
 greater dimensions. 
 
 Thus, the concomitant circumstances through which we 
 have to investigate the abodes of the dead are various, mak- 
 ing it extremely difficult to trace any chronological sequence in 
 their structural characteristics, independent of the character of 
 the grave-goods. And this difficulty is increased by the over- 
 lapping of different customs of burial due to the persistence 
 of old methods in some out-of-the-way localities. Before, 
 therefore, proceeding further with the general discussion on 
 sepulchral remains, it will be necessary to give a few descrip- 
 tive details of the characteristic methods of burial found with- 
 in the Scottish area. 
 
 In 1871 Dr Angus Smith 1 explored a large chambered 
 cairn on the farm of Achnacree, in the vicinity of Loch Etive. 
 The cairn appeared to have been interfered with at some 
 former time, when some of its stones had been removed and 
 possibly an entrance to the chamber effected ; but, as it then 
 stood, it was nearly circular in form, and measured 75 feet in 
 diameter and 15 feet in height. A hole was dug from the 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ix. p. 396.
 
 284 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 top until a large stone was reached, which proved to be one of 
 the roofing stones, and thus an entrance was effected. The 
 interior consisted of a passage, 28 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 
 3^ feet high, extending in a southward direction. Continu- 
 ous and in line with this passage were three compartments, 
 separated by walling, but connected by low doors. The first 
 measured 6 feet in length, 4 feet in breadth, and 7 feet in 
 height. Its lower part was constructed of massive slabs set 
 on edge, and above this was dry-stone walling converging, on 
 the beehive principle, till the diminished space (3 feet 4 
 inches by i foot 10 inches) was closed in by one large cover- 
 stone. The other two compartments were smaller, and 
 
 Fig. 183. Section of the cairn of Achnacree (75/eet in diameter). 
 
 covered over by lintels, as shown in the accompanying section 
 (fig. 183). On the floor some fragments of urns and several 
 groups of white pebbles were found. 1 One urn was nearly 
 entire, and measured 7 inches in diameter and 4 inches in 
 depth. Its substance was hard, well baked, and of a darkish 
 colour, and presented the peculiarity of having a wide mouth 
 and a round bottom. Faint traces of perpendicular fluting 
 were to be seen on its surface, but otherwise it had no 
 ornamentation. These vertical scorings were more decided 
 on some of the other fragments, all of which appear to be 
 portions of vessels having round bottoms. One standing- 
 stone close by suggested that the cairn had originally been 
 
 1 On the occurrence of white pebbles in graves see a paper by Sir 
 Arthur Mitchell (Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xviii. p. 286).
 
 LARGIE CAIRN. 285 
 
 surrounded by a stone circle, and about 30 feet beyond 
 there were traces of an encircling ditch. 
 
 A circumscribed district of Argyllshire, situated on the 
 border of the Crinan Canal and including the parishes of 
 Kilmartin and Kilmichael, is one of the richest in Scotland in 
 prehistoric remains. Here are to be found several groups of 
 standing stones, some bearing cup - marks and concentric 
 circles ; various rock-surfaces sculptured with similar symbols ; 
 numerous sepulchral cairns, stone circles, and cists with and 
 without external mounds; a vitrified fort, &c. In 1864 
 Canon Greenwell, the distinguished author of ' British Bar- 
 rows,' explored several of the more prominent antiquities of 
 this district, 1 among them being a large and very remarkable 
 cairn on Largie farm, situated about 300 yards north-east of 
 one of the series of standing stones. Originally this cairn was 
 very large, having a diameter of 134 feet; but the greater 
 part of the stones had been removed for making drains and 
 walls many years ago, during which three cists were partially 
 laid bare. These cists had been constructed in the usual 
 way, by slabs set on edge with a large stone cover, and placed 
 at considerable distances from the centre. In one of them 
 there was found a globular urn, highly ornamented over the 
 whole of its surface, except the bottom, and measuring 3^ 
 inches high, 4^ inches wide at the mouth, and 5^ inches at 
 the middle ; but there were no remains of the body, " which 
 had, no doubt, been an unburnt one." 
 
 The chief interest of the investigation lay in a chamber, 
 divided into four compartments, which occupied the centre of 
 the cairn ; but whether or not it had an accessory passage was 
 not ascertained, owing probably to its then dilapidated condi- 
 tion. It measured 1 9 feet in length, 3 ^ feet in breadth, and 
 9^ feet in height, and had its long axis directed nearly north 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vi. p. 336.
 
 286 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 and south. Its sides were made of large slabs of chlorite 
 schist, with portions of walling of smaller stones, roofed over 
 with long slabs. The south end was entirely closed with one 
 large slab, but the north end had two upright stones placed 
 transversely to the walls of the chamber, forming " a rude kind 
 of portal." The two compartments next the supposed passage 
 had been previously disturbed, as well as the third, which 
 included among its contents some fragments of ornamental 
 urns, " of the so-called ' drinking-cup ' pattern," and several 
 bones of unburnt bodies. The remaining compartment (6 
 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 9 inches) and its contents are thus 
 described : " This compartment, like all the rest, was filled 
 to a certain extent with a considerable quantity of stones and 
 rubbish, which had fallen or been thrown in through holes in 
 the roof since the mass of the cairn had been removed. On 
 clearing this out we found a small cist placed in the south- 
 east corner. This, which was 2^ feet long and 2 feet wide, 
 was made of four stones, resting upon another flat one, and 
 had once possessed a cover, which had been taken off, and 
 which was lying by the side of the cist. We found nothing in 
 it, the persons who first rifled the chamber having lifted the 
 cover and thrown out the contents ; but I think we may refer 
 some unburnt bones and fragments of pottery, which were 
 afterwards met with, to the burial in the small cist. . . . 
 To the north of the cist, and lying close to the side of 
 the chamber, was an urn sadly broken and decayed, but of 
 a very novel and peculiar type, both as regards its material 
 and ornamentation (fig. 184). It has a round bottom, 
 from the centre of which run shallow and narrow flutings, 
 reaching to the lip, which is broad and thick, and turns 
 over with a convex surface, that also being fluted like the 
 side. The ware is dark-coloured, almost black, like some 
 of the Anglo-Saxon pottery, well worked and thin, with no
 
 LARGIE CAIRN. 
 
 287 
 
 broken stone amongst the clay, but apparently with a good 
 deal of sand worked into it. It is 6^ inches high, 12^ 
 inches wide at the mouth, the rim being i^ inch wide. 
 From the way in which this urn was deposited amongst the 
 undisturbed layer of dark earthy matter and burnt bones, 
 I cannot hesitate to attribute it to the primary interment, 
 novel as its type is, and though it partakes much more of 
 a late than of an early character. The introduction of the 
 secondary interment and of the small cist had probably 
 
 Fig. 184. Urn from a chambered cairn at Largie, Kilmartin, 
 Argyllshire ((>% inches in height). 
 
 caused it to be broken, but it had certainly been deposited 
 as a whole vessel at the time when the layer of dark matter 
 was placed in the chamber." l 
 
 In commenting on the archaeological facts disclosed by 
 the Largie cairn, Canon Greenwell thus expresses himself: 
 " We learn from it that, in this part of Scotland, at all events, 
 the earliest interments in the large megalithic chambers are 
 of burnt bodies. The original and undisturbed layer, with 
 burnt bones in it, at the bottom of the two most southern 
 compartments the only ones which contained any primary 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vi. p. 342.
 
 288 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 burials proves this most distinctly. The examination of the 
 similarly constructed chamber in a cairn at Kilchoan, by my 
 friend the Rev. R. J. Mapleton, of which a detailed account 
 is appended, has produced very strong corroborative evidence 
 of this. The remains of unburnt bodies which were found 
 in this chamber in the cairn at Largie farm, and also in that 
 at Kilchoan, belong most unquestionably to a later, it may 
 be to a considerably later, period than the deposits of burnt 
 bones in the same chambers. These unburnt bodies belong 
 most probably to the same period as that during which the 
 corpse was frequently placed in a cist sunk below the surface 
 of the ground, and where apparently no mound was ever 
 raised over it. With these interments were buried beautifully 
 made urns, and in some cases bronze daggers, and of such 
 cists numerous examples have been found in the district." 
 Another cairn, explored by Canon Greenwell, on the glebe 
 land of Kilmartin, measures no feet in diameter and 1 3 /^ 
 feet in height. It was made entirely of rolled stones, with 
 occasional slabs of the schist of the neighbourhood, and con- 
 tained within its area two concentric circles of standing-stones, 
 the inner 27 feet, and the outer 37 feet in diameter the 
 latter being about 16 feet from the centre of the cairn. 
 Within the central area there was a short cist composed of 
 four slabs set on edge and a fifth lying over them as a cover. 
 The interior of the cist was nearly filled with gravel, and in 
 it were found a highly ornamented globular urn with four 
 pierced ears, and a necklace of jet beads which lay above 
 the urn ; but all traces of the body had disappeared. This, 
 however, was not the primary interment, but another cist 
 formed in a hollow sunk in the ground in the centre of 
 the cairn and lined with rounded boulders, and having a 
 large slab of schist (9 feet by 4 feet 7 inches) for its cover. 
 This cist, which was 7^ feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet
 
 CISTS AT BALLYMENACH. 
 
 289 
 
 deep, was filled to within a foot of the cover with gravel. 
 " At the south-west end was a flat stone laid across the cist 
 about a foot from the bottom, and upon this was a quantity 
 of black unctuous matter and charcoal. About a foot from 
 this stone, on the south-east side, and 9 inches higher than 
 it, was an urn, much broken and in part decayed, placed 
 amongst the gravel. At the north-east end of the cist was 
 a flat stone, similar to that at the opposite end. Upon it 
 was a small, and below it a large, quantity of dark unctuous 
 
 Figs. 185, 186. Urns found in cists at Ballymenach and Kilmartin, 
 Argyllshire (f ). 
 
 matter. No trace of bone was found in the cist ; the body, 
 or bodies for it is probable, from the separate masses of 
 unctuous matter, that more than one were interred had gone 
 entirely to decay, leaving no further trace than the dark sub- 
 stance which was found upon and under the flat stones. The 
 urn (fig. 1 8 6) is one of a type similar to many of the Irish 
 urns, and is very characteristic of those which have been 
 found with unburnt bodies, and sometimes with bronze dag- 
 gers, in this part of Scotland." l 
 
 Another interesting exploration, conducted under the super- 
 vision of the same investigator, was that of the sepulchral 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vi. p. 340.
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 circle at Ballymenach. This circle consists of an earthen 
 mound with stones placed on it at intervals, and having 
 a ditch within it. It measures 66 feet in diameter inside 
 the ditch, and 95 feet to the outside of the mound, 
 and has two entrances on opposite sides. Two cists were 
 found within the circle, one south-east of the centre and 
 the other nearer the centre. The former was a short cist 
 formed of four side stones and a cover (previously removed), 
 and contained some mixed sand and gravel, above which were 
 the broken remains of an urn of the "drinking cup" type 
 (fig. 185). The other cist was much larger, the side stones 
 being 9 feet long. A portion of the cover had been broken 
 off at some former period when the cist was probably rifled, as 
 nothing was found in it. 
 
 Canon Greenwell suggests that facts disclosed by these 
 investigations indicate that there was an early relationship 
 between the people of Argyllshire and the neighbouring coast 
 of Ireland. " The urns," he writes, " which occurred in the 
 cairns and burial circles are, in shape, material, and style of 
 ornament, very similar to those which have been found on the 
 opposite coast of Ireland, and from this it may be inferred 
 that the two countries were, in prehistoric times, occupied by 
 the same race. That a constant intercourse was kept up 
 between the two shores is evidenced by the Argyllshire imple- 
 ments, which are made from a chertose flint coming from 
 Ireland. The identity of the people who inhabited the west 
 of Scotland and the north-east of Ireland, in historic times, is 
 certain, and that can scarcely have altogether arisen from the 
 later Scotic occupation from Ireland, which was indeed only 
 the migration of tribes to places already occupied by others 
 related to them. This earlier and prehistoric relationship 
 is quite borne out by the evidence which the burial mounds 
 afford."
 
 CHAMBERED CAIRNS OF CAITHNESS. 2QI 
 
 We now pass on to another remarkable series of sepulchral 
 cairns, whose special peculiarities were first clearly brought 
 to light by Dr Joseph Anderson. 1 An excellent rtsumt of 
 these investigations is given in ' Scotland in Pagan Times,' 
 pp. 229-268. The situation and general appearance of two 
 of these cairns are thus described : " On the crest of a con- 
 siderable eminence overlooking the south end of the loch of 
 Yarhouse, on the estate of Thrumster, in Caithness, are two 
 cairns of great magnitude within a short distance of each 
 other. They are not circular, but elongated in form ; they lie 
 across the crest of the hill from east to west ; they diminish in 
 breadth and height from east to west ; and they have at both 
 ends curved horn-like projections of their structure, falling 
 gradually to the level of the ground." 
 
 The larger of the two cairns was 240 feet in length, and 
 12 feet in height at its east end, with a base configuration 
 as outlined in the accompanying plan (fig. 187). The 
 chamber, which was reached at the end of a short passage, 
 was found to be small in proportion to the gigantic size 
 of the cairn, being only 12 feet long by 6 feet wide. The 
 roof had fallen in, but the side walls, to the height of 7 
 feet, still remained, and showed signs of convergence indi- 
 cating a beehive structure. The ground-plan of the chamber 
 was roughly quadrangular, and divided into three compart- 
 ments by two pairs of divisional stones projecting from the 
 side walls, and leaving a passage of about 2 feet between 
 their edges. These divisional stones did not reach the roof. 
 The most novel feature of the investigation was the dis- 
 covery that the cairn had originally been constructed with a 
 well-built double walling of dry stones along its entire 
 perimeter. In some places the foundation stones only were 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot, vol. vi. p. 442, and vol. vii. p. 480; Memoirs of 
 Anthrop. Soc. Lond., vol. ii. p. 226.
 
 292 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 in sifu, but in others as much as 4 feet remained. No relics 
 were found in the chamber, but its floor was a compact mass, 
 about 5 inches thick, of " earthy clay, plentifully intermixed 
 with ashes and charcoal of wood, and calcined bones, in a 
 condition of extreme comminution. Although the amount of 
 
 Fig. 187. Ground-plan of 
 cairn at Yarhouse (240 
 feet in length}. 
 
 Fig. 188. Ground -plan of 
 cairn at Camster (195 feet 
 in length). 
 
 bone-ash which entered into its composition was very large, no 
 single fragment of bone was discovered exceeding an inch in 
 length. The fragments that afforded definite indications, 
 such as portions of teeth, jawbones, and phalanges, were un- 
 mistakably human in character. About a dozen chips of flint 
 mere chips, and mostly small and two fragments of
 
 HORNED CAIRNS. 293 
 
 pottery, of a well-made, hard-baked, thin, and black paste, 
 were all the manufactured relics that were obtained." 
 
 The second " horned cairn " was 190 feet in length, and its 
 structural details closely resembled those of the former. The 
 chamber was divided, in its lower part, into three compart- 
 ments, and covered over by one beehive roof, which, however, 
 had collapsed. On the floor of the first compartment, to the 
 left of the entrance, there was a cist, 4 feet 4 inches long, 20 
 inches wide, and 9 inches deep to the level of the floor. " At 
 this level in the dark earthy clay which filled the interior of 
 the cist there was a whitish layer of softened bones in a con- 
 dition of extreme decay. In the east end of the cist were the 
 fragments of an urn, ornamented with the parallel bands of 
 impressions of a twisted cord, showing the fibrous texture of 
 the strands. A necklace of small beads of lignite had been 
 deposited with the urn, and by washing the clay removed from 
 the cist seventy of these were recovered." 
 
 The floor in all the compartments consisted of clay, ashes, 
 and charcoal with burnt bones, human and animal, forming a 
 compact layer some 6 inches in depth, and on its surface there 
 were some greatly decayed fragments of unburnt human bones 
 and teeth. But no relics except the urn and the beads already 
 mentioned were found. 
 
 Dr Anderson describes a third cairn, of the same character 
 as the two at Yarhouse, on a ridge on the Moor of Canister, 
 some three miles distant. It differed, however, from them in 
 having two chambers with entrance passages on the south side 
 as shown on fig. 188. One of the passages terminated in a 
 small beehive cell, the lower part of its walls being composed 
 of five slabs set on edge. The floor consisted of two rough 
 flagstones lying on the undisturbed subsoil, and neither above 
 nor underneath them was there any trace of sepulchral de- 
 posits. The other chamber was 50 feet from the former. 
 
 u
 
 294 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The entrance to it (some 4 feet high) was partly covered 
 over by lintels and partly arched by the overlapping of the 
 stones. The roof of the chamber had fallen in, but its con- 
 struction appeared to be similar to those already described. 
 The floor was also the same as at Yarhouse a compact mass 
 of clay, ashes, and burnt bones human and animal. Among 
 the loose layers on its surface were a few fragments of skulls 
 and of other human bones, mingled with splintered bones of 
 the horse, ox, deer, and swine. 
 
 Fig. 189. Ground-plan of cairn at Ormiegill (66 feet in length}. 
 
 Another variety of the " horned " cairn presents the same 
 characteristics in external form and internal structure as those 
 at Yarhouse and Camster, with the exception that the body of 
 the cairn is greatly shortened, as shown in fig. 189, which 
 represents the ground-plan of a chambered cairn at Ormiegill, 
 near Ulbster. The contents of the chamber in this cairn are 
 thus described : " On the floor of the chamber a quantity of 
 unburnt bones of human beings and animals lay, mingled with
 
 HORNED CAIRNS. 295 
 
 the dtbris of the upper part of the cairn, with which the cham- 
 ber was filled. The floor itself consisted of a layer of ashes 
 fully a foot thick. A pavement of slabs had been laid in some 
 parts of the chamber, and this layer of ashes extended both 
 over and under the pavement. The natural subsoil beneath 
 was in some places deeply pitted, the pits being filled with the 
 same compacted layer of ashes and bones. The quantity of 
 burnt bones in the ash-bed was very great. We recognised 
 about thirty fragments of skulls, which, from their varying 
 size and thickness, we judged to have been those of different 
 individuals. The bones were very irregularly burned, some 
 being merely charred in part of their length, and others 
 completely calcined. Besides the human bones, there were 
 a very large number of bones of animals, among which were 
 those of the horse, the ox, the deer, the dog, the swine, and 
 some leg and wing bones of fowls. Fragments of pottery, 
 many of them indicating that they had been portions of round- 
 bottomed vessels, made of a thin dark-coloured paste, hard and 
 smooth, and without ornament, and a great quantity of chips 
 and flakes of flint, were intermixed with the ash-bed through- 
 out. In the central compartment of the chamber, embedded 
 among the compacted ashes of the floor, there were found 
 a finely polished hammer of grey granite, 4 inches in length, 
 pierced with a hole for the handle ; the point end of a finely 
 finished flint knife, with a ground edge ; an arrow-head of 
 flint, triangular in form, but lop-sided, and hollowed at the 
 base ; an oval and pointed knife of flint formed from a flake 
 trimmed to an edge all round ; several flakes, serrated on one 
 side, which seemed to have been used as saws ; and a number 
 of well-made scrapers of flint of the usual form. In the first 
 compartment of the chamber another arrow-head of the same 
 triangular form was found." l 
 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 244.
 
 296 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The cairn of Get, near Bruan, which in form resembles 
 that at Ormiegill, has only two chambers, but Dr Anderson 
 draws attention to the curious and suggestive fact that " the 
 divisional stones, which would have formed the partitions be- 
 tween the second and third compartments, are in their places ; 
 but, instead of being set across the floor as divisional stones, 
 their faces are set flush with the walls, so that the second and 
 third compartments are thrown into one." On the surface of 
 the floor of the outer compartment, and on the right of the 
 entrance, were four unburnt human skeletons, with the skulls 
 lying close to the wall. The floor of the chamber was a mass 
 of compacted ashes and bones fully 18 inches thick, both man 
 and beast being represented the latter comprising " horse, ox, 
 dog, deer, swine, and probably the sheep or goat." Flint 
 flakes and chips were found in abundance throughout the 
 mass, as well as fragments of " pottery of a blackish colour, 
 some of which retained indications of their having been por- 
 tions of round-bottomed vessels, thin, hard-baked, well made, 
 and mostly unornamented." Three small but finely worked 
 leaf-shaped arrows were the only other articles found in the 
 chamber. 
 
 A third variety of the chambered cairn differs from the 
 two former varieties by not having the horned projections 
 (fig. 190), but the structure of the internal chamber remained 
 much the same as already described. One of these cairns 
 viz., that at Bruan disclosed a slight deviation which, as we 
 shall afterwards see, became a highly specialised feature in 
 another group. This was a small side-chamber, opening from 
 the second or innermost compartment of the bipartite cham- 
 ber, which was enclosed in this cairn (fig. 191). 
 
 The district between Stromness and Kirkwall is particularly 
 rich in the remains of primitive times, especially those of an 
 imposing character, such as brochs, Picts' houses, chambered
 
 THE RING OF BROGAR. 
 
 297 
 
 cairns, tumuli, stone circles, &c., some of which may still be 
 said to defy all efforts to fathom the secret of their origin and 
 meaning. A few years ago 
 I visited the locality, and 
 in driving from the Picts' 
 house of Skaill to Maes- 
 howe, traversed lengthways 
 the peninsula which separ- 
 ates the Lochs of Stennis 
 and Harray. My first halt 
 was at the Ring of Brogar 
 (PI. VII.), situated on a 
 bleak moor about a quarter 
 of a mile from the bridge 
 which crosses the narrow 
 strait connecting the two 
 lochs. Of the great circle Fig. 
 for there are a few 
 smaller ones and six or 
 seven tumuli scattered over the district only fourteen stones 
 were standing and fifteen lying in the heather, out of the 
 sixty which originally completed 
 it. Some of the stones might be 
 about 15 feet high, but others do 
 not rise above the surface more 
 than 6 or 7 feet. Outside the line 
 of the stones there is a ditch from 
 20 to 30 feet wide, and 6 feet 
 deep. The area enclosed by the 
 ditch measures no paces in dia- 
 meter, and access to it is got by 
 
 190. Ground -plan of chambered 
 cairn at Yarhouse (about 55 feet in 
 length). 
 
 Fig. 191. Ground -plan of 
 chambered cairn at Bruan 
 (about if> feet diameter). 
 
 two unexcavated portions of the ditch, like roads entering it 
 on opposite sides. On the way to the bridge we pass a few
 
 298 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 standing stones and mounds, and immediately after crossing 
 it there stands on the roadside a splendid monolith some 
 17 feet high. About 150 yards farther on are three great 
 monoliths two standing and one fallen near the ruins of 
 a dilapidated dolmen, which appears to have been enclosed 
 by the stone circle when in its original condition (PL VIII.) 
 In a field, about a mile to the east of this ruined circle, 
 at the base of low hills, rises the green grassy tumulus of 
 Maeshowe (PI. IX.) 
 
 From the account of the excavations conducted by Mr 
 Farrer and other antiquaries in 1861,* and from my own 
 note-book, I have compiled the following short account of this 
 remarkable monument. The mound, 92 feet in diameter and 
 36 feet in height, is surrounded by a trench 40 feet wide and 
 4 to 8 feet deep. During Mr Farrer's investigations, entrance 
 to the interior was effected by driving a shaft from the top, till 
 the chamber was reached through its previously fallen roof 
 (fig. 193). When, or in what circumstances, the collapse 
 of the roof had taken place it was impossible to say. 
 When cleared, the chamber was found to be 15 ft. square and 
 13 feet high to the top of the remaining walls. Behind three 
 window-like openings, about 2 ^ feet square and 3 feet above 
 the floor, one in each of the north, south, and east sides, are 
 three small vaults or cells; the fourth side contained a sym- 
 metrical opening, but larger viz., the inner end of the entrance 
 passage. These cells vary a little in size, but they are all of the 
 same height (3 feet), and have their back walls and roofs made 
 of single slabs. The walls and roof of the chamber are made 
 of large stones from the hard claystone of the neighbourhood, 
 which, readily splintering into rectangular masses, present clean 
 cut surfaces well adapted for building purposes. The roof was 
 formed by the overlapping of each successive layer, and only 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. v. p. 247.
 
 MAESHOWE. 
 
 299 
 
 differed from the beehive structures by having this converg- 
 ence on two opposite sides viz., north and south the other 
 two being continued perpendicularly, like the gables of a 
 house. The four corners of the chamber were buttressed by 
 tall slabs and some dry-stone walling, covering about 3 feet 
 
 Fig. 192. View of the central chamber in Afaeshowe looking towards 
 the entrance passage. 
 
 square at the base, and reaching to the commencement of the 
 overlapping stones of the roof peculiarities which are well 
 seen in the accompanying illustration (fig. 192). 
 
 The entrance passage was 54 feet in length, and at its 
 inner end measures 4 feet 8 inches in height and 3 feet 4 
 inches in width ; but the space gradually diminishes till at
 
 300 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 the outer end it would probably be not more than 2 feet 4 
 inches square (the cover-stones in the outer half had fallen 
 in). The sides of the passage are formed of huge flagstones 
 with smooth even surfaces, one of them measuring over 18 
 feet in length. See plan and section (fig. 193). 
 
 No sepulchral or industrial relics were found in the interior 
 of Maeshowe, but there are indications in favour of the 
 
 Fig. 193. Ground-plan and section of Maeshowe. 
 
 common opinion that it had been previously rifled of its 
 contents. One of the arguments in support of this is that 
 on the walls there are some runic inscriptions dating back 
 to the middle of the twelfth century. These inscriptions 
 consist of names and short sentences, such as might be 
 scribbled by a party of visitors. One inscription is of im- 
 portance, as it specifically states that the "Orkahaug" was 
 broken open by a party of Christian pilgrims on their way
 
 MAESHOWE. 
 
 301 
 
 to Jerusalem, with the expectation of finding treasure; but 
 that none was found, as it had been previously carried 
 away. From this Professor Munch infers that the intruders 
 were part of the expedition organised by Earl Rognvald 
 when he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1152 A.D. 
 But this episode has no bearing on the date of its construc- 
 tion. On one of the buttresses there is an engraving of a 
 dragon and a serpent-knot of Scandinavian character (figs. 1 94 
 and 195), which Dr Fergusson 1 thinks were original decora- 
 
 Figs. 194, 195. Dragon and " Wurm-knot " engraved on a pillar in Maeshowe. 
 
 tions of the tomb, and hence he argues that Maeshowe is 
 the work of Scandinavians who conquered the Orkney islands 
 in the ninth century. If so, these northern invaders must 
 have learned the art and plan of building it from the native 
 inhabitants, as there never existed at any time in Scandinavian 
 lands a structure of the peculiar character of Maeshowe. On 
 the other hand, analogous structures are found within the 
 British Isles especially among the tumuli (fig. 196) of the 
 great cemeteries on the banks of the Boyne, and at Lough- 
 1 Rude Stone Monuments, p. 245.
 
 302 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 crew, in Ireland. But without entering into the controversy 
 as to the origin and purpose of Maeshowe, it can be readily 
 shown that it differs only in some minor details from numer- 
 ous other chambered cairns in the Orkneys. In its vicinity 
 there are several examples which illustrate the developmental 
 features and phases through which these chambers passed 
 prior to the construction of Maeshowe. 
 
 The "knowe of Unstan," situated on a piece of land 
 jutting out into the Loch of Stennis, a few hundred yards 
 
 Fig. 196. View of the. great cairn at New Grange, Ireland. 
 
 to the north-east of the Bridge of Waithe, was excavated 
 by Mr R. S. Clouston in the year 1884, and yielded a 
 most interesting collection of relics, besides disclosing struc- 
 tural features of importance. "The knowe," writes Mr 
 Clouston, 1 " prior to excavation, presented the same appear- 
 ance as the usual Orkney tumulus, having an unbroken 
 slope to the ground. This, however, is due to the slipping 
 down of the stones of which the cairn is composed, as there 
 is an external wall surrounding the whole structure, which, 
 in the parts where we found it tolerably entire, was some 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xix. p. 341.
 
 CAIRN OF UNSTAN. 
 
 303 
 
 feet in height, and built of larger stones than those used 
 in the interior." 
 
 The entrance passage, which was still partly covered, ter- 
 minated in a chamber 21 feet long by 5 feet wide (over 
 which the roof had fallen), divided into various compart- 
 ments by large flagstones set on edge, as shown on the 
 accompanying ground-plan (fig. 197). The side compartment 
 opening from the main chamber may be closely paralleled 
 with that in the cairn of Bruan previously referred to. " Un- 
 
 Fig. 197. Ground-plan of chambered cairn at Unstan, Orkney 
 (about qofeet in diameter]. 
 
 like the rest of the building, with the exception of the passage, 
 the roof is here entire, its height being 3 feet 6^ inches. A 
 rude floor is made by a flagstone small enough to have been 
 introduced after the chamber was completed, and supported 
 on blocks of stone. There were two distinct burials here 
 in the contracted posture, one of the skulls being the most 
 complete of any of those found, though scarcely half 
 remained." 
 
 Like the Caithness chambered cairns, burials took place 
 here both by cremation and inhumation, and the facts point 
 
 x
 
 304 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 to cremation being first practised. " The whole structure, " 
 writes Mr Clouston, " is irregular in shape, none of the 
 walls being quite straight, and the wall at one side of the 
 dividing flagstone rarely coinciding with that of the other. 
 At the side of the south-west flagstone in this compartment 
 (second) there was a small space, not covered with white 
 clay, and in this we found several fragments of different 
 urns. A more striking instance of how the relics must 
 have been scattered is the fact of a piece of pottery, found 
 in the fourth compartment, fitting into an urn, the rest of 
 which was dug up in this second compartment of the 
 chamber. By far the greater portion of the relics found 
 in the chamber were in this compartment. Overlying its 
 clay floor was a stratum of black ashy or earthy matter, 
 largely composed of charcoal, in which great quantities of 
 pottery and several flint chips and flakes were found. . . . 
 Several fragments of bones were found in the floor of this 
 compartment, but none which showed any trace of burning. 
 Curiously enough, however, the flints present indubitable 
 indications of the action of fire. Upon the black stratum 
 there were laid several burials in the contracted posture, as 
 in the Caithness cairns." 
 
 The relics found scattered throughout the chambers consist 
 of fragments of pottery, representing about thirty different 
 shallow vessels, with round bottoms and wide mouths, and 
 having the sides ornamented with scorings generally arranged 
 into triangular spaces. With the exception of an oblong 
 stone or " pounder," all the stone implements were of flint 
 viz., a flaking tool ; four leaf-shaped arrow-points, and one 
 with barbs and a stem ; a finely finished scraper, and a knife 
 with a ground edge. 
 
 On the farm of Quanterness, near Kirkwall, may still be 
 seen another structure of the same type (fig. 198). It is
 
 CHAMBERED CAIRN AT QUANTERNESS. 305 
 
 close to the farm-house, and presents the appearance of a 
 green mound, 128 feet in circumference, with, now, two 
 openings leading to the interior. The central chamber 
 measures 21^ feet long, 6^ feet wide, and n^ feet high, 
 and is closed in by a roof on the beehive plan. From this 
 chamber there are 6 openings, about 2 feet square, two on 
 each side and one at each end, which lead into correspond- 
 ing cells, differing, however, from the analogous ones in 
 
 Fig. 198. Ground-plan of chambered cairn at Quanterness, Orkney 
 (40-50 feet in diameter). 
 
 Maeshowe, not only as regards number, but in being on 
 the same level as the floor of the chamber, instead of being 
 raised 3 feet above it as in the latter. The floor is described 
 as being composed of dark earthy clay, containing fragments 
 of unburnt bones both of man and beast ; and in one of the 
 cells there was found a human skeleton. 1 
 
 Another underground structure, described as a " Pict's 
 house," and situated on the other side of Wideford Hill, 2 was 
 explored by Mr George Petrie, in 1849. The chamber was 
 10 feet long, 5 feet broad, and 7^ feet high, and from it 
 
 1 Barry's History of Orkney. 
 
 2 See Archseologia, vol. xxxiv., PI. xv., p. 136 ; and Wilson's Prehistoric 
 Annals, vol. i. p. 116.
 
 306 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 there were three lateral cells opening at irregular distances. 
 The peculiarity of this structure is that there were no human 
 bones found, but only those of domestic animals in great 
 quantities horse, cow, sheep, boar, &c., and also some 
 supposed to be those of deer. In the absence of any evid- 
 ence of a sepulchral character it was regarded as an under- 
 ground dwelling, and a connecting link between sepulchral 
 cairns and such dwellings as the remarkable habitation at 
 Skaill Bay, described at page 344. 
 
 Other chambered structures are to be found in the Ork- 
 neys which present the same characters without evidence of 
 having been used for sepulchral purposes. One is described 
 by Captain Thomas, 1 on the Holm of Papa Westray, which 
 presented the appearance of a cairn, 115 feet long, 53 feet 
 broad, and 10 feet high. The internal arrangements con- 
 sisted of a long chamber, entered by a passage, and sur- 
 rounded by a dozen or so of small side cells averaging 
 4 or 5 feet in length, 3 feet wide, and from 3 to 5^ feet 
 in height. There were no relics to indicate its age or pur- 
 pose, but from its structural details long entrance passage, 
 central chamber, and lateral cells it must be classified archi- 
 tecturally with the sepulchral chambered cairns. 
 
 Another sepulchral chamber at Quoyness, in the island of 
 Sanday, was excavated by Mr Farrer and Mr Petrie, in 1867.2 
 The entrance passage was 24 feet long, 3 feet high, and 21 
 inches wide (slightly widening and increasing in height as it 
 approached the chamber). The chamber was 12^ feet long 
 ar >d sK f eet wide, with wall still standing to the height of 
 1 2 feet, but the roof had fallen. Branching off it were six 
 cells of an irregular oval shape. A bone dagger and two 
 curiously shaped stone implements were found together along 
 with unburnt human remains, including fragments of twelve 
 1 Archaeologia, vol. xxxiv. p. 127. a Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 398.
 
 SEPULCHRAL CAIRN IN PAPA WESTRAY. 
 
 307 
 
 or fifteen skulls, male and female, some being young persons. 
 According to Dr Thurnam, to whom the bones were sent for 
 examination, both long and short skulls were represented. 
 
 Before passing on I may observe that unburnt human re- 
 mains have been found in another sepulchral cairn on Papa 
 Westray. The chamber (fig. 199), 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, 
 was rendered tripartite by pairs of projecting flags set on 
 edge and opposite to each other, but with a space between 
 their edges. It was excavated by Mr Petrie in 1853,* and 
 its contents are so remarkable that I give his description 
 
 Fig. 199. Ground-plan of chamber in sepulchral mound in Holm of Papa 
 Westray, Orkney (12 feet long). 
 
 verbatim : " We commenced by digging in the compartment 
 A, and found it filled with stones and earth, mixed with ani- 
 mal remains, amongst which were fragments of deer's horns, 
 the horn core of the ox, and a jawbone of the boar, together 
 with portions of a human skull. In the compartment B, the 
 crowns and other portions of ten pairs of deer's horns were 
 found lying on and between layers of stones, intermixed with 
 bones of the ox, deer, sheep, &rc., the wing-bone of a swan, 
 or other large bird, and the lower part of the bill of the cur- 
 lew, with bones of various kinds of birds. And underneath 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ii. p. 62.
 
 308 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 a layer of deer's horns, and lying amongst others, part of a 
 human skull face downwards was discovered at a. A human 
 skull, or rather a part of one, was lying on its side at b, resting 
 on a portion of a deer's horn. The face was towards the 
 south-west. In the compartment c, fragments of at least 
 two pairs of deer's horns were found. The remains of a 
 human skeleton lay at c, the ribs in tolerable order, not 
 apparently having been previously disturbed ; but no part of 
 the skull was found except the lower jaw. The remains of 
 another skeleton, without the skull, were found at d. Two 
 skulls, one of them in good preservation, were found placed 
 vertically at e, with the face towards the east. Another skull 
 was lying on its side at , with its face towards the backs of 
 the two skulls at e. . . . 
 
 "The general appearance of the place, as far as it was 
 opened, was that of an immense grave of double the ordinary 
 dimensions, but divided into three compartments by the large 
 upright flags or stones marked /, whose tops were above the 
 surface of the mound. The sides of the grave were formed 
 by stones built in the shape of rude walls, but how much 
 of these may have been removed before we examined the 
 place we could not even conjecture, as the whole mound was 
 more or less covered with loose stones." 
 
 On the west coast of the island of Lewis, at the head of 
 Loch Roag, there are four stone circles within about a mile 
 of each other, all of which in the course of time had become 
 deeply buried in peat a fact which probably accounts for 
 their preservation. In 1858, under the instructions of Sir 
 James Matheson, the largest, known as the Stone Circle of 
 Callernish, was cleared of the peat which had accumulated 
 on its site " down to a rough causewayed basement in which 
 the stones were imbedded." The depth of peat averaged 5 
 feet, and in the course of its removal the workmen came upon
 
 STONE CIRCLE AT CALLERNISH. 309 
 
 the ruins of a chambered cairn, occupying the space between 
 the centre stone and the east side of the circle. It contained 
 a bipartite chamber with a passage leading to its outside. 
 Nothing was found in the chamber except some minute 
 fragments of burnt human bones. 
 
 The accompanying view (PL X.) shows the general arrange- 
 ment of the circle and its alignments. According to meas- 
 urements, taken by Mr Kerr, clerk of works to Sir James 
 Matheson, the following are their dimensions : l diameter of 
 circle about 40 feet; length of west line 43 feet; length of 
 east line 38 feet ; length of south line 69 feet ; length of 
 avenue 270 fee.t ; breadth of avenue 2 7 feet ; average height 
 of stones 6 to 8 feet; height of centre stone 12 feet. To 
 the height of the stones 5 feet must now be added to give 
 their actual height after the removal of the peat. There are 
 thirteen stones in the circle, including the centre one. 
 
 In 1884 Mr James Fraser communicated to the Society 
 of Antiquaries of Scotland 2 a detailed account of the stone 
 circles of Strathnairn and neighbourhood of Inverness, from 
 w.hich it appears that such remains, in various states of pre- 
 servation, are found from the lower end of the strath to a 
 point twenty-five miles farther up. There were twenty-five of 
 these circles within the drainage area of the river Nairn, and 
 twelve or fourteen between its western watershed and the 
 river Ness. "Wherever the structures are sufficiently pre- 
 served," writes Mr Fraser, " they exhibit the following char- 
 acteristics in common : 
 
 1. "They consist of three concentric, or nearly concentric, 
 rings of boulder -stones, or of flagstones, fixed on end in 
 the ground, and without hewing or dressing of any kind. 
 
 2. "There is an outer ring of stones, varying from 60 to 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. ii. p. 383, and vol. iii. p. III. 
 a Ibid., vol. xviii. p. 328.
 
 3IO MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 126 feet in diameter outside, and consisting of long stones, 
 from nine to twelve in number, standing at nearly regular 
 intervals, the tallest being on the south side, and their size 
 gradually diminishing towards the north. 
 
 3. " A smaller interior, and concentric, or nearly concentric, 
 ring, varying from 32 to 88 feet in diameter outside, made 
 of smaller boulders (very few, if any, flags being used in this 
 ring), the stones being set on end, close together, with a 
 slight slope inwards, and with the best, or flattest and broadest, 
 face outward. As in the outer ring, the large stones are on 
 the south side, and the smaller stones to the north. 
 
 4. " A third, and still smaller, concentric ring, from 1 2 to 
 about 32 feet in diameter inside, and consisting of stones set 
 on end, close together. 
 
 5. "They are all built on flat or low-lying ground, some- 
 times in a slight hollow or amphitheatre (with perhaps some 
 not very decided exceptions on slight eminences)." 
 
 One part of the geographical area traversed by Mr Fraser 
 is of special interest viz., the plain of Clava, a flat " haugh " 
 along the east bank of the Nairn, and near the battlefield of 
 Culloden, because it contains within the distance of one mile 
 the remains of eight cairns (two of which at least contained 
 chambers) associated with stone circles. Besides the cham- 
 bered cairns the surrounding district is studded with tumuli 
 of various kinds, so that we may regard the Clava group as 
 the remains of an important pagan cemetery. 
 
 One of the chambered cairns still remaining was opened 
 about the year 1828, under instructions from Mrs Campbell, 
 Kilravock, the result of which is thus described by Sir 
 Thomas Dick Lauder in his book on the ' Moray Floods ' : l 
 " I received a most interesting communication from Miss 
 Campbell, informing me that the fragments of two earthen 
 1 Appendix vii., p. 338.

 
 CHAMBERED CAIRNS AT CLAVA. 31 1 
 
 vases were found in the chamber in the interior of the 
 Druidical circle opened at Clava by Mrs Campbell's orders. 
 ' It was about 18 inches below the earth,' says Miss Campbell, 
 speaking of the more perfect of the two, ' exactly in the 
 centre of the circle. It was found in a broken and very 
 mutilated state, the whole body of the stones having lain 
 upon it. A quantity of calcined bones were in it and about 
 it, all of which we have. The clay is of the coarsest kind, 
 and the vase is of the rudest make. It has, apparently, had 
 no cover, but is rounded at the top like a garden-pot, which 
 it resembles more than anything else. The bottom is flat, 
 the inside very black from having been burned, the outside 
 red ; across the exterior of the bottom it measures 6^ inches, 
 and across the interior exactly 5 inches, and the height, in its 
 fractured state, is 4^ inches. After clearing away the stones, 
 the interior of the cairn was found to be composed of gravel, 
 but the vase and bones were enclosed in a portion of clay 
 quite distinct from the natural soil.' " 
 
 Cosmo Innes visited the locality in 1857, and made two 
 sketches of the Clava group one showing the interior of this 
 cairn which are here reproduced (PI. XL and XII.) 
 
 The following dimensions of the cairn and its various 
 adjuncts are taken from Mr Fraser's measurements. The 
 outer ring is 108 feet in diameter, and consists of eleven stones, 
 there being a vacant space for a twelfth. The intermediate 
 ring, which forms the boundary of the cairn, is 53 feet in 
 diameter. The inner ring (which forms the wall of the 
 chamber) is 12^ feet in diameter (inside). It is built of 
 more carefully selected stones (of which seven or eight feet 
 still remained), and this wall supported the beehive roof of 
 the chamber ; but it would take four or five feet more to 
 complete the dome. The passage, which lies at the south- 
 west side, was about 18 feet in length, 2 feet wide at the
 
 312 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 outer end, 3 feet at the inner end, and about 4^ feet in 
 height. 
 
 It will not be necessary to dwell at great length on the 
 unchambered sepulchral cairns, as the interments are either 
 in stone cists in the substance of the cairn or deposited in 
 the earth beneath it. One of the most instructive of this 
 category was at Collessie, in Fife, the investigation of which 
 was superintended, and the results recorded, by Dr Joseph 
 Anderson. 1 The cairn was a mass of stones and boulders, 
 120 feet in diameter and 14 feet in height. A large central 
 segment of the stones was cleared away down to the level 
 of the ground, during which the following discoveries were 
 made : 
 
 1. Within a few feet of the margin there was exposed a 
 portion of a circle of upright slabs which the explorers con- 
 sidered to be part of the original boundary of the cairn. 
 
 2. Within this ring the whole area of the cairn was covered 
 with a layer of fine clay i to 3 inches thick, and on its surface 
 were marks of fire in spaces several feet in diameter, with 
 abundance of black ashes and wood charcoal. Charcoal was 
 also found in the gravel beneath the layer of clay. 
 
 3. Near the centre of the cairn there was a stone cist 4^ 
 feet by 3 feet, resting on the ground, and containing gravel, 
 from which an urn of the drinking-cup type was extracted. 
 The floor of the cist was paved with pebbles, and underneath 
 this pavement the soil was loose, and mixed with fragments 
 of charcoal to a depth of 2 feet. 
 
 4. Some distance within the margin of the cairn, at a depth 
 of 4 feet in the gravel, the remains of a cremated burial 
 were found, among the bones of which lay a small bronze 
 dagger - blade, and a gold fillet which had encircled the 
 handle. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xii. p. 439.
 
 CAIRNS WITH CISTS. 313 
 
 5. A second deposit of burnt bones and a broken drinking- 
 cup were found near the centre, at a depth of 6 feet in the 
 earth. 
 
 A cairn on the farm of Gilchorn, near Arbroath, was explored 
 by Mr Alexander Hutcheson, which yielded a bronze dagger 
 (fig. 1 06) and fragments of at least two others, associated with 
 burials both by inhumation and cremation. 1 On comparing 
 the results of this investigation with those of the cairn at 
 Newton of Collessie, Mr Hutcheson thus states the points of 
 resemblance and difference : " The features in which they 
 agree are (i) the layer of clay underlying the site of the 
 cairn ; (2) the appearance of wood ashes all over this surface ; 
 (3) the existence of a cist of stone slabs containing an unburnt 
 burial ; and (4) the presence of cremated urn-burials asso- 
 ciated with implements of bronze. On the other hand, the 
 points in which they differ are as follows : (i) In the Collessie 
 cairn the cist stood on the natural surface, in the Gilchorn 
 mound the cist was sunk below the subsoil; (2) at Collessie, 
 the burnt remains and the associated urns were found sunk 
 in the subsoil, whereas at Gilchorn the urns rested on the 
 subsoil." 
 
 Burials are often found in groups or cemeteries with or 
 without stone cists. 
 
 A few years ago a cemetery, with and without urns, was 
 discovered in a sand-pit at Kirkpark, near Musselburgh 
 Station, in Mid-Lothian, the results of which have been 
 described by the Rev. George Lowe and Dr Joseph Ander- 
 son. 2 The urns were merely buried in the sand, at a depth 
 of from 3 ^> to 6 feet, along with burnt material which seemed 
 to have been thrown into the graves when they were de- 
 posited. The urns were sometimes inverted; and some of 
 them were full of burnt bones and others empty. One grave 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxv. p. 447. * Ibid., vol. xxviii. p. 62. 
 
 Y
 
 314 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 contained no less than four (Nos. 6 to 9). No actual bronze 
 was found, but in two instances the cremated bones were 
 " extensively dyed, as it were, with a brilliant green colour," 
 supposed to be due to the oxidation of bronze. Besides these 
 graves there were some discoloured spaces which had the 
 appearance of burial by inhumation. Mr Lowe adds that 
 " in this same field many stone coffins containing bodies have 
 been found at different times." 
 
 Dr Anderson, after giving a technical description of the 
 urns from this cemetery, thus describes its general charac- 
 teristics : " In its general character it closely resembles 
 another cemetery also found in clearing away a natural 
 deposit of sand at Magdalen Bridge, a little nearer the 
 present sea-shore, and about a mile nearer Edinburgh, in 
 which there were at least ten urns found, seven of which are 
 now in the Museum, along with a small thin oval tanged 
 bronze blade l (fig. 94) found in one of them. The urns from 
 the two cemeteries have much the same character, the orna- 
 mentation on two of those from the Kirkpark cemetery 
 being composed of the same patterns distributed in the same 
 way as that on two of the urns from Magdalen Bridge. In 
 both cemeteries there was the same variety in the manner of 
 burial, mostly after cremation." 
 
 Two cemeteries found on the estate of Pitreavie, near 
 Dunfermline, and described by Henry Beveridge, Esq. of 
 Pitreavie, 2 present some features of special interest. One, 
 near the summit of a gentle rising ground in cultivated lands, 
 was without any evidence of a tumulus. There were seven 
 cists nearly in a row within a space of 30 feet, but none of 
 them was more than 12 inches below the surface. One had 
 neither cover nor urn ; another, without a cover, contained 
 some handfuls of incinerated bones. Four cists contained 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvi. p. 424. 2 Ibid., vol. xx. p. 240.
 
 VARIOUS FORMS OF BURIAL. 315 
 
 urns of the food-vessel type, measuring from 4^ to 5^ 
 inches in height. Near one of the urns was found a small 
 flint flake, and beside another a disc-shaped flint scraper. 
 
 The second cemetery was close to the north margin of 
 Calais Muir, on the summit of a natural rising ground, and 
 surmounted by an artificial tumulus, 40 feet in diameter and 
 4 feet in height. Near the centre of the tumulus was a cist 
 covered by a large stone 2^ feet below the surface of the 
 mound. In this cist was found an ornamented urn of the 
 food - vessel type, 5 inches in height, which presents the 
 peculiarity of being surrounded above the shoulder by a row 
 of four projecting knobs perforated horizontally. 
 
 " Pursuing the excavation," writes Mr Beveridge, " around 
 the central cist, ten other urns were recovered in a more or 
 less imperfect condition ; besides which were found numerous 
 fragments of urns, and also several deposits of burned bones, 
 as well as vegetable charcoal in considerable quantities. The 
 urns lay at different points, but chiefly upon the west side of 
 the cist, and at distances from the cist varying from 3 to 
 6 feet. These urns were all of the cinerary type ; they stood 
 for the most part upon their bottoms, and were deposited at a 
 level somewhat higher than that of the cist, thus suggesting a 
 later date of interment. These urns were all more or less 
 filled with incinerated bones and other remains of cremation. 
 In one or two of the urns were observed pieces of calcined 
 bone bearing traces of the peculiar green stain which always 
 accompanies the presence of bronze; but although careful 
 search was made, not the smallest fragment of bronze could 
 be detected." 
 
 It has been established beyond doubt that most of the 
 stone circles, as well as single standing stones, scattered more 
 or less in groups over the country, so far as they have been 
 subjected to practical investigation, are mere external ap-
 
 316 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 pendages of burials both by inhumation and cremation, but 
 more commonly the latter. These interments are either 
 in cists, urns, or grave-pits, differing in no respect from those 
 under cairns or tumuli. This important generalisation was 
 first clearly shown by a series of explorations made by Mr C. 
 E. Dalrymple, the result of which is given in an Appendix 
 to Dr Stuart's 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland.' 1 Mr Dal- 
 rymple's investigations included a number of circles in the 
 counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine Crichie, Tuack, Sun- 
 honey, "The Standing Stones of Rayne," Ardlair, Ardoyne, 
 Auchorthie, &c. 
 
 At Crichie the stone circle, which originally consisted of six 
 stones, and one in the centre (fig. 200), was surrounded by a 
 ditch except at two opposite points. Beneath the centre stone 
 there was a pit, 1 5 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep, filled with 
 stones, under which was a cist with the remains of a skeleton. 
 Burnt burials, with and without cinerary urns, were also ex- 
 posed within the area, in one of which, among some burnt 
 bones, close to a standing stone, was found a fine specimen of 
 a perforated stone hammer (fig. 48). 
 
 At Tuack seven burials, all after cremation, were discovered 
 within a circle which also originally consisted of six stones. 
 The cremated remains were in pits, and in three instances 
 inverted cinerary urns covered them. Fragments of a small 
 bronze blade were found among the bones in one of the 
 graves. 
 
 The publication of Mr Dalrymple's discoveries by Dr 
 Stuart (1856) induced Dr James Bryce to undertake a 
 similar investigation among the stone circles of Arran, especi- 
 ally those on Mauchrie Moor. One of this group, 15 yards 
 in diameter, still retains in position three huge sandstone 
 slabs 16 to 1 8 feet in height, but originally there would 
 1 See also Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xviii. p. 319.
 
 BURIALS IN STONE CIRCLES. 
 
 317 
 
 be seven or eight stones in the circle. About the centre of 
 the enclosed area, and 2 feet below the surface, the stone 
 cover of a cist was exposed. This being raised with much 
 difficulty, there was found an ornamented urn of the food- 
 vessel type and four flint arrow-heads of rude construction. 
 
 S 10 14' 
 
 Fig. 200. Ground-plan and section of stone circle at Crichie. 
 
 In another circle, 4^ feet from the surface, a cist was 
 exposed which also contained an urn of a similar character 
 and two rude flints. Analogous results were obtained in six 
 or seven of the circles, but only in one instance was there 
 any trace of metal discovered viz., a portion of a pin or 
 awl. All the burials thus examined within the. Mauchrie
 
 318 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 stone circles appear to have been after inhumation, as the 
 two urns preserved are of the food-vessel type. 1 
 
 Remnants of stone circles and " standing stones," often in 
 groups of twos, threes, or more, sometimes arranged in lines or 
 avenues, but more frequently as solitary hoary pillars, abound 
 in almost every district of Scotland. Of such megalithic 
 monuments history is almost silent, and the associations which 
 still hover about them in local folk-lore are of little value in 
 determining their origin or purpose. They are rough blocks 
 or boulders from the natural rocks of the neighbourhood, pro- 
 bably selected because of their pillar-like forms. Only two of 
 these unsculptured monuments bear inscriptions viz., the Cat 
 Stone, near Edinburgh, and the Newton Stone, in Garioch. 
 Many of them, however, show cup-and-ring marks and other 
 symbolical incised sculptures. That many of these megaliths 
 are mere external settings of graves has been proved by 
 actual investigation ; whilst others, especially the solitary 
 specimens, or menhirs, were no doubt intended to com- 
 memorate other important events, as indicated by the tra- 
 ditionary names assigned to some of them, such as Cat Stone, 
 Hawk Stone, King's Stone, Tanist Stone, Stone of Odin, &c. 
 Such memorials are common in Scotland, and good examples 
 must be familiar to visitors of the islands of Bute and Arran, 
 and many of the more frequented Highland glens. Stone 
 circles are numerous throughout the counties of Aberdeen, 
 Perth, Kincardine, and Forfar; and they are also met with 
 in the south-west of Scotland. As an illustration I repro- 
 duce from a photograph a view of the Stone circle of Auqu- 
 horthies near Inverury (PI. XIII.) 
 
 Groups of upright stones arranged in rows, sometimes 
 parallel, but more frequently converging at one end, occur 
 within the Scottish area only in Caithness and Sutherland, but 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. iv. p. 49, and vol. xvii. p. 458, figs. 19 and 20.
 
 CINERARY URNS. 
 
 319 
 
 Fig. 201. Cinerary urn found at Moathill, Ochiltree, Ayrshire (J). 
 
 Fig. 202. Cinerary urn found at Seamill, Ayrshire ($).
 
 32O MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 analogous remains have been observed outside this area, as at 
 Ashdown, in Berkshire, 1 and especially at Carnac, in Brittany. 
 The Caithness group, described by Dr Anderson 2 and Sir 
 Henry Dryden, 3 are regarded by the former investigator as 
 having sepulchral associations. 
 
 Before concluding our observations on sepulchral memorials, 
 a few words must be said on the contents of the graves. The 
 most common objects deposited with the dead were pottery, 
 personal ornaments, and weapons. 
 
 The pottery consists of a variety of vessels, collectively 
 called urns, but as they were deposited both with burnt and 
 unburnt burials, it is manifest that they could not all have been 
 used for cinerary purposes. Vessels associated with inhumed 
 bodies are supposed to have originally contained food or drink, 
 to supply the needs of the departed on the journey to the 
 unseen world of spirits. Hence archaeologists are in the 
 habit of classifying them into "cinerary urns" (figs. 201 and 
 202), "food-vessels" (figs. 186, 203-205), and "drinking- 
 cups" (figs. 185 and 206). Very small cup -shaped urns, 
 often pierced with two or four holes on the sides, and gener- 
 ally found inside the large cinerary urn, are called " incense 
 cups "(fig. 207). But there is no evidence to support this 
 suggested use of them, and they are now more generally 
 regarded as cinerary urns for infants. 
 
 Cinerary urns vary in size, form, and ornamentation, being 
 from 10 to 1 8^ inches in height. They are coarsely made 
 vessels, wide-mouthed and narrow-based, and having a broad 
 overhanging rim to which the ornamentation is generally con- 
 fined ; or they may be ornamented by transverse ridges as in 
 fig. 208. They are found often inverted over the cremated 
 remains, or in an upright position covered with a flat stone. 
 
 1 International Congress of Prehist. Arch., 1868, p. 37. 
 
 2 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 125. 3 Rude Stone Monuments, p. 529.
 
 FOOD-VESSELS. 
 
 321 
 
 The food-vessel, smaller, more globular, and more highly 
 ornamented than the cinerary urn, is also wide-mouthed and 
 
 Fig. 203. Food-vessel from Sheldon, Ayrshire ($). 
 
 narrow-based. It is commonly found with an unburnt body, 
 and generally placed near the head. 
 
 Fig. 204. Food-vessel found in levelling a sandbank at Content, Ayrshire ($). 
 
 Drinking-cups are tall, highly ornamented vessels, narrow- 
 ing from the mouth to near the middle, then bulging out and
 
 322 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 Fig. 205. Food-vessel found at Law, Tarbolton (^). 
 
 Fig. 206. Urn from Cairngaan, Kirkmaiden, Ayrshire ($).
 
 PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 323 
 
 again narrowing at the base. A few specimens have been 
 found with a handle like a jug. They are commonly associ- 
 ated with burials after inhumation only two out of twenty- 
 
 1 
 
 Fig. 207. Incense cup, with, lid of baked clay, found at Genoch, Ayrshire (). 
 
 four having been found by Canon Greenwell in the wold- 
 barrows with cremated burials. 
 
 The objects classified as personal ornaments found in these 
 graves include buttons of jet, stone, 
 or bone ; pins of bone and bronze : 
 necklaces made of plates and beads 
 of jet. With regard to the latter, 
 there are several instances in which 
 the plates and scattered beads have 
 been recovered and reconstructed 
 so as to present the entire neck- 
 lace. The plates are either tri- 
 angular or trapezoidal, and often Fig ^_ Urn found near 
 ornamented with incised or dotted Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire (7 
 
 inches in height). 
 
 lines arranged in groups of geo- 
 metrical figures. These relics are among the most interesting 
 evidences of the culture of the Bronze-Age people which have 
 come down to our day. (See fig. 133.)
 
 324 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 Ornaments of gold and bronze rings, armlets, earrings, &c. 
 are also not unfrequently met with ; but those of amber, 
 perforated teeth, and shells, are comparatively rare in the pre- 
 historic burials of Scotland. 
 
 Among implements and weapons the most noteworthy are 
 arrow-heads, knives, and scrapers of flint; wrist-guards (fig. 
 76), perforated stone-hammers (figs. 48 and 49), and whet- 
 stones ; and small thin blades of bronze in the form of 
 daggers and so-called razors attached to handles with rivets 
 or tangs (figs. 92-95). Records of the finding of bronze 
 axes of any kind, socketed spear- heads, and leaf- shaped 
 swords, in association with sepulchral remains, are almost 
 unknown not only within the Scottish area but within the 
 British Isles. 
 
 Dr Anderson, who has reconstructed for our National 
 Museum, often from the merest fragments, a typical col- 
 lection of urns unsurpassed by that of any other country, 
 thus refers to the contents of Scottish prehistoric burials of 
 the Bronze Age: "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 Mid-Lothian. 
 The bronze blades and jet necklaces from Sutherlandshire are 
 precisely like those from Forfarshire and Mid-Lothian. The 
 gold ornaments from Banffshire are similar 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
 
 IRON-AGE BURIALS. 325 
 
 that the objects fashioned in these various materials usually 
 exhibit shapeliness of form, fitness of purpose, and tastefulness 
 of decoration." l 
 
 In the above short review of the sepulchral phenomena 
 prevalent in Scotland during prehistoric times, it will be 
 observed that there is no mention of burials of the Early 
 Iron Age. The reason for this is that archaeologists have 
 not yet found any mounds or graves in Scotland, with the 
 exception of burials of the Viking period, which can with 
 certainty be assigned to this period ; and those explored in 
 England have been already sufficiently described in the chap- 
 ter dealing with the Late Celtic period. Considering the 
 abundance of burials of the Early Iron Age throughout 
 France, Germany, Austria, and Italy, it is somewhat re- 
 markable that they should be so sparingly represented 
 within the British Isles. The same remark is almost appli- 
 cable to burials of the Stone Age. Although many graves 
 have been examined which contained implements and weapons 
 of stone and nothing of bronze, it does not follow that these 
 graves were earlier than others in which bronze articles were 
 found. It seems to me that the vast majority of the sepul- 
 chral memorials, hitherto explored within the Scottish area, 
 date from the introduction of bronze and the custom of 
 cremating the dead. Moreover, evidence is not wanting 
 to suggest, if not to prove, that the same customs and 
 civilisation continued to a much later period in North 
 Britain than in the southern parts of the island. Some 
 of the ordinary burials, whether after inhumation or crema- 
 tion, which in all respects might be regarded as of the 
 Bronze Age, may in reality be as late as the Roman 
 occupation. 
 
 The following categorical notes on the relation between 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 95.
 
 326 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 the various Scottish forms of burial and their analogues in 
 Western Europe are noteworthy : 
 
 i. The series of chambered cairns, extending through the 
 counties of Argyll, Inverness, Sutherland, and Caithness to 
 
 Fig. 209. Dolmen at Ballymascanlan, Dundalk (total height 12 feet). 
 {From photograph by R. Welch.) 
 
 the Orkney Islands, do not cover a sufficiently wide area to 
 entitle them to be regarded as the representatives of the 
 Stone-Age burials of Scotland. 
 
 2. These same chambered cairns disclose a progressive
 
 DOLMENS. 
 
 327 
 
 amplification as regards structural details in the northern 
 part of the area of their distribution ; and in all of them 
 from the very beginning both cremation and inhumation were 
 practised by the people who constructed and owned them. 
 3. In the south-west of England (Gloucester, Wilts, Somer- 
 
 
 Fig. 210. Spinsters' Rock, Chagford, Devonshire (supports 6% feet high). 
 (From a photograph by Hudson.) 
 
 set, and some neighbouring localities) there are chambered 
 cairns analogous to those in the Scottish area, including 
 even " Horned Cairns," but in the -former all the primary 
 burials were by inhumation, and the skulls were those of a 
 dolichocephalic race. 
 
 4. Sepulchral chambers with beehive roofs are met with 
 
 z
 
 328 MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 in all parts of the British Isles, but they are not found in 
 the Scandinavian archaeological area, and only very rarely 
 in France. Dr Fergusson, 1 in describing the existence of two 
 dolmens, associated with a circular chamber constructed on 
 the beehive principle, in the long barrow called Moustoir- 
 Carnac, in Brittany, gives expression to the opinion that this 
 method of construction is more modern than the simpler ceil- 
 ing of single blocks, as was the custom in the earlier mega- 
 lithic chambers. The beehive method of roofing was prac- 
 tised by the early inhabitants of Sardinia (Nurhags), Malta, 
 Greece (tombs of Mycenae), and Egypt (the Pyramids). 
 
 5. Dolmens i.e., sepulchral monuments constructed of 
 huge stones set on end and covered over with similar mega- 
 liths so as to form a chamber with, or without, an entrance 
 passage are rarely, if at all, met with in Scotland. But on 
 the other hand, they abound in Ireland (fig. 209 and PI. XIV.), 
 England (fig. 210), south of Sweden, Denmark, North Ger- 
 many, the Drenthe, west of France, Spain, Portugal, and 
 North Africa. 
 
 1 Rude Stone Monuments, p. 359.
 
 s * 
 
 8? 
 
 Q 13 
 < | 
 
 O & 
 K 
 
 H 
 
 X
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING SOCIAL LIFE. 
 
 AVING in previous chapters discussed the 
 mechanical skill of the prehistoric inhabi- 
 tants of Scotland, as manifested in their 
 stone and bronze industries, and expati- 
 ated on the strong evidence in support 
 of the theory that they were greatly 
 influenced in all their actions by religious principles, we 
 now proceed to the consideration of the general phenomena 
 of their domestic and social life. The first and paramount 
 element in the attainment of domestic comfort is the dwelling- 
 place, more especially in a country where the climate necessi- 
 tates bodily clothing, shelter from a frequently inclement sky, 
 and often a supply of artificial warmth. And on this point, 
 also, I have to premise that the evidential materials within 
 the Scottish area are so scanty and fragmentary that they 
 have to be supplemented by foreign gleanings. 
 
 It was when dealing with the topographical modifications of 
 the country due to changes in the relative level of sea and 
 land that we caught the first glimpse of our prehistoric fore- 
 fathers. We saw them hovering about the Carse of Stirling, 
 when that stretch of now richly cultivated soil was the bed of
 
 330 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 a land-locked bay of no mean magnitude ; at one time attack- 
 ing and hashing up the carcasses of a number of stranded 
 whales with instruments rudely fashioned of deer-horn, and at 
 another feasting around extemporised hearths on the shore, 
 on various edible molluscs which they had transported thither 
 during the ebb-tide of the now vanished sea. Then again we 
 had a peep of an interesting group of Troglodytes in a cave 
 situated at the foot of a cliff in the present town of Oban, 
 then washed by the Atlantic waves, but now over a hundred 
 yards from the shore. From this place of abode these early 
 colonists plied their avocations both by sea and land, culling 
 from the products of each the ingredients of a substantial and 
 varied meal. The accumulation of shells and broken bones in 
 the form of a refuse-heap suggests a long sojourn in the cave, 
 while the harpoons, bone chisels, and stone implements suffi- 
 ciently attest the character and occupation of their owners. 
 An inspection of the organic remains shows that they pos- 
 sessed some of the ordinary domestic animals, such as the 
 dog, ox, and pig ; and thus they combined with a pastoral 
 occupation that of hunting and fishing. The absence of the 
 sheep and horse from the fauna in this early period suggests 
 that these animals were a later addition to the domestic ani- 
 mals of the neighbourhood. 
 
 We also noted some further evidence of the presence of 
 an industrious population at this period (i.e., when the 25-feet 
 raised beach was being still laved by the tidal waves) in the 
 canoes, stone implements, and camping-ground exposed in 
 these ancient sea-margins along the shores of the Firths of 
 Tay, Forth, Clyde, and Solway, localities now more or less 
 inland. But with the exception of the Oban cave, and one 
 or two rock-shelters, there is no reliable evidence to show 
 what means they adopted to shelter themselves from the 
 vicissitudes of a variable climate. The remains of pit-
 
 PIT-DWELLINGS. 331 
 
 dwellings and hut - circles, so frequently chronicled by 
 archaeologists, afford few data for determining either the 
 nature of these structures or the age to which they be- 
 longed, although it is quite probable that some of them 
 may date to the incoming into Scotland of the earliest 
 races. 
 
 At Spiennes, near the town of Mons, Belgium, may be 
 seen, thickly scattered over a plateau of 50 or 60 acres, 
 a large number of circular pits, 2 to 3 feet in diameter 
 and 25 to 38 feet in depth. 1 The chalk formation in this 
 locality lies underneath quaternary and tertiary deposits, and 
 these pits had been excavated by the Neolithic people for 
 the purpose of extracting the flint nodules which it contains 
 in great abundance. From the bottom of the shafts galleries 
 were driven in all directions, until the whole district became 
 actually riddled with subterranean passages. The shafts are 
 now either fallen in or filled up with debris ; but a few of 
 them were cleared, and thus some interesting relics have come 
 to light. The walls of the underground passages showed the 
 marks of the flint and horn picks by means of which the chalk 
 was excavated. In the vicinity of these pits MM. le Baron 
 A. de Loe and E. de Munck have discovered the remains 
 of flint-factories and dwelling-huts. 2 These sites were in the 
 form of circular depressions, 2 to 5 paces in diameter, but of 
 no great depth. In the huts were found beds of charcoal, 
 various kinds of implements of stone, horn, and bone, broken 
 bones, land-shells, and other remains of food-refuse. The 
 factories were distinguished from the huts merely by the 
 quantity of flint-refuse and tools which they contained. The 
 hammer-stones were round balls of hard sandstone this sub- 
 stance being apparently preferable to a flint nodule. Flint- 
 mining on similar methods has also been carried on in Britain, 
 
 1 Congrs International, &c., 1872, p. 279. J Ihid., 1889, p. 569.
 
 332 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 as at Grime's Graves, near Brandon, 1 and at Cissbury Camp, 
 near Worthing. - 
 
 Foundations of dwelling-huts of a still earlier period have 
 been discovered in several localities in Europe. The most 
 important station of this kind is that at Campigny, near the 
 picturesque village of Blangy (Seine Inferieure), France. The 
 sites of these dwellings were circular pits, excavated in quater- 
 nary gravels, and measuring a few yards in diameter and about 
 4 feet in depth, which in the course of time became filled up 
 with debris and so preserved their contents. The industrial 
 remains collected consist of hearths, remains of stone industry, 
 and fragments of a coarse pottery. The pottery shows various 
 kinds of vessels, some with perforated handles or ears, and 
 others rudely ornamented with cross lines in quadrilateral 
 spaces. Among the stone relics are small axes (tranchets), 
 precisely similiar to those found in the Danish Kjokken- 
 moddings, knife-flakes, scrapers, &c., but no polished objects. 
 It would thus appear that the invention of pottery preceded 
 that of the art of polishing the edges of cutting implements. 
 There are also a few large flat sandstones showing marks of 
 rubbing, as well as the smaller hand-rubbers, which are sup- 
 posed to have been used for grinding grain and seeds. The 
 number of hearths indicates communal life and a social organi- 
 sation of some kind. As to the actual covering of these sites, 
 or the kind of hut which these people constructed, there is no 
 evidence. Campigny is chronologically on the same horizon 
 as the rock-shelter of Mas-d'Azil, and to French archaeologists 
 it has supplied a name to the period of transition between 
 Palaeolithic and Neolithic times. 3 
 
 Nor is the evidence to be gathered from collateral sources of 
 a very precise character. Even as regards the actual habitations 
 
 1 Eth. Soc. Journ., vol. ii. 2 Aichaeologia, vol. xlii. 
 
 3 See ' Revue Mensuelle,' 1889, pp. 366-408.
 
 HUTS. 333 
 
 or huts of the lake-dwellers the details are meagre and frag- 
 mentary. The indications from this source consist of portions 
 of clay-mouldings, hearth-stones, and a few special commodities 
 of domestic life picked up on the sites of the lacustrine settle- 
 ments. The faggot castings in clay suggest that the huts were 
 made of small timbers and plastered over with puddled clay. 
 Such impressions have been found on many stations ; and it 
 may be noted that they vary greatly in size, some showing 
 merely a kind of wicker-work and others timbers of large 
 dimensions. The clay-castings found on the Glastonbury 
 lake-village are generally of the former character. 
 
 One important piece of evidence as to the kind of abodes 
 constructed by the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age settlement 
 of Schussenried, in the Federsee, came to light some years 
 ago. This settlement had none of the signs of having been 
 destroyed by fire, and it is supposed that its inhabitants 
 voluntarily abandoned it on account of the growth of the 
 surrounding peat. In this case it is probable that the huts 
 would be allowed to fall into natural decay, but before this 
 happened there was a chance that some part of the buildings 
 would be overtaken by the moss, and so become, as it were, 
 hermetically sealed up. That something like this actually 
 occurred is now proved by the discovery of the foundations 
 and portions of the walls of a cottage deeply buried in the 
 moss. As soon as the discovery became known Mr Frank, 
 the investigator of the settlement, had the ruins uncovered, 
 and before the crumbling materials disappeared there was a 
 plan of the building taken, which by his courtesy I had an 
 opportunity of inspecting. The structure was of an oblong 
 rectangular form, about 33 feet long and 23 feet wide, and 
 was divided by a partition into two chambers. On the south 
 side there was a door, a little over 3 feet wide, which opened 
 into one of the chambers. The other, or inner chamber, was
 
 334 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 somewhat larger, and had no communication with the out- 
 side, except through the former by means of a door in the 
 partition. There were no relics found in this chamber, 
 but in the outer there was a mass of stones which showed 
 signs of having been a fireplace. The walls were constructed 
 of split stems set upright, and their crevices plastered over 
 with clay. The flooring in both chambers was composed 
 of four layers of closely laid timbers separated by as many 
 layers of clay. These repeated floorings may have been 
 necessary from the gradual rise of the surrounding peat 
 which ultimately drove the inhabitants away. 
 
 From the remains of the Scottish and Irish crannogs we 
 also gather some reliable evidence as to the kind of dwellings 
 that were in use during the early Iron Age. These were con- 
 structed of upright timbers placed side by side, the interstices 
 being filled in with clay, like that at Schussenried, so that they 
 may be regarded, to some extent, as direct survivals of struc- 
 tures previously in use. The Lochlee crannog had five distinct 
 hearths superimposed one above the other, indicating succes- 
 sive, but intermittent, occupation. On the original platform, 
 and at the same level as the lowest hearth, were the stumps 
 of a wooden wall forming a rectangular enclosure 39 feet 
 square. This enclosure was divided near its middle by a 
 partition, and on the south side of the southern compart- 
 ment were portions of two stout posts which had evidently 
 formed a doorway. In front of this door and on the left 
 side there was an immense refuse-heap, and a little beyond 
 it, the remains of a gangway which stretched to the original 
 shore of the lake. 
 
 Another crannog exposed in the bed of a drained loch in 
 Argyllshire contained the wooden foundations of a circular 
 dwelling-house which clearly showed the method of construc- 
 tion. In the centre of the artificial island there was the
 
 WOODEN HUTS. 335 
 
 stump of a huge oak pile, and around it a series of flat hori- 
 zontal beams, firmly fixed to the surface of the island and 
 all pointing towards the centre. At the outer end of each 
 beam there was a square-cut hole, apparently for receiving 
 the end of an upright post. The distance between these 
 holes and the centre was 8 or 9 feet, and that between 
 the beams, at their outer extremities, 5 or 6 feet. That the 
 uprights which stood in these holes had been connected with 
 the central pile was obvious, but whether they converged to- 
 wards it like the ribs of an umbrella, or rose perpendicularly 
 to meet cross rafters, there was no evidence to show. 
 
 As early as 1833 Captain Mudge, R.N., described a wooden 
 hut l which had been exposed in the bog of Drumkilin, county 
 Donegal. It consisted of a rectangularly shaped framework 
 of oak beams, mortised at the corners, and measuring 1 2 feet 
 square by 9 feet in height. It was open on one side, and 
 about half-way up there was a horizontal flooring which 
 divided it into an upper and a lower compartment. The base 
 of the hut rested on a substratum of brushwood, a fact which 
 subsequently led to the conjecture that it was the site of a 
 crannog; and peat to the extent of 16 feet in depth had 
 accumulated above its roof. 
 
 Remains of wooden structures, having some resemblance to 
 the Drumkilin hut, were discovered in 1880, in the Coal- bog, 
 county Fermanagh, also on the site of a supposed crannog. 
 Here, at a depth of 2 1 feet below the surface of the peat, an 
 artificial mound was encountered, and upon it there was a 
 wooden framework formed of rough beams with rudely ex- 
 ecuted mortises. This framework measured n feet 10 inches 
 in length and 6 feet 3 inches in breadth, and associated with 
 it were some stone implements and other objects of an archaic 
 character. 
 
 ' J Archreologia, vol. xxvi.
 
 336 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 As to the materials which covered the roofs of these early 
 huts we have but scanty data for forming an opinion. From 
 discoveries made at Niederwyl, Mr Messikommer came to 
 the conclusion that the roofs of the huts in that station had 
 been covered with layers of straw and rushes. That thatch 
 of some sort was generally used in proto - historic times iw 
 western Europe finds some corroboration in the statements 
 of classical writers. Strabo asserts that the Belgae lived " in 
 great houses, arched, constructed of planks and wicker, and 
 covered with a heavy thatched roof" (Book iv. chap. 4). 
 
 Owing to the perishable nature of the constructive materials 
 of these wooden houses, we could not expect to find many 
 traces of them now, except under such rare conditions as 
 are occasionally supplied by lake - dwellings and peat-bogs. 
 The supposition that wooden houses preceded the ordinary 
 stone buildings in Scotland is also strengthened by the fact 
 that the latter have been found only on the later crannogs. 
 
 Beehive Huts. 
 
 There is, however, a method of building huts with dry 
 stones which claims a high antiquity, it being actually proved 
 to have been practised in Ireland before the introduction of 
 Christianity. This is the beehive hut (fig. 211), which consists 
 of a circular or oval building constructed of uncemented stones, 
 and so arranged that each layer overlaps the one beneath it, 
 till the opening becomes so small, at the apex, as to be closed 
 in by one stone. Although these structures were comparatively 
 rude within the British Isles, yet the architectural principle 
 involved is capable of great development both in gracefulness 
 of form and perfection of structure. The finest, and probably 
 the oldest, examples known are the famous tombs of Mycenae, 
 especially that called the "Treasury of Atreus."
 
 BEEHIVE HUTS. 
 
 337 
 
 In the simple form beehive houses appear to have been 
 planned and laid out without any regard to symmetry, so 
 that, when partially covered with earth or stones, an opera- 
 tion which was almost essential for the stability of the roof, 
 they looked like a group of tumuli or cairns. These uni- 
 cellular structures were not capable of attaining large dimen- 
 sions, but by connecting them by means of passages, a 
 many-roomed dwelling-house could be readily constructed. 
 
 - 
 
 
 Fig. 211. Clochan-na-Carraige, North Island, Aran. 
 
 Another method by which the dwelling could be enlarged 
 disclosed no small amount of skill and architectural in- 
 genuity. Thus, by surrounding a circular chamber with a 
 gallery, leaving just the thickness of a wall between them, and 
 having this wall interrupted by passages at regular intervals all 
 round, a spacious compact building could be constructed. A 
 specimen of this kind was discovered by Captain Thomas in 
 South Uist, and is thus described by him : " On a small,
 
 338 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 flattish terrace, where the hill sloped steeply, an area had 
 been cleared by digging away the bank, so that the wall of 
 the house, for nearly half its circumference, was the side of the 
 hill faced with stone ; while the other side of the house, for it 
 was almost gone, was built up from the ground. The interior 
 of the house was circular and 28 feet in diameter. Within the 
 area were pillars, or rather piers, formed of blocks of dry-stone 
 masonry, raised distinct from the wall, and radiating from the 
 centre of the house. These piers were about 4 feet high, 4 
 feet 6 inches long, and i ^ foot to 2 feet broad ; and there 
 was a passage of from i foot to 2 feet in width between the 
 wall and them. There were five piers remaining, and five 
 more would complete the suite. These piers were evidently 
 intended to lessen the space to be covered by overlapping ; 
 for while the breadth of the house is 28 feet, the central dome 
 or beehive had, by this means, only 15 feet to span." l 
 
 This remarkable house had attached to it a subterranean 
 gallery or hypogeum, 14 feet long, which terminated in an 
 underground beehive chamber of considerable size, as shown 
 on the accompanying plan and sections (fig. 212). 
 
 From the investigations of Captain Thomas 2 it would ap- 
 pear that beehive houses continued to be built and used 
 down almost to the present day in the islands of Harris, 
 Lewis, and St Kilda. Sir Arthur Mitchell, who has devoted 
 a chapter to these primitive structures in his most interesting 
 book, ' The Past in the Present,' thus writes : " When I had 
 seen more of them, I came to the same conclusion as Captain 
 Thomas, namely, that they represent an old form of dwelling 
 which is now dying out. No other conclusion, in fact, is 
 possible. The time of the building of some of them has 
 been well ascertained; one, for instance, was built by a 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 166. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 127, and vol. vii. p. 153.
 
 BEEHIVE HOUSES. 
 
 339 
 
 person who was alive in 1858, and there are people living 
 who were born in them. They have at one time been very 
 common. Captain Thomas saw fifty or sixty in what he 
 properly calls a limited area. They are not confined to 
 Harris and the Lewis, but I believe are also found in the 
 other islands of the Outer Hebrides, and they probably ex- 
 
 Fig. 212. Ground-plan and section of beehive house (restored) on line A B, 
 Huishinish, South Uist. 
 
 isted at no very distant time in Skye, in Mull, and in some 
 of the west parishes of the mainland. .Not more, however, 
 than from twenty to thirty are now inhabited." 1 
 
 In Ireland beehive huts, or cloghauns as they are there 
 generally called, are very abundant, especially in stony dis- 
 tricts, such as the Aran Isles and county Kerry. In June 
 1897 I had an opportunity, under the guidance of the 
 
 1 Op. cif., p. 63.
 
 340 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, of visiting the ruins 
 of the "ancient city of Fahan," certainly one of the most 
 extraordinary archaic remains I have ever seen. Proceed- 
 ing westwards from the coastguard station on the slope of 
 Mount Eagle, overlooking Dingle Bay, we reached Fahan, 
 where may be seen "forts with three, four, two, and one 
 huts, a group of seven huts and twelve detached cloghauns, 
 a church, and four gallauns." Immediately to the south of 
 this is the famous fort of Dunbeg, occupying a projecting 
 headland, three-fourths of which require no defence, as it 
 terminates in a precipitous cliff. On the landside it is pro- 
 tected by a massive stone wall and three earthen ramparts 
 which stretch across the entire neck of the headland. There 
 is a gate in the wall with a guard-chamber on each side, and 
 in the court inside are the remains of a large beehive hut. 
 The other forts on the slope of the hill consist of stone 
 walls, 10 to 14 feet or more in thickness, enclosing groups 
 of beehive huts. Some of these huts contained souterrains 
 entered by trap-like doors from the floor. 
 
 One of the most interesting of these forts, Caher-Fada-an- 
 Doruis (the long fort of the doors), had been recently cleared 
 out, and showed a triple - celled dwelling, the central one 
 (the largest) measuring 18 feet in diameter. It was con- 
 nected with the other two beehive huts by passages 8 feet 
 in length. The entrance or outer door faced south-east, and 
 communicated with the central chamber by an oblique 
 passage, from which a flight of stone steps (in ruins) ran 
 spirally to the roof. Another fort was a double-chambered 
 cloghaun, which showed a small window the only one in 
 the Fahan group. 
 
 Two theories have been held as to the date of this remark- 
 able settlement: (i) that it was a primitive pagan city, 
 probably of the period of the Firbolgs (Du Noyer) ; and (2)
 
 BEEHIVE HOUSES. 34! 
 
 that it was the abode of Christian monks (O'Curry). Mr 
 Stewart Macalister, in his recent monograph on the subject, 1 
 comes to the conclusion that it existed both in pagan and 
 Christian times : " The clochdn period of the settlement," 
 he writes, "probably extends from a little before the intro- 
 duction of Christianity into Corkaguiney, down to a com- 
 paratively recent date in the middle ages. The modern in- 
 habitants are for the most part successors, not descendants, 
 of the older stock ; who probably died out, or else were 
 gradually dispersed by political and religious troubles, or by 
 the need of seeking other surroundings, more fertile if less 
 sublime." 
 
 Remains of beehive huts are frequently found in the great 
 stone forts on the west coast of Ireland, as, for example, 
 the Black Fort and Dun Conor, in Aranmore. I have also 
 observed similar hut -remains in a fort near Cahirciveen, 
 which in construction is analogous to Staigue Fort in the same 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that beehive huts were 
 erected by the pagan inhabitants of Ireland prior to the in- 
 troduction of Christianity, and that the Christians merely 
 adopted, in the construction of their cells, the architectural 
 methods they found already in use. Fig. 211 illustrates a 
 perfect specimen of a solitary cloghaun in the north island 
 of Aran. It is called Clochan-na-Carraige, and measures 19 
 feet by T)4 feet and 8 feet in height. It is on this primitive 
 type of building that the early church architecture, both in 
 Ireland and Scotland, was founded. The series of monastic 
 buildings on Skellig Michael church, square, oratory, and 
 beehive cells present, even now, a striking example of the 
 early Christian "Cashel." The oratory of Gallerus (fig. 213) 
 illustrates the first stage in the development of the beehive 
 1 Trans. R. I. Acad., vol. xxxi. part vii. p. 334. 
 2 A
 
 342 
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 structure into the subsequent church architecture of the 
 Christian period. 
 
 On Eilean-na-Noimh (Island of Saints), one of the Garve- 
 
 
 loch Isles, on the west coast of Argyllshire, there are two 
 ruined beehive cells associated with a small church ; but such 
 remains are by no means numerous in Scotland.
 
 UNDERGROUND DWELLINGS. 343 
 
 Picts* Houses, Earth-houses, " Weems" ore. 
 
 The comparative remoteness of North Britain and its 
 associated islands renders these regions peculiarly favour- 
 able for the preservation of antiquities. The disturbing ele- 
 ments imported into the more southerly parts of Britain, 
 in consequence of progressive waves of foreign civilisation, 
 took a long time to reach these distant lands and islands. 
 Hence we sometimes meet with the essential elements of 
 an archaic civilisation surviving in these parts to a much 
 later period than they did elsewhere. Of such survivals 
 the so-called " Picts" houses " afford excellent illustrations. 
 Dr Traill, in discoursing on these remains, thus writes : 
 "The usual form of these buildings is that of a rectangular 
 central chamber, with various passages leading into smaller 
 chambers or cells ; their shape, however, is variable, and 
 one form in particular deserves some attention, as it differs 
 so widely from the ordinary chambered tumuli that it appears 
 to belong to a different period, and possibly may have been 
 constructed by a different race. I allude to the circular 
 towers, or ' brochs,' as they are commonly termed, the 
 most characteristic example of which is the well-known 
 tower of Mousa, in Shetland. ... It has not yet been 
 satisfactorily decided which of these very dissimilar types 
 of architecture is the oldest. Both kinds are built of rough 
 stone, without the aid of mortar or lime, and both seem to 
 have been partially banked up on the outside with earth 
 and turf, apparently with the object of excluding wind and 
 rain. On this point, however, opinions differ; it is not al- 
 ways easy to determine how much of the earth and debris 
 that surrounds these buildings is artificial, or how much is 
 the effect of natural accumulation. In the case of Skerrabrae, 
 however, we can speak with tolerable certainty, as enough of
 
 344 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 the outer wall is exposed to show us that earth had been 
 heaped against the wall to the height of 6 or 8 feet, and 
 the sloping bank thus formed had been coated over with a 
 thin crust of clay. There was no clay on the wall itself, or 
 between the stones of it, but only on the surface of the 
 sloping embankment, and the deposit of earth above that, 
 consisting of broken shells and vegetable mould, is, I be- 
 lieve, chiefly the result of drifting sand, with successive 
 growths of vegetation on the top of it. It is remarkable 
 that bones and horns of red-deer are generally found in 
 both kinds of houses, and this circumstance is, I think, 
 important in trying to arrive at some approximate date as 
 to the age of these buildings ; for, while we have undoubted 
 evidence that these islands were formerly covered with forests 
 abounding in deer and other wild animals, yet the writings of 
 Caesar, Diodorus Siculus, Solinus, and others, lead us to be- 
 lieve that at a time prior to the Christian era the forests had 
 entirely disappeared, and we may justly conclude that the 
 deer also had then ceased to exist. Assuming, therefore, as 
 an established fact, that these early races of men were con- 
 temporaneous with the deer, we cannot bring them nearer to 
 our own times than 2000 years ; indeed, when we see how 
 many links are wanting in the chain that connects them 
 with our earliest recorded history, it is far more probable 
 that we must assign to them an older date by some centuries." l 
 One of the most instructive of the former class of dwellings 
 is that at Skerrabrae, referred to in the above quotation. It 
 is situated on the south side of the bay of Skaill, in Orkney, 
 and consists of a series of underground chambers connected 
 by long winding passages. I visited these ruins during the 
 summer of 1896, and had the good fortune to have them 
 explained to me by Mr Watt, who for many years has taken 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. pp. 427, 428.
 
 SKERRABRAE. 345 
 
 a great interest in everything pertaining to this singular place. 
 The explorations conducted by him from time to time have 
 been so extensive that the exposed ruins look almost like a 
 small village; nor was Mr Watt, even then, certain that its 
 full extent had been exposed. Through his courtesy I had 
 also an opportunity of examining the relics which for the most 
 part are preserved at his private residence. Mr George Petrie, 
 who first gave publicity to the existence of this remarkable 
 dwelling, thus records its discovery: "About fifteen or six- 
 teen years ago, the drift-sand, which had accumulated to a 
 great height at a place called Skara, on the south side of the 
 bay above named, was undermined and swept away by the 
 wild waves of the Atlantic, and an immense ' kitchen-midden," 
 apparently of great antiquity, was exposed to view. It was at 
 some points 15 or 16 feet high, and consisted chiefly of ashes 
 thickly studded with bones, shells, pieces of horns of the ox 
 and deer, and fragments of charred wood. The discovery was 
 communicated to me by Mr William Wait, Skaill, who showed 
 me various bone and stone implements which he had picked 
 out of the mound, and informed me of the existence of the 
 ruins of buildings at the same place. . . . Mr Watt, after- 
 wards, from time to time, collected a variety of stone and bone 
 relics from the mound, and ascertained that a great mass of 
 ruins lay buried there. He also came upon a stone kist 
 or box containing about two dozen large oyster- shells, all 
 perforated in the middle with a hole about an inch in 
 diameter." a 
 
 These structures, as now exposed, consist of four or five 
 groups of chambers and cells, placed on both sides of a 
 common gallery or passage which runs nearly parallel to the 
 shore-line. The entrance to each group is by a secondary 
 passage branching off to right or left from the main gallery. 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. pp. 201, 2O2.
 
 346 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 When discovered, all these chambers and passages were filled 
 with sand and stones fallen from the roof, so that the labour 
 of clearing them out was very great. 
 
 The first chamber, that on the left of the main entrance, 
 was approached through a passage 12 feet long, 2}^ feet wide 
 at outer end, but widening to 3^ feet at inner end, and 3^ 
 feet high. " About 8 feet from the entrance two jambs pro- 
 ject slightly into the passage, and on the inner side of these, 
 in the side walls, were bar holes, and extending across the 
 passage with its ends in these holes a long stone was found, 
 which had evidently been used as a bar to support or barri- 
 cade a door." When the sand had been cleared out the 
 chamber was found to measure n feet wide and about 21 
 feet long, transversely to the line of the entrance passage. 
 The walls were built of dry-stone masonry, 5 or 6 feet of 
 which still remained. The floor was flagged and marked out 
 into compartments by stones set on edge, varying in height 
 from a few inches to 2^ feet. The hearth occupied the 
 centre, and was clearly defined by stones placed rectangu- 
 larly, and the space so enclosed contained ashes and burnt 
 bones. On one side of the wall there was a small cell, 4 feet 
 in diameter and 4 feet in height, the entrance to which was 2 
 feet 7 inches high and very narrow. 
 
 It would occupy too much space to describe the details of 
 all the chambers, passages, and recesses. They were, how- 
 ever, all built on the same general plan. The roofs converged 
 on the beehive principle, and there were also flags set on 
 end which probably formed supporting pillars. In one place 
 some large portions of whale ribs were found which, Mr Watt 
 thought, had been used for this purpose. 
 
 Mr Petrie describes the following curious discovery in one 
 of the chambers : " Beneath this wall a very thick rude clay 
 urn was found. This discovery naturally suggests the ques-
 
 SKERRABRAE. 347 
 
 tion, When and why came the urn to be placed there ? I am 
 not sufficiently acquainted with the circumstances in which 
 it was found to enable me to form any decided opinion as to 
 the time when it was deposited on the spot in which it was 
 discovered ; but I think that it has been buried there either 
 by the original occupiers of the building, or by those who at 
 a later date seemed to have appropriated the dwelling, and 
 made alterations and additions, including, apparently, the rude 
 wall beneath which the urn was found." l 
 
 With regard to a human skeleton reported to have been 
 found in the sand inside one of the chambers, and about 
 3 feet above the fireplace, the same authority says : " The 
 skull of the skeleton found in the chamber L is of a type 
 with which I am familiar. The forehead is rather low and 
 receding, and the nasal bones are very high. In the last 
 respect it closely resembles other skulls which I have ob- 
 tained from ancient graves in Orkney, but the notch at the 
 root of the nose is deeper than any of the skulls I have 
 hitherto met." 
 
 Among the relics collected during a prolonged series of 
 investigations the following may be noted : A few polished 
 stone celts ; stone cups, mortars, and one large stone with 
 a cavity which might have been used for rubbing or pounding 
 grain ; a round stone ball ornamented with knobs, and another 
 shaped like a ship's block ; a few large vessels made of whale- 
 vertebrae, and a small piece of whalebone fashioned into a 
 rude idol; a large assortment of pins, beads (over 1000), and 
 a variety of implements made of bone, including pointers 
 such as might have been used as daggers ; also a few pronged 
 implements of bone or red-deer horn precisely similar to those 
 from the Mondsee, in Austria ; 2 several implements made by 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 206. 
 
 2 I^ike-Dwellings of Europe, fig. 39, Nos. 9 and 12.
 
 348 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 perforating the articulating ends of the leg-bone of the sheep ; 
 a few teeth perforated and probably used as ornaments ; some 
 knives and cleavers of clay-slate; a few stone vessels con- 
 taining red and white pigments, &c. 
 
 Although not a trace of either bronze or iron has yet come to 
 light, we should be disposed, judging from the character of these 
 relics, to regard them as belonging to the Early Iron Age. 
 
 The underground buildings known as " eirde houses," 
 weems, and sometimes as Picts' houses, have a wide distribu- 
 tion in Scotland, especially in the counties bordering on its 
 eastern shore, and attain their greatest development in the dis- 
 trict stretching between the Tay and the Moray Firth. They 
 are generally met with as single chambers concealed below the 
 level of the surface, but sometimes they occur in groups, as on 
 the muir at Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, where nearly fifty 
 have been discovered, extending over an area of less than a 
 couple of square miles. They are long, low, narrow galleries, 
 always more or less curved, and gradually expanding, both 
 laterally and vertically, till, towards the inner extremity, they 
 may measure as much as 10 or 12 feet in width and 6 or 7 in 
 height. They are most frequently built of undressed dry 
 stones, with convergent walls bearing heavy lintels ; but oc- 
 casionally the walls are made with flags set on end. The 
 narrow entrance, probably concealed by a stone door, slopes 
 down to the floor level of the chamber, but before reaching 
 the latter there is sometimes a second door, often placed at 
 the point where the direction is changed. Sometimes a 
 passage branches off from one side of the gallery and leads 
 to another chamber, usually of a circular or oval shape. 
 These chambers are frequently roofed in a dome fashion, on 
 the beehive principle, much in the same manner as those con- 
 structed in the walls of the brochs and in the chambered 
 cairns. Though all built on a uniform plan, they vary greatly
 
 EARTH-HOUSES. 349 
 
 in dimensions, that at Tealing. Forfarshire, measuring 80 feet 
 in length, 5 feet 8 inches in height, 2 feet 6 inches in width at 
 entrance, and 8 feet 6 inches next the inner end ; while the 
 corresponding measurements of one at Kinord are only 21 
 feet, iy 2 foot, 3 feet, and 2^ feet. 
 
 The structure at Tealing is described under the name of a 
 " Pict's house " by Mr Andrew Jervise, 1 and is remarkable, not 
 only for its size, but for the quantity and variety of relics found 
 in it. A rough undressed boulder on the north side of the 
 doorway was sculptured with cup-marks, and a cup with five 
 concentric rings and a gutter-channel. Among the relics 
 found scattered throughout the debris were the following : A 
 piece of Samian ware, a bracelet, bronze rings, coarse pottery, 
 ten querns (some broken), a number of whorls, stone cups, 
 and an article made of iron slightly mixed with brass. On 
 the surface, close to the entrance to the underground chamber, 
 there was a macadamised circular space, 6 feet in diameter, 
 with much ashes, probably a hearth or cooking-place. 
 
 It is the general opinion of archaeologists that these sub- 
 terranean chambers were associated with surface habitations, 
 whose structural materials have disappeared through natural 
 decay and changes due to the cultivation of the land. 
 Striking evidence of such an association was observed in 
 1859, at Cairn Conan, 2 near Arbroath, Forfarshire. Here 
 an underground structure (see plan and sections, fig. 214) 
 presented the peculiarity of having, in addition to the usual 
 long curved gallery, a circular beehive chamber attached to 
 it by a low passage, and to which there was also a second 
 entrance. About six or seven paces north of the under- 
 ground gallery a circular space, 20 feet in diameter, and 
 rudely paved with flagstones, was detected a few inches 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. x. p. 287. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 465, and vol. iv. p. 492.
 
 350 
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 beneath the surface soil. This, upon examination, was re- 
 cognised as the site of a habitation of which, however, noth- 
 ing then remained except the floor, and a few relics which 
 its occupants had left behind them. These relics are im- 
 portant in supplying some clue to the age of the structures ; 
 for there seems to be no doubt that both the surface and 
 underground remains were parts of the same homestead. 
 Among them were the upper stone of a quern, two whorls 
 
 Fig. 214. Ground-plan and sections of earth-house at West Grange of Conan, 
 Forfarshire. 
 
 of lead, a portion of a bronze ring, some rudely hollowed 
 stones, and fragments of iron cutting implements. Those 
 from the underground chambers comprised fragments of 
 various kinds of pottery, some wheel-made, a bronze needle, 
 part of a quern, horses' teeth, calcined bones, and a large 
 spiral bracelet of the snake-like pattern all of which point to 
 Romano-British times. 
 
 Another interesting feature of this settlement was that, a few 
 yards to the north-west of the underground chamber, a cluster 
 of six full-length coffins, composed of rude stone slabs with
 
 EARTH-HOUSES. 351 
 
 stone covers, was discovered at no great depth in the soil. 
 Some of the graves contained skulls and other portions of 
 decayed bodies and a few coloured pebbles, but the only 
 manufactured object was a portion of a ring of cannel coal. 
 These graves were considered to have been the family burial- 
 ground of the people who inhabited the adjacent dwellings. 
 
 Dr Stuart describes the " eirde " houses at Kildrummy as 
 having been discovered " by the occurrence neat the entrance 
 of low foundations, which seem to have supported the frail 
 summer- or daylight - houses of the early population." A 
 similar association of surface and underground dwellings has 
 been observed in several places elsewhere, as at Strathdonan, 
 in Sutherlandshire, where two " eirde " houses were near a 
 group of hut circles. 
 
 Earth-houses occur in the Scottish area singly or in groups 
 of half-a-dozen or so, but rarely in such numbers as at Kil- 
 drummy. At Airlie, in Forfarshire, a group of five has been 
 noted, but only one of them has been explored. Among its 
 debris were found a bronze pin, charred wood, querns, and a 
 piece of sandstone containing a cup-like hollow. An iron pad- 
 lock was among the contents of one at Alvey, in Inverness- 
 shire. So far, therefore, as relics give indications of the age 
 of these structures, they must be classified as belonging chiefly 
 to the Early Iron Age. That many of them were utilised in 
 post-Roman times is placed beyond doubt by the discovery of 
 red Samian ware, as in those at Tealing and Fithie in Forfar- 
 shire, and Pitcur, near Coupar-Angus. Moreover, the investi- 
 gation of one at Crichton Mains, Mid-Lothian, 1 has revealed 
 the fact that its walls contain stones dressed with diagonal and 
 diamond markings, after the manner of Roman workmanship. 
 
 With regard to their distribution it may be observed that 
 none have been found in Galloway, and only one in Berwick- 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 105.
 
 352 
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 shire viz., that near Broomhouse described by D. Milne 
 Home, Esq. 1 This earth-house is interesting as showing the 
 peculiar curved shape so commonly met with in Scottish 
 examples (fig. 215). 
 
 In Ireland underground chambers, generally known as 
 " souterrains " or " coves," are to be found all over the 
 country. In structure, and in the occurrence of side-cham- 
 
 Fig. 215. Ground-plan and sections of earth-house near Broomhouse, 
 Berwickshire, 
 
 bers opening from the main passage at irregular distances, 
 they are very similar to the Scottish examples, the only 
 slight difference between them being in the extent of cur- 
 vature of the main gallery, which appears to be less pro- 
 nounced in the Irish souterrains. Although usually iso- 
 lated, they sometimes occur in connection with the earthen 
 forts or raths ; differing in this respect also from the Scottish 
 examples, among which only one instance is known inside a 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 20.
 
 EARTH-HOUSES, ETC., IN IRELAND. 353 
 
 fort viz., that in the ancient fort known as Macbeth's Castle, 
 on Dunsinane Hill. In the valley of Glenshesk, county 
 Antrim, there is a good specimen of the souterrain locally 
 called "Gobar Saer's Cave." It is situated on the hillside, 
 about a mile and a half south of Ballycastle, and consists of 
 two chambers, measuring respectively 31 and 24 feet in length. 1 
 
 The only other locality in which subterranean dwellings, 
 of the type now under consideration, are found is Cornwall 
 a district abounding in ancient British remains, such as 
 beehive houses, dolmens, menhirs, stone circles, forts, &c. 
 A stay of a few days at Penzance enabled me to visit a 
 number of these interesting remains with no other assistance 
 than the ' Official Guide to Penzance.' The antiquarian 
 notes in this little volume, being by Mr W. C. Borlase, 
 are thoroughly to be depended on. 
 
 One excursion was in a north-west direction, occupying a 
 circular journey of about fifteen miles. Following the Morvah 
 road, we first came to " Lanyon Cromlech," a free standing 
 dolmen with a cover-stone, 1 7 feet long by nearly 9 feet broad, 
 and resting on three pillars 5 feet in height. But this was not 
 its original height, as in the year 1815 the cover-stone fell and 
 was broken, as well as one of its supports. The cover in its 
 damaged condition was subsequently replaced, and the other 
 two pillars were cut down to the same level as the broken 
 one. In its original condition it is said that a man on horse- 
 back could ride under the cover-stone. 
 
 Turning to the left, we reached Chun, where there is a 
 group of remarkable antiquities, including a hill -castle, a 
 dolmen, and an ancient British village. Chun Castle is of 
 an oval shape, 180 feet long by 170 feet broad, and differs 
 from the ordinary hill-forts of the neighbourhood in being 
 entirely built of stones in their rough state, but without any 
 1 Guide to Belfast, by the B. Nat. Field Club, p. 212.
 
 354 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 cement. It consists of two concentric ditches alternating 
 with two walls. The inner wall is 20 feet thick, and before 
 it was plundered of its stones in the last century " it was at 
 least 10 feet in height." The entrance is on the west side, 
 and the two gate-posts, each 5 feet in height, still remain. 
 These are placed at the inner margin of the wall at a distance 
 of only 6 feet, but this interval gradually widens to 12 feet 
 at the outer margin of the wall. It is noteworthy that the 
 corresponding gateway in the outer wall is not opposite to 
 the former, but twelve paces to the south of it. The central 
 area is partially occupied with ruins of dry-stone buildings 
 which appear to have been divided into structural compart- 
 ments. Chun Castle is regarded by antiquaries as a con- 
 necting-link between the ancient British fort and the Norman 
 castle. 
 
 The dolmen, whose stones are covered with a thick coating 
 of lichens, stands in solitary grandeur about 250 yards to the 
 west of the castle, and consists of a large cover supported on 
 four pillar stones, enclosing a chamber 7 feet in height. A 
 tumulus of earth and stones formerly covered these megaliths, 
 and it was surrounded by a ring of stones set on edge. 
 
 A quarter of a mile to the east of the ruined castle is the 
 site of the ancient British village of Bosullo, which appears 
 to have been connected with the former by a paved way. 
 
 About a mile to the south there are the ruins of another 
 ancient hut-village on the slopes of a hill at Bodinar, in which, 
 "within the memory of man," there were beehive huts to be 
 seen, but they are all now in ruins. However, I had the 
 satisfaction of seeing one of the Cornwall beehive huts at 
 Bosporthennis, now the only remaining specimen of a large 
 British settlement. This consists of two chambers, one 
 circular and the other rectangular. The former is 13 feet 
 in diameter, and has no less than three small doors. The
 
 BEEHIVE HUTS, ETC., IN CORNWALL. 355 
 
 roof has unfortunately collapsed, but enough of the wall 
 remains to show the converging system on which the dome 
 was constructed. Connected with the beehive chamber by 
 a low square door there is another chamber 9 feet long by 
 4 feet broad, which is regarded as a later appendage to the 
 former. 
 
 The ancient British village of Chysauster, situated in the 
 vicinity of the hill-fortress of Castle-an-dinas, has been partly 
 cleared out, and in the course of these operations evidence 
 of tin -smelting and fragments of Romano- British pottery 
 were discovered. But without dwelling further on these 
 ancient British remains, we must pass on to notice the 
 characteristics of the subterranean dwellings which are 
 associated with these villages. 
 
 A good specimen of them is the " Fogou " at Boleit, on the 
 lower Buryan road, near the ruins of the ancient manor-house 
 of Trewoof. It consists of a subterranean gallery 40 feet long, 
 from which another chamber, at present about 13 feet long, 
 branches off, but whose full dimensions have not been ascer- 
 tained. The convergent walls are of unhewn stones and 
 covered with large granite slabs. 
 
 Another and still more interesting specimen is at Chapel 
 Euny, parish of Sancreed, about four and a half miles from 
 Penzance. Its main features consist of a gallery 60 feet 
 in length, 6 feet wide, and from 6 to 7 feet high. At one 
 end it gives access to the surface by a small trap-door closed 
 by a stone, with holes in the sides apparently for barring it, 
 and at the other there is a low passage 10 feet long which 
 leads to a beehive chamber 16 feet in diameter. The floors 
 of the gallery and chamber were paved with flagstones and 
 provided with drains beneath the pavement. During the 
 excavation of these underground structures evidence of tin- 
 smelting and various relics were found, among the latter
 
 356 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 being whetstones, hammer-stones, various kinds of pottery, 
 an iron spear-head, a " pot-hook," and a piece of red Samian 
 ware. On the surface above these chambers there are the 
 remains of a British hut-village thus showing, like all the 
 other examples in this district, a relationship between the 
 surface and underground dwellings. 
 
 These subterranean dwellings, like their Irish analogues, 
 do not manifest so strongly the single or, sometimes, double 
 curvatures which are so constantly met with in the Scottish 
 examples ; but in all other respects they are so similar over 
 the three special areas of their development, that they can 
 hardly be accounted for except on the supposition of a unity 
 of origin. The almost trivial differences manifested in their 
 plan of construction can be readily explained by their geo- 
 graphical isolation, consequent on the occupation of Central 
 Britain by foreign immigrants, and their continued occupancy 
 after the old British associations became permanently broken 
 up by the Roman occupation. 
 
 Outside the British Isles the beehive underground dwell- 
 ings seem to be unknown, although the statement of Tacitus 
 suggests the prevalence of such hiding - places among the 
 Germans. In discussing the manners and customs of this 
 people (chap. 16), he writes as follows: "They also dig 
 subterraneous caves, and cover them over with a great quan- 
 tity of dung. These they use as winter-retreats and gran- 
 aries ; for they preserve a moderate temperature ; and upon an 
 invasion, when the open country is plundered, these recesses 
 remain unviolated, either because the enemy is ignorant 
 of them, or because he will not trouble himself with the 
 search." 
 
 The special purposes thus assigned by Tacitus to under- 
 ground retreats among the Germans, whatever may have been 
 their mode of construction, are precisely those indicated by
 
 INDUSTRIAL LIFE. 357 
 
 the results of the latest archaeological investigations of the 
 "eirde" houses, " souterrains," and " fogous " of the British 
 
 Isles. 
 
 Indications of Social and Industrial Life. 
 
 The unequal distribution of the raw material used in the 
 manufacture of stone implements, contrasted with the wide- 
 spread use of the latter, suggests that a system of trading 
 or barter was prevalent amongst the prehistoric people of 
 Scotland. This view is supported by the occasional discovery 
 of the remains of flint factories anvils, hammers, fabricators, 
 cores, splinters, chips, and other broken and disused materials. 
 Remains of this character have been usually found on the 
 indurated subsoil of sand-dunes, such as those at Culbin, 
 Glenluce, and Irvine, and in localities where flint nodules 
 abound in the natural gravels. At Skelmuir, already referred 
 to, a remarkable hoard, consisting of thirty-four flints worked 
 roughly to a leaf shape, was found concealed under a flat 
 stone. They were evidently a consignment of unfinished 
 goods possessing a certain commercial value, and it is 
 possible that they were laid aside in concealment till such 
 time as the warrior or huntsman had leisure to give them 
 the final finishing touches ; or, what is more probable, they 
 might have been intended for transport to a locality where 
 there was no natural supply of flint. Hoards of bronze 
 objects, which are by no means uncommon, point to the 
 same conclusion. 
 
 The principle of the division of labour, here dimly shadowed, 
 is more forcibly indicated by the disposition and localisation 
 of some of the materials found on the sites of lake-dwellings. 
 From the uniformity with which grain, quantities of apple- 
 cores, bundles of flax, yarn, cloth, &c., were found strictly 
 confined to separate areas at Wangen, Mr Lohle came to 
 
 2 B
 
 358 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 the conclusion that the different trades had been kept apart. 
 At one of the stations in the Lake of Geneva, near the present 
 town of that name, Dr Gosse fished up stone moulds together 
 with a number of crucibles, ingots of bronze and tin, scoriae, 
 and other materials of the founder's art all within an area of 
 100 square yards. Other researches have proved a still wider 
 generalisation, and it is probable that not only were the special 
 trades kept apart in each village, but that some villages had 
 already established a monopoly of certain industries. It is 
 only on such a supposition that the extraordinary number 
 of implements and chips of jade found at Maurach, and 
 the equally striking predominance of flint refuse at Wall- 
 hausen, can be explained. 
 
 The late Mr Radimsky came to a similar conclusion with 
 regard to the inhabitants of the Neolithic station of Butmir, 
 in Bosnia. On dividing the seventeen different kinds of stone 
 used in the manufacture of implements into two groups, 
 according as they were, or were not, found in the vicinity 
 of Butmir, he observed that all came under the first cate- 
 gory, with the exception of the perforated hammers and 
 two objects of gabbro, and that not a splinter or core of 
 the foreign material of which the latter had been made had 
 been detected on the station. Hence he inferred that the 
 Butmirians manufactured the objects made from the rocks 
 readily accessible to them, and imported, ready made, those 
 represented by raw materials found only at a distance. 1 
 
 But, indeed, the manipulative skill necessary to carry on 
 these stone industries is suggestive of some kind of division 
 of labour among the prehistoric folk, as the art could only 
 be acquired by long experience and careful training. 
 
 I have already adduced evidence to show that the early 
 immigrants into North Britain were hunters and pastoral 
 1 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, p. 107.
 
 CANOES AND CORACLES. 359 
 
 farmers, who probably paid no attention to the cultivation 
 of the land. It was only as the population increased, and 
 permanent communities gradually took root in the glens and 
 straths, that agriculture became the mainstay of their sub- 
 sistence. From the investigations of Canon Greenwell it 
 is proved that during the Early Bronze Age the people of 
 the wolds of Yorkshire were possessed of domestic animals, 
 cultivated grain, and manufactured cloth, pottery, and im- 
 plements. But it was probably several centuries later before 
 people, with an equivalent civilisation, brought the primeval 
 forests and marshes of Scotland under cultivation. The 
 testimony of classical authors might also be adduced in 
 support of this view. Caesar (Book v. chap, xiv) categori- 
 cally states that most of the inland inhabitants of Britain 
 did not sow corn, but lived on milk and flesh, and were 
 clad with skins. The speech which Tacitus puts into the 
 mouth of Galgacus on the eve of the battle of Mons 
 Graupius contains the following : " For we have neither 
 cultivated lands, nor mines, nor harbours, which can induce 
 them to preserve us for our labours." In a sentence, how- 
 ever, almost immediately preceding this, the Caledonian chief 
 is made to refer to the land and its yearly produce apparently 
 corn. Thus it would seem as if the inhabitants occupying the 
 greater part of the country to the north of the Firths of Forth 
 and Clyde were a purely pastoral people in the first century 
 of the Christian era. 
 
 That the prehistoric people of Scotland were in the habit of 
 using canoes on the lakes and firths which so abound in and 
 around the country, is amply attested by the facts already 
 recorded in chapter iii. Another kind of boat used by them 
 was the currach (Celt. atrach\ or coracle, the invention of 
 which must also be relegated to the remotest time of which 
 we have any historical knowledge. It was made of a slender
 
 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 frame of wood, or basket - work, and covered with skins. 
 Adamnan, in his Life of St Columba, describes long voyages 
 made in skiffs of this description ; and they are referred to by 
 several of the classical authors. Pliny, 1 writing of the inven- 
 
 Fig. 216. Currach or coracle used on the Boyne, Ireland, (From photograph 
 by R. Welch.) 
 
 tion of ships, says : " Even at the present day they are made 
 in the British ocean of wicker-work covered with hides." 
 Currachs still continue to be used on many parts of the Irish 
 coast one recently seen at work on the river Boyne being 
 here figured (fig. 216). Those now constructed by the people 
 
 1 Nat. Hist., book vii. chap. 57.
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 361 
 
 of the Aran Isles, in the bay of Galway, are like ordinary row- 
 boats, and covered with tarpauling instead of skins. Coracles 
 are reported to have been employed on the river Spey at the 
 end of last century. 
 
 But however far our gaze can penetrate the prehistoric 
 arcana in search of evidence to elucidate the social life of 
 our Scottish predecessors in the ages of stone and bronze, 
 the story elicited is but an imperfect and fragmentary record. 
 No structural habitation or building of these times, with the 
 exception of the tomb, has ever been discovered, to my 
 knowledge, within the Scottish area; so that in formulating 
 general deductions we are largely dependent on the stray 
 objects made of the more durable materials which have 
 been gathered from the dustbins of time. Scarcely a particle 
 of clothing be it skin or woven stuff has reached us across 
 the long waste of forgotten ages, and yet the jet button, the 
 bone or bronze pin, and other objects used for fastening the 
 dress, unmistakably tell us that the prehistoric inhabitants of 
 Scotland were not destitute of that essential commodity of 
 life. On the other hand, if we judge of their social con- 
 dition by that of their contemporaries, the lake- dwellers of 
 the Stone - Age settlement at Robenhausen, who, by a 
 mere coincidence of natural conditions, have bequeathed 
 to us a great variety of woollen fabrics, plaited mattings 
 of bast, and other fibrous materials, and a whole series of 
 domestic utensils made of wood, we may legitimately infer 
 that they were equally well equipped for the struggle of 
 existence. In Scottish archaeology the grave and its contents 
 supply the most valuable evidential materials at our disposal. 
 Here we find many objects which the hands of loving friends 
 laid beside the body of the deceased indicating by this very 
 act social and religious traits which would do honour to the 
 highest phases of modern civilisation. Mental conditions
 
 362 ABODES OF THE LIVING. 
 
 disclosing taste, refinement, and culture, are also traceable 
 in the personal ornaments the people wore ; and as to their 
 skilled efficiency in handicraft manipulations, we have already 
 seen that the evidence in support of this is overwhelming. 
 
 That the people of Scotland, from the earliest times, were 
 governed by laws emanating from some central authority is 
 suggested by various circumstances, as the honour paid to 
 persons of distinction on their demise, by the construction of 
 tombs intended for perpetuity ; the persistence of the same 
 religious obsequies for many centuries ; the indications of 
 commercial intercourse with distant lands ; the adoption 
 of the principle of the division of labour in the prosecution of 
 many of their industries ; and the distribution of forts, camps, 
 and other military remains throughout the country, all of 
 which, in my opinion, disclose a system of social organisation 
 which contained within it the germs and main elements which 
 are still paramount in European civilisation.
 
 363 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WORKS OF DEFENCE FORTS, CAMPS, AND BROCKS. 
 
 T is more than probable that during the 
 earlier stages of human civilisation the 
 uninhabited portions of the earth were 
 gradually peopled by nomadic families 
 of hunters who lived on wild fruits 
 and the produce of the chase. Their 
 daily avocations thus led them to penetrate farther and 
 farther into the primeval forests, mountain recesses, and 
 other haunts of wild animals. In these circumstances there 
 can be no doubt that they found congenial homes in such 
 caves and rock-shelters as they came across in their way- 
 ward wanderings. As evidence of the presence of these 
 early colonists in Scotland, we have the remains of the 
 Oban Troglodytes and the whale-hunters of the Carse of 
 Stirling, already referred to. When, however, more settled 
 communities began to arise, these natural retreats, even if 
 always conveniently situated, would not suffice as means of 
 defence, and hence the necessity of resorting to artificial 
 methods of protection. The sites selected for this purpose, 
 in the first place, would be those whose natural features 
 facilitated their speedy conversion into places of strength 
 and safety, such as rocky eminences with precipitous es-
 
 364 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 carpments, and promontories more or less surrounded by 
 water or impenetrable bogs. For it must never be forgotten 
 that, during the whole period of man's career on earth, the 
 principal enemies with which all struggling communities had 
 to contend were their fellow-creatures. 
 
 I. FORTS, CAMPS, MOTES, &c. 
 
 Throughout nearly the whole of Scotland there are numerous 
 remains of strongholds and works of defence in the form of (i) 
 enclosures, of various sizes, fortified with ditches and ramparts 
 of earth and stone ; (2) mounds of earth, often terraced, 
 and surrounded with a ditch or moat; (3) stone-built forts, 
 generally situated on commanding eminences and defended 
 by intrenchments. These different monuments are not uni- 
 formly distributed over the country, some parts being thickly 
 crowded, while other parts are entirely destitute of them ; nor 
 is this irregularity in their distribution altogether accounted for 
 by the disposition of land capable of cultivation, so that there 
 is more than a surmise that the element of strategy had some- 
 thing to do with their erection. The hill-forts, being con- 
 structed of stones, have their materials still lying upon their 
 sites (except in localities where the stones have been removed 
 for agricultural improvements), so that their structural peculi- 
 arities are hidden under a mass of ruins. As a rule, their 
 outlines and dimensions were determined by the contour of 
 the summits of the hills on which they were built. If placed 
 on the brink of a precipice, the assailable sides only were 
 usually fortified with walls and ramparts. Those situated 
 on the plateaux and lower grounds were almost invariably 
 circular or oval. Some covered only a few yards in diameter, 
 while others were of great extent, often occupying the whole 
 top and flanks of a hill.
 
 ROMAN CAMPS. 365 
 
 From historical evidence we know that Scotland, since its 
 occupation by the Romans, has been inhabited by various 
 races Picts, Scots, Danes, Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavians 
 all of whom must have left some traces of their respective 
 habits and customs. In no class of antiquities could such 
 traces be more readily preserved than in forts, camps, battle- 
 fields, and the sites of warlike operations. But all these 
 remains have become reduced in the course of time to a 
 uniform state of dilapidation, so that from their external 
 aspect it is now impossible to form a correct idea either 
 of their original appearance or of the period to which they 
 belonged. Careful excavations might, however, be the means 
 of determining their origin by bringing to light stray relics 
 of their inhabitants, or some special features in their structure. 
 
 In Scotland the large majority of forts are circular or oval, 
 except where the local peculiarities of the site necessitated an 
 irregular form. The Romans, however, were in the habit of 
 making their camps square or rectangular, and were always 
 guided in their construction by precise rules and measure- 
 ments. Although the dimensions varied according to the 
 number of men to be accommodated, the interior arrange- 
 ments, and the relative proportions of the buildings, were 
 generally the same. When an army took the field it never 
 halted, even for a night, without throwing up an intrench- 
 ment consisting of a ditch and a rampart, the earth from the 
 former being thrown inwards to form the latter, over which 
 was then placed a palisade. This uniformity in the construc- 
 tion of the Roman camp has been of some service to archae- 
 ologists, as it furnishes them with &prim& facie clue to Roman 
 camps as distinguished from those of native races. Thus, in 
 Britain, all rectangular encampments are usually regarded 
 as the work of the Romans. But, of course, this rule can- 
 not be accepted as infallible, since the Romans themselves
 
 366 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 sometimes utilised native camps a fact proved to have 
 been of frequent occurrence in Illyricum, 1 and even in 
 Scotland there are indications that the hill-fort* of Birrens- 
 wark, which has a very irregular perimeter, was occupied 
 by the Romans. 
 
 After eliminating from the category of works of defence 
 the artificial islands called crannogs, and the peculiar stone 
 towers known as brocks, both of which, being construc- 
 tions of a sui generis character, will be separately described, 
 there remain in Scotland upwards of 1000 monuments which 
 fall to be included in the list of prehistoric forts. Tradi- 
 tionally and locally they are known under various designations, 
 often descriptive of some special feature in their structure 
 or appearance, such as mote or moat, burh, dun, rath, Us, 
 caer, &c. words whose etymology can be readily traced 
 to one or other of the languages now, or formerly, spoken 
 in the country. Many of them, being conspicuous objects 
 in a landscape, have been visited, described, and illustrated 
 in numerous articles and special works, the most important 
 among the latter being those of Miss C. Maclagan 2 and of 
 Dr David Christison. 3 
 
 The most natural division of the subject, and that which 
 lends itself most conveniently for our present purpose, is 
 into earth-works and stone-works ; between which, however, 
 there are no well-defined boundaries, as some are constructed 
 of both materials. To throw up an intrenchment, as a ready 
 means of defence, was not a monopoly of any people at 
 any time ; but it could only be most advantageously used 
 in localities where wood for palisades was abundant. So 
 common was the practice of palisading among the Romans, 
 
 1 Rambles and Studies in Bosnia, p. 365. 
 
 2 The Hill Forts and Stone Circles of Scotland, 1875. 
 
 3 Early Fortifications of Scotland, 1898.
 
 MOATS. 367 
 
 that each soldier on the march carried a certain number 
 of wooden stakes along with his intrenching tools. It is 
 not likely, however, that stakes used in these intrenchments, 
 owing to their liability to decay under the vicissitudes of 
 a British climate, would survive to the present day ; for 
 it is only when wood is immersed in water, or embedded 
 in bogs, that it is preserved for any length of time. 
 
 The numerous earthworks scattered over the country, chiefly 
 in the south-western counties, vary greatly both in size and 
 structure. They are usually called motes or moats, and moot- 
 hills. But the latter, which are mere artificial mounds without 
 any fortifications, may be at once eliminated from the category 
 under discussion, as they do not appear to have much, if any- 
 thing, to do with military works. They were places of meet- 
 ing for the transaction of public business, the administration 
 of justice, and the punishment of criminals. Whatever may 
 be the origin of the word moothill, as used in the Lowlands 
 of Scotland, its exact equivalent in Gaelic is dun a mhoid, 
 from the word mbd, a meeting or court. Moothill has also 
 a parallel in the Tymvald Hill in the Isle of Man, which is 
 still used on the occasion of the promulgation of new laws. 
 
 The mote consists of an artificial mound of earth, generally 
 in the form of a truncated cone, flanked with terraces at lower 
 levels and a circumambient ditch at its base. Adjacent to 
 the mound there was often a court surrounded with an 
 intrench ment. That these earthworks are the foundations of 
 wooden fortresses and castles which, according to Chalmers, 
 must be relegated "to the Scottish period when stone and 
 lime were not much used in building," is rendered probable 
 from collateral evidence, such as the illustration from the 
 Bayeux Tapestry of the fortification of Dinan, reproduced 
 by Dr Christison. 1 These motes are found in considerable 
 1 Op. /., p. 6.
 
 368 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 numbers in various parts of England and Ireland. In 
 Scotland their distribution is almost exclusively confined to 
 the counties of Ayr, Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, 1 and Dumfries 
 a fact which suggests their Irish origin, since they are very 
 numerous on the opposite coast of Ireland. One of the most 
 perfect motes I have ever seen is near the town of Ballymena, 
 county Antrim. 
 
 Under the name motte or mothe such remains are abundant 
 in France, as shown by the frequency with which these words 
 enter into the composition of French place-names. M. G. de 
 Mortillet 2 gives a tabulated list of 167, distributed over nearly 
 the whole of France. According to him they dated from the 
 fifth century, but they greatly increased in number in the 
 middle ages. French archaeologists have excavated many of 
 their mottes, the results of which leave no doubt that they are 
 the remains of habitations constructed for military purposes. 
 Heaps of broken bones and other remains of food, together 
 with Roman and medieval pottery, were invariably found 
 in the excavations. In low -lying places the surrounding 
 ditch, or ditches, contained water, so that they were veri- 
 table moated castles. The area of the distribution of motes 
 extends into Belgium, Germany, and part of Austria. 
 
 But besides the motes there are other circular intrench- 
 ments, enclosing areas of different dimensions, which have no 
 artificial mound the essential characteristic of a mote and 
 between which and some of the stone forts there seems to be 
 no difference except that the one is of earth and the other of 
 stone. What kind of inner structures they possessed, or what 
 was their special function, there is little evidence to show. 
 
 1 Mr F. R. Coles classifies the various fortifications in Kirkcudbright- 
 shire as follows : Motes 27, forts 34, doons or doonhills 18, doubtful and 
 fragmentary 19. (Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 92.) 
 
 2 Revue Mensuelle, 1895, pp. 261-283.
 
 HILL- FORTS. 369 
 
 Some of the hill-forts are among the grandest ruins of our 
 country, reminding one of the giant's tales of olden times. Of 
 this description the two Caterthuns, in the highlands of 
 Forfarshire, are striking examples. The White Caterthun, 
 occupying the southern spur of an isolated ridge, is of an 
 oval form, and encloses a central area 470 feet long by 210 
 broad. Beyond this there is a succession of stone ramparts 
 and ditches, surrounding the height at lower elevations, which 
 gives the fortress the appearance of great strength. The 
 Black Caterthun, occupying a rival eminence about a mile to 
 the north, contains an inner enclosure measuring 280 feet by 
 190 feet. The surrounding defences are nearly circular, and 
 extend down the slopes in a series of concentric intrench- 
 ments of earth, but if they ever contained stones these have 
 been removed long ago. 
 
 Another very remarkable specimen is on the summit of the 
 Barmekyne of Echt, a conical hill in Aberdeenshire. The 
 inner enclosure, which was apparently reduced to a uniform 
 level, is nearly circular, and measures about 300 feet in 
 diameter. It is surrounded by five concentric ramparts of 
 stone walls, with intervening trenches. Five entrances can 
 still be traced, three on the south and two on the north. 
 In their vicinity the walls appear to have been more strongly 
 built, and so arranged as to have each a narrow opening 
 (about 3 feet) commanded by the rampart immediately 
 above it. 
 
 But perhaps the most striking of all the hill-forts is the East 
 Fort on Bennachie, Aberdeenshire, which is perched on the 
 top of a rugged granite hill, some 1400 feet above the plain. 
 The summit consists of a small natural plateau 100 feet long, 
 70 feet wide, and 70 feet high, which has its almost perpen- 
 dicular sides strangely scarred into deep chasms. No arti- 
 ficial ruins are on the plateau itself, but at its base there
 
 370 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 are some remains of fortifications and round huts. It is not 
 until we descend about 120 feet that the main rampart shows 
 itself, stretching from cliff to cliff for 690 feet, with an average 
 breadth of 24 feet. On a terrace continuous with a portion 
 of this wall may be seen the ruins of some more round 
 houses. 
 
 As a characteristic example of the pure earthworks, in the 
 form, of a fortified camp on an elevation among cultivated 
 lands, that on the Midhill Head, Mid-Lothian, described 
 and measured 1 by Mr W. Galloway, may be noted. Here 
 are four earthen ramparts, still retaining a height of 4 or 
 5 feet, with intervening ditches, enclosing a central area 
 410 feet in length, from east to west, and 284 feet in breadth. 
 There are three entrances to the interior, one at each end and 
 another on the south side. Mr Galloway, who made a careful 
 plan of this fortification, gives expression to the opinion that 
 its constructors had no theoretical considerations to guide 
 them in determining its form beyond the natural conformation 
 of the hill. "This strict adherence to the natural formation 
 of the ground," he writes, " combined in several points with 
 a careful adaptation of its special features, clearly indicates 
 that to whomsoever, or to whatever period, the origin of the 
 camp may be attributed, beyond the necessity of enclosing 
 a given area on a selected site, with fortified lines, its con- 
 structors were guided by no more formal or preconceived 
 principles of castrametation." 
 
 But however interesting and precise such superficial details 
 may be, they add little to the kind of knowledge archaeologists 
 are mainly in search of. Hitherto the range in time of these 
 structures and the racial affinities of their builders have been 
 absolutely guesswork. As a more important part of the 
 subject, I shall now select for description a few specimens 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xiv. p. 254.
 
 ABERNETHY FORT. 371 
 
 which, owing to their having been subjected to a partial 
 exploration in recent times, have yielded some evidence of 
 chronological value. 
 
 Last summer I visited a fort, situated on a spur of the 
 Ochil range, some 600 feet above the carse-lands, which was 
 then being investigated under the auspices of the Society of 
 Antiquaries. The fort occupies the summit of Castle Law 
 Hill, overlooking the town of Abernethy, and commands 
 an extensive view across the Firth of Tay and the lower 
 reaches of the Earn. The defensive works consisted of a 
 dry-stone wall, from 18 to 25 feet thick, having a well-built 
 outer and inner facing, with rubble-work between, and en- 
 closing an oval space, 136 feet in length and 51 in breadth. 
 Portions of these walls, from 6 to 8 feet in height, remained 
 in situ, but prior to the excavations they had been so com- 
 pletely buried in the debris that the surface had the appear- 
 ance of a grassy knoll, over which a few trees found a 
 congenial habitat. In one of the outer facings it was observed 
 that the dry-built wall had been strengthened by logs of wood 
 running both longitudinally and transversely : the wood, how- 
 ever, had completely decayed, and the row of empty spaces, 
 some 2 feet apart, left by the transverse beams, looked like 
 the port-holes of an old man-of-war. At a short distance 
 along the most accessible part of the hill there was a dila- 
 pidated portion of an outer wall or tower; but, strange to 
 say, there was no evidence of a gateway, which, if it existed, 
 could only have been at this part of the fort. 
 
 Within the enclosed area the natural rock cropped up here 
 and there, and the hollows were occupied with ashes, broken 
 bones, &c. In one place a circular rock cistern, 7 feet in 
 diameter and 7 feet deep, was discovered, and among the 
 rubbish cleared out of it there were numerous bones of the 
 ox, the goat, and the pig, together with some blades of iron
 
 3/2 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 much corroded. The principal relics found in the course of 
 the excavations are as follows : A bronze fibula of late La 
 Tene type, remarkable as showing that the pin, with one coil 
 attached to it, had been broken, but subsequently made ser- 
 viceable by passing a bit of bronze wire through all the coils ; 
 so that, as found, it had the pin moving loosely on the in- 
 serted piece of bronze wire. In this form it might have been 
 taken for one of those fibulae of later times, so frequently 
 associated with Roman and Romano-British remains (fig. 218). 
 A spiral finger-ring of bronze (fig. 217). Portion of a bracelet 
 of lignite; also a ring (fig. 219) and a polisher of the same 
 material. Two stone lamps with nicks for the wick ; a well- 
 shaped stone axe (fig. 220), and a few rudely worked flints. 
 
 Figs. 217, 218. Bronze finger-ring and fibula found in the fort at 
 Abernethy (). 
 
 Two portions of wooden dishes; a deer-horn handle; two 
 pellets of burnt clay (supposed to be sling-bolts), like those 
 found at Ardoch and the Glastonbury lake - village ; a few 
 fragments of hand-made pottery, like that of the cinerary urns. 
 The fort at Forgandenny, also situated on a commanding 
 eminence, some 900 feet in height, was partially excavated 
 during the summer of 1892 by the late Mr E. Watson Bell. 1 
 On the summit, beneath a grass-grown surface, excavations 
 exposed the bases of two oval-shaped walls, an inner and an 
 outer. The former was 18 feet thick and the latter 15 feet, 
 and between them there was an intermediate zone, varying in 
 breadth from 1 6 to 52 feet. The entire length of the fort is 
 456 feet, from east to west, and the breadth, from north to 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 16.
 
 FORGANDENNY FORT. 
 
 373 
 
 south, 190 feet. At the east end there was an entrance from 
 a causewayed road into the intermediate zone, and from the 
 south corner of the gateway a short wall ran across the latter 
 to the inner wall, so that any one entering had always to turn 
 to the right. There was no evidence of a gateway leading 
 through the inner wall to the central enclosure, a feature which 
 was also noticed in the Abernethy fort. The slope of the 
 hill, especially on the south, was traversed by a number of 
 ramparts and ditches in the usual manner. 
 
 In course of the excavations portions of the fort walls, from 
 
 Fig. 219. Ring of lignite, 
 Abernethy fort (J). 
 
 Fig. 220. Stone axe, 
 Abernethy fort ($). 
 
 2 to 6 feet in height, were found in situ, showing inner and 
 outer well-built facings with rubble-work in the interior. Some 
 empty square holes, like those observed in the Abernethy fort, 
 were supposed to have originally contained logs of wood. 
 The relics found are a few whetstones and stone hammers, 
 part of a jet bracelet, and a few fragments of coarse pottery. 
 Bones of the ox (abundant), pig, and roe-deer were found 
 along with charcoal and ashes. 
 
 The peculiarity presented by a wall, constructed of logs 
 
 2 c
 
 374 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 of oak alternating with layers of stone, was first noticed 
 in this country by Dr James Macdonald, while conducting 
 excavations at Burghead nearly forty years ago. This 
 structural feature is thus described by Dr Macdonald : 
 "The wall is built of unhewn stones, some of them of 
 considerable size, carefully laid, but without mortar. It 
 has only one face ; but to strengthen it, beams of solid 
 oak, still measuring from 6 to 12 feet in length, take here 
 and there the place of stones; and similar beams, inserted 
 endways, pass into the mass behind." l During the summer 
 of 1890 Mr Hugh W. Young, the present proprietor of 
 Burghead, made some further explorations into the old 
 walls of the fort. He penetrated the rampart, from where 
 Dr Macdonald left off, till he reached the outer facing 
 at no less a distance than 24 feet. " The two facing- walls," 
 writes Mr Young, "are joined and strengthened by oak 
 logs. The logs cannot be measured, as the state of decay 
 is very great. Some of them I traced fully 12 feet into the 
 rampart. These logs were joined across by oak planks and 
 logs, riveted together by iron bolts," &c. 2 
 
 A similar method of constructing ramparts by stones and 
 beams is described by Caesar (book vii. c. 23) as peculiar 
 to the Gauls a statement the truth of which has been 
 confirmed by the discovery, in modern times, of the actual 
 woodwork in several of the ancient forts of France in the 
 department of the Lot. 3 The special advantages of the 
 method are thus described in the Commentaries (loc. tit.} : 
 "This work, with respect to appearance and variety, is 
 not unsightly, owing to the alternate rows of beams and 
 stones, which preserve their order in right lines; and, 
 besides, it possesses great advantages as regards utility and 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot, vol. iv. p. 350. 2 Ibid., vol. xxv. p. 436. 
 
 8 Congres Arch, de France, 1875. p. 427.
 
 BURGHEAD. 375 
 
 the defence of cities ; for the stone protects it from fire, and 
 the wood from the battering-ram, since it [the wood] being 
 mortised in the inside with rows of beams, generally 40 
 feet each in length, can neither be broken through nor 
 torn asunder." These Gaulish methods of binding together 
 loose stones and earth by means of mortised beams may 
 be paralleled with those used by the crannog-builders for 
 consolidating the composite materials of which the artificial 
 islands were composed, as described on p. 431. 
 
 General Roy, in his ' Military Antiquities of the Romans 
 in North Britain,' identified Burghead as the Ptoroton of 
 the now discredited De Situ Britannia, which is described 
 in that treatise as the capital of a Roman province of 
 Vespasiana. For a review of this question, and of other 
 interesting problems in connection with the history of Burg- 
 head and its remarkable promontory, I would refer my readers 
 to an able article by Dr Macdonald, entitled " Burghead as 
 the site of an Early Christian Church ; with Notices of the 
 Incised Bulls and the burning of the Clavie." l See also 
 Sheriff Rampini's ' History of Moray and Nairn,' chap. i. 
 
 From behind the town of Ardrossan there extends north- 
 westwards an elevated plateau, presenting towards the sea a 
 steep escarpment, which overlooks a narrow strip of sandy soil 
 lying between it and the sea-beach. The geologist at once 
 recognises here an ancient sea-cliff, which in the course of 
 time has become moulded into a succession of deep gullies, 
 rounded knolls, and bluff headlands, around which nature has 
 thrown a variegated garb of the richest vegetation. The tops 
 of some of these commanding knolls have been converted 
 into a series of forts, but as to the period of their occupancy, 
 or the military exigencies that necessitated their erection, both 
 history and tradition are silent. 
 
 1 Trans. Glasgow Arch. Soc., vol. ii., N.S., pp. 63-115.
 
 376 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 One of these forts, situated on a grassy mound at Seamill, 
 was explored in iSSi, 1 the result of which may be thus epito- 
 mised : The oval contour of the mound supplied the design 
 for the outlines of the ramparts, which on the sea-side con- 
 sisted of two walls 5 or 6 feet thick. These walls, which 
 were only a few feet apart, coalesced into one at the ends 
 and on the north side. In their construction large un- 
 dressed stones were used, without any cementing element, 
 and the interstices were filled with smaller stones and earth. 
 An ordinary partition wall along the shorter axis of the 
 enclosure divided it into two unequal 
 compartments, the smaller of which, 
 next a projecting ridge from the main- 
 land, was found to have been partly 
 paved with stones. The stuff lying 
 over the area of this rude pavement 
 
 Fig. ^.-spindle -whorl was nearl y a11 trenched over, in the 
 of cannei coal, Seamill course of which were found some char- 
 
 fort, Ayrshire (f). 
 
 coal and ashes, bones, horns, sea-shells, 
 
 and all the following relics except the hammer-stone, which 
 was dug up near the centre of the outer enclosure : 
 
 Stone. Hammer-stone of a flat oval pebble ; globular ball 
 artificially rounded with rubbing marks ; two fragments of 
 granite querns; a spindle whorl of cannei coal (fig. 221), and 
 several other portions of this material showing cutting marks. 
 
 Bone. A pointer made of a splinter of a leg bone 5 inches 
 long ; portion of bone perforated at each end and cut with a 
 sharp instrument (fig. 222). 
 
 Iron. Numerous portions, greatly oxidised, probably of 
 blades and socketed spears or daggers. 
 
 Bronze or Brass. A perforated bronze disc (fig. 223), and 
 a wheel-like object attached to an ornamental stem (fig. 224). 
 1 Collections of the Ayr and Gal. Arch. Association, 1882, p. 59.
 
 SEAMILL FORT. 
 
 377 
 
 Pottery and Glass. Two small fragments of green glass, and 
 a small bit of reddish pottery faintly showing three parallel 
 lines. 
 
 Organic Remains. Bones of ox, pig, sheep, and deer; 
 
 Fig. 222. Bone implement, Seamillfort (\). 
 
 horns of the deer; and shells of several species of edible 
 molluscs. 
 
 In 1827 Dr John Jamieson, in describing the fortifications 
 on the top of the Laws, Forfarshire, says : 
 
 " This fort consists of two walls of vitrified matter which 
 surround the hill. The 
 outer wall runs along its 
 slope, and forms a kind of 
 circle, although by no means 
 perfect. . . . The circum- 
 ference of the outer wall, 
 including the angular part, 
 is, according to my measure- 
 ment, 500 paces. . . . The 
 inner wall surrounds the 
 summit of the hill, at the 
 
 distance of several paces 
 
 Fig. 223. Bronze disc, Seamillfort ({). 
 
 from the outer. This varies, 
 however, according to the nature of the ground. At the 
 north-east corner, and round in that direction towards the 
 north-west, are seen the foundations of several houses within
 
 378 
 
 WORKS OF DEFENCK. 
 
 Fig. 224. Bronze object, Seamillfor 
 
 the inner wall, which here seems to have formed the back 
 wall to these houses. On the west side of the hill, the 
 interstice between the two circular walls has been filled up 
 
 by buildings of a small 
 size. A wall runs nearly 
 through the middle of 
 the fort, extending from 
 the south to the north 
 side of the inner wall. 
 The design of this has 
 undoubtedly been to 
 form a separation be- 
 tween the defenders and 
 their cattle ; for in the 
 eastern division we ob- 
 serve no foundations of buildings, except a few on the wall 
 itself. . . . 
 
 " Besides the gate formerly noticed, there seems to have 
 been one on the west side. The vitrifaction here is as perfect 
 as that of the fort of Finhaven, and assumes the very same 
 appearance. Here, as well as there, the stones have been so 
 completely fused, as in many places to seem as if they had 
 been connected by some cement resembling melted ore ; but 
 this can be viewed only as the scoria forced from the stones 
 themselves when in a state of fusion." 1 
 
 In 1859, when these ancient structures were again examined 
 by Mr James Neish, 2 the fort was in a ruinous condition, 
 owing to the removal of its stones for agricultural purposes, 
 and no definite conclusions could be drawn from the remains 
 then extant. Dr Stuart, in a supplementary note on Mr 
 Neish's paper to the Society, thus writes : " I have twice 
 
 1 Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, vol. ii. p. 274. 
 
 2 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. Hi. p. 440.
 
 THE LAWS, FORFARSHIRE. 379 
 
 carefully examined the remains, and have found it difficult 
 to form any feasible opinion as to their original shape, or 
 to account for the arrangements of those walls which still 
 remain. It seems obvious, however, from what we hear of 
 the great quantities of stones which have been carried away 
 from the hill, and the enormous masses of ruined walls still 
 scattered over its top, that the buildings, when complete, must 
 have been of great size and height." 
 
 Mr Neish collected a number of relics in the course of the 
 excavations, most of which were subsequently sent to the 
 National Museum in Edinburgh, 1 among which the following 
 may be noted : 
 
 Stone. Small cup, whorls and discs of sandstone, two flint 
 chips, portions of vitrified sandstone with impressions of 
 charred wood, stone with concentric circles. 
 
 Bone. Double-edged comb and an implement with one 
 end perforated. 
 
 Bronze. Pin of a fibula, spiral finger-ring with four twists, 
 a flat circular band of brass, an armlet with a pattern, and a 
 copper coin. 
 
 Iron. A small buckle, a pin with a ring-head, some large 
 axes and an adze-head, portion of a single-edged sword, nails, 
 needles, and fragments of implements. 
 
 Organic Remains. Two bottles containing charred wheat 
 and barley ; a cowrie, and some land- and sea-shells ; teeth of 
 the horse, horn of a roebuck, and bones of domestic animals. 
 Human remains were also found in stone cists, as well as 
 elsewhere in the excavations. 
 
 One or two other excavated forts might be mentioned which 
 
 have yielded a few relics, but their value, with regard to 
 
 the question of chronology, is of no significance. I exclude 
 
 the Dunbuie Fort, described by the late Mr Adam Millar, 2 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xvii. p. 300. 3 Ibid., vol. xxx. p. 291.
 
 380 WORKS OK DEFENCE. 
 
 because the strangely ornamented objects found in its debris 
 appear to me not to be relics of any phase of Scottish civil- 
 isation. The presence of a couple of upper quern -stones 
 among the relics vitiates the whole argument that this was 
 a pre-Celtic fort of the Stone Age, as suggested by Mr 
 Millar. 
 
 Forts perfectly analogous to the ordinary fortifications in 
 Scotland are met with throughout the larger portion of Central 
 and North-western Europe, and extend eastwards as far as the 
 southern parts of Russia and the shores of the Black Sea. 
 In Germany they are called Burgwalle or Rundwalle, and are 
 distinguished as Vorslavisch, Slavisch, and Spdtslavisch a 
 distinction which has been suggested by the character of the 
 pottery. Slavish pottery is always well burnt, and when it is 
 decorated the ornamentation is in wavy lines running parallel 
 to the rim the well-known Wellenlinie. Wooden sub-struc- 
 tures are sometimes met with on the sites of the Burgwalle, 
 especially in those situated in marshy localities, and also the 
 remains of gangways in the form of a double row of the stumps 
 of piles. The superstructures, of which nothing now remains, 
 are supposed to have been of wood, agreeing in this respect 
 with the motes of Scotland. 
 
 Vitrified Forts. 
 
 The variety of Hill-Forts known as "Vitrified Forts," on 
 account of a peculiarity in their structure, has gathered 
 around it an extraordinary amount of literature, chiefly of a 
 controversial and speculative character. Mr John Williams 
 started 'the discussion by the publication, in 1777, of a work 
 entitled, 'An Account of some Remarkable Ancient Ruins, 
 lately discovered in the Highlands and Northern Parts of 
 Scotland,' in which he enumerates six or seven vitrified
 
 VITRIFIED FORTS. 381 
 
 forts around the head of the Moray Firth, and two in other 
 districts (Finhaven and Bochastle). 
 
 In his account of the fort on Knock Farril he describes 
 the whole wall as having been run together and vitrified into 
 a solid mass by the action of fire. Writing generally of 
 these forts, he says: "But what is most extraordinary, these 
 walls have been vitrified, or run and compacted together 
 by the force of fire, and that so effectually that most of 
 the stones have been melted down, and any part of the 
 stones not quite run to glass has been entirely enveloped 
 by the vitrified matter ; and in some places the vitrifaction 
 has been so complete that the ruins appear now like vast 
 masses of coarse glass or slag." Since Mr Williams's time 
 nothing has been written or discovered which, to my mind, 
 in the least impugns the correctness and scientific value of 
 his observations. That he did not excavate the whole wall, 
 or that he mentions in one place a few stones which were 
 not included in the vitrifaction, cannot surely be advanced 
 as sufficient evidence to discredit his general statement that 
 the whole wall was "less or more vitrified." Would it be 
 possible under the ordinary circumstances then available, 
 whatever the process or object may have been, to vitrify 
 the walls of a fort so thoroughly as to leave no portion or 
 stone unaffected? The fact is that none of the forts, even 
 those which disclose in the clearest manner that their vitri- 
 faction was the work of design, has been completely vitrified. 
 
 The real problem at issue is to account for the vitrifaction 
 which, to a greater or less extent, is, or rather was, to be seen 
 on the surrounding walls of some fifty stone-built forts scattered 
 throughout the northern and south-western districts of Scotland, 
 and covering a broad band stretching from the shores of the 
 Moray Firth to the counties of Argyll and Wigtown. Of the 
 various hypotheses advanced to account for this phenomenon
 
 382 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 some may be at once ruled out of court, as, for example, 
 that it is of volcanic origin, or that a liquid slag was poured 
 like mortar between the stones when the fort was being 
 built. 
 
 Looking at the problem from a practical point of view, 
 the first observation to which I would direct attention is 
 that the vitrifaction was effected by the external application 
 of a great fire to the wall after it had been erected. Of the 
 truth of this statement there can be no reasonable doubt. 
 I have satisfied myself of its accuracy by a careful inspec- 
 tion of the more important vitrified forts in Scotland. On 
 that at Carradale there is an uninterrupted portion of the 
 eastern wall, extending for upwards of 100 feet, which is 
 absolutely consolidated for a depth of 3, 4, and 5 feet from 
 the top. In one or two places where previous visitors had 
 picked a hole right through the wall it was clearly seen that 
 the vitrifaction was less in the lower and central parts, and 
 disappeared altogether towards the base, which consisted of 
 small, flat, and mostly water-worn stones. If this be so, the 
 only point on which there is room for a difference of opinion 
 is, whether the vitrifaction was due to incidental causes arising 
 from the action of beacon-fires, &c., or to fire kindled for the 
 express purpose of fusing and thereby consolidating the mater- 
 ials of the wall. Present writers seem to range themselves as 
 advocates of one or other of these alternative theories. For 
 my own part, I see no reason for accepting either as a rigid 
 dogma, to the exclusion of the other. Effects produced in- 
 cidentally could be repeated designedly, so that vitrified forts 
 may owe their peculiarity partly to the one and partly to the 
 other. Nay more, it is even probable that it was the striking 
 effect produced by beacon-fires on the wall which first sug- 
 gested the idea of treating the entire wall in the same manner. 
 At the same time, I hold firmly to the opinion that the vitri-
 
 VITRIFIED FORTS. 383 
 
 faction in many of the forts examined by me was the work of 
 design, the special object being to consolidate into a mass the 
 small stones of which the walls are usually composed. 
 
 All trap -rocks are readily fused under a moderate heat 
 without a flux ; and with the addition of an alkali, such as 
 might be supplied by wood-ashes or dried seaweeds, most 
 of the ordinary stones could be converted into the pudding- 
 stone appearance and consistency presented by the walls 
 of vitrified forts. Dr M'Culloch l makes an important 
 observation, to the effect that the stones readily fusible 
 were selected and carried from a distance by the fort- 
 builders, and hence he justly argues "that they designed 
 from the beginning to vitrify their walls." It is also 
 noteworthy that vitrified walls are scarcely half as thick as 
 those great stone walls with well-built double facings, such 
 as we have seen in the forts of Burghead, Forgandenny, 
 and Abernethy; so that, without some cementing element, 
 the small stones of which they are composed could hardly 
 be kept together or be of any use as a protective barrier. 
 The economy in utilising collections of small stones by 
 vitrifaction might also be an element in the construction 
 of these forts, as the materials, being close at hand, could 
 be easily carried to the tops of the hills on which they are 
 generally situated. 
 
 As to the modus operandi by which vitrifaction was pro- 
 duced, the conclusion to which I came is, that the fire was 
 laid over the entire wall, both sides and top being covered 
 with the combustible materials. In a section of the wall 
 at Beregonium, near Loch Etive, I noticed that, while the 
 top and sides had a crust of vitrified materials over them, 
 the interior was only partially affected. Some of the stones 
 in the interior had large drops of slag adherent to them, 
 1 Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, vol. i. p. 292.
 
 384 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 evidently due to the trickling of the stuff while in a liquid 
 state. 
 
 Mr John Honeyman l has recorded some careful observa- 
 tions on the structure of the vitrified walls of several forts in 
 the west of Scotland. In a portion of the walls at Rhufresean 
 and Dunagoil he describes the vitrified mass as a wedge, the 
 thin edge penetrating downwards through the interior of the 
 wall ; and hence he forms a theory that the heat was applied 
 to the top of the wall and not to the sides. But the facts he 
 has recorded are, in my opinion, quite compatible with the 
 supposition that the combustible materials were heaped both 
 on the sides and top of the wall. If a flux were needed to 
 produce vitrifaction it would be placed on the top of the wall, 
 and here then fusion would first begin to take place, and so 
 the liquid stuff, if in abundance, would readily flow down 
 through the centre of the wall. I confess, however, that the 
 phenomenon noted by Mr Honeyman has not come within 
 my own experience, but, on the other hand, I have fre- 
 quently noticed vitrifaction greatest at the sides and top, 
 as at Carradale, already referred to. In regard to this fort, 
 Dr Christison appears to have come to a similar conclusion, 
 as he states that the masses are " much less vitrified below, 
 particularly in the centre, than in the upper part." 2 This was 
 clearly the case with the wall at Arka Unskel at Arisaig, de- 
 scribed by Dr E. Hamilton, 3 who also maintains that the fire 
 was applied on all sides. " This is proved," he writes, " by 
 the internal part of the wall being unvitrified, solely because 
 the heat did not extend so far, leaving the stones in their 
 original condition, or only partly agglutinated, and only not 
 fused because unable to be affected by the fire applied 
 externally." 4 
 
 1 Trans. Glasgow Arch. Soc., vol. ii. p. 29, and vol. i., N.S., p. 340. 
 
 2 Op. cit., p. 182. 3 Arch. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 227. 4 Ibid., p. 241.
 
 VITRIFIED FORTS. 385 
 
 Mr James Macdonald's excavations on the Tap o' Noth 
 conclusively showed that in this case the vitrifaction was con- 
 fined to the upper part of the wall. This is one of the largest 
 of the vitrified forts in Scotland, being 345 feet long and 126 
 feet broad, and still shows great masses of vitrifaction here 
 and there all along its circumference ; so that if the occurrence 
 of beacon-fires is to be accepted as the incidental cause of 
 this phenomenon, the fires must have been placed at regular 
 intervals along the entire circuit of the wall. 1 
 
 Eilean Buidhe (the yellow island), one of the Burnt Islands 
 in the Kyles of Bute, has been long known as the site of a 
 vitrified fort. 2 This fort, occupying the summit of the rocky 
 islet, stands 21 feet above sea-level. According to the Rev. 
 Mr Hewison, 3 it is in the shape of a "complete circle, 67 feet 
 in diameter from crest to crest of the ruined wall, which in 
 many parts is quite levelled and overgrown with rough grass, 
 through which the fragments of the vitrified work appear. At 
 other points the wall is in good preservation, showing at the 
 north-east a face 4 feet high and 5 feet thick, and also on the 
 south-east a solid mass of vitrifaction over 5 feet thick." Mr 
 Hewison directs attention to a remarkable feature of this fort 
 viz., "the apparent stances of four towers at the cardinal 
 points of the compass," each 14 feet in diameter. 
 
 It is a very rare occurrence to find the wall vitrified to its 
 base, and when this is the case the vitrifaction generally rests 
 on the solid rock, as at Dun Skeig and Craig Phadrick. On 
 the other hand, at Dunagoil there was to be seen a few years 
 ago a large portion of the vitrified wall reposing on a basis of 
 loose stones a fact which readily accounts for the large 
 masses, some tons in weight, which now lie at the base of the 
 
 1 See Trans. Huntly Field Club, July 1887. 
 
 2 Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh, vol. x. p. 79. 
 8 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 292.
 
 386 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 Dun on its sea side. Large fragments may also be seen at the 
 foot of Dun Skeig, but in this case it requires some searching 
 among the long heather to find them. At Dunideer the base 
 of the sow-back hill on which the fort stood for there is little 
 of it now remaining is strewn with pieces of slag, and, 
 strange to say, some of them may be seen in the ruins of the 
 old castle of stone and lime which had been subsequently 
 built within the walls of the vitrified fort. 
 
 I have not observed any facts to indicate that, as regards 
 the dimensions of the area enclosed, the vitrified differ from 
 the non-vitrified forts. In this respect they are both alike 
 in showing a wide range of variability, as may be gathered 
 from the following notes : 
 
 Carradale stands on a detached portion of a rocky promon- 
 tory on the east side of Cantyre which, at high water, becomes 
 an island. The surface, a small plateau some 70 feet above 
 the sea-level, is almost entirely occupied by the fort, leaving 
 little more than space to walk round it on the outside. Large 
 portions of the walls, 3 to 5 feet thick and about the same in 
 height, enclosing an oval space 60 paces in length and 26 in 
 breadth, still remain in situ. Among the rocky debris at the 
 base of the plateau, on the west side, I observed several 
 portions of vitrified materials which had evidently fallen from 
 the fort. 
 
 The fort of Dunagoil occupies the surface of a precipitous 
 ridge of porphyritic trap, extending along the sea-shore at the 
 south end of the island of Bute. This ridge, rising to the 
 height of about 100 feet, presents a perpendicular face on the 
 north and west, an accessible slope on the east, and an uneven 
 plateau on the top. It is only on the south side and east end 
 that the remains of vitrified walls are now to be seen. The 
 area thus fortified by walls and cliffs is about 90 paces in 
 length, and varies in breadth from 26 yards at the west end
 
 KNOCK FARKIL. 387 
 
 to 12 yards at the east end, where there was an entrance. The 
 wall followed the bow-shaped contour of the south margin of 
 the ridge, and near its middle there was a short transverse 
 wall dividing the enclosed space into two nearly equal 
 divisions. 
 
 The vitrified fort of Dun Skeig stands on the summit of a 
 high conical hill on the south side of the entrance to Loch 
 Tarbet. No position could be more suitable as a signalling 
 station than this spot, as it commands extensive views both 
 towards the mainland and the islands, including on clear days 
 the north of Ireland. The ruins of the fort occupy the highest 
 point of the hill, being only a few paces from the brink of the 
 precipice. It has an oval shape, measuring 28 paces from 
 east to west, and 18 from north to south. The vitrifaction 
 would appear, from the traces still remaining, to have extended 
 continuously along the entire wall. Here and there bits of 
 slag might be seen resting on the natural rock, where it 
 crops up, and others lying on a basis of loose stones. It 
 was difficult to estimate with accuracy the original thickness 
 of the wall, but, so far as I could judge, it would not be 
 more than 6 to 8 feet. What its height may have been there 
 is no evidence to show. 
 
 The famous vitrified fort which crowns the picturesque hill 
 of Knock Farril, some two miles west of Dingwall, Ross-shire, 
 overlooks the richly cultivated valley of Strathpeffer. My last 
 visit to it was in the summer of 1896. The summit is an elon- 
 gated oval, some 200 paces in length by 40 in breadth, nar- 
 rowing, however, at both ends. The remains of the walls of 
 the fort are still considerable, enclosing a space 126 paces 
 long by 30 broad ; but at the ends there are other remains 
 of walls which, though now detached from the central division, 
 were probably part of the original fort. Along the lines of 
 these walls several masses of vitrified materials, two of them
 
 388 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 measuring about 9 feet in length, may still be seen cropping 
 up through the greensward which clothes the summit. 
 
 Neither do the relics found on the sites of vitrified forts 
 suggest that they differ chronologically from the ordinary forts. 
 Dr Angus Smith, 1 in the course of his excavations at Bere- 
 gonium, found a single-edged dagger-blade of iron, 10 inches 
 long, having a thick back and a tang for insertion into a 
 handle ; a finger-ring of bronze ; and an enamelled disc of 
 bronze ornamented with a series of concentric circles of red 
 enamel of Late Celtic character. The structure on the top 
 of the Laws in Forfarshire is the only other vitrified fort 
 which has yielded relics, and, as already seen (p. 379), these 
 do not carry us back beyond the Iron Age. 
 
 Outside the Scottish area the distribution of vitrified forts is 
 somewhat remarkable. Four are stated, on the authority of 
 Dr Petrie, to be in Londonderry 2 and one in Cavan. 3 I am 
 not aware of their existence in England, unless we accept as 
 such some calcined walls found in British camps at Bristol. 
 In the vicinity of the Clifton Suspension Bridge there are, or 
 rather were, three great intrenched forts occupying promon- 
 tories on the precipitous cliffs on both sides of the Avon. One 
 is at the Clifton end of the bridge, and the others " Bower 
 Walls " and " Stoke Leigh " on the opposite side. It is 
 stated 4 that when the ramparts of the Bower Walls were de- 
 molished the innermost, which stood 22 feet above its ditch, 
 contained a central core of a hard material like cement. 
 Quantities of a similar material may be seen on the remains 
 of the Clifton fort near the end of the bridge. The calcifica- 
 tion appeared to me to be the result of exposure of the 
 materials of the wall to great heat ; but the stones being lime- 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vols. ix., x., xi., and xii. 
 
 3 Stokes's Life of Petrie, p. 223. 3 Trans. R. I. Acad., vol. xiii. p. 123. 
 
 4 Proc. Somerset. Arch. Soc., vol. xv. p. 27.
 
 2 n
 
 BROCHS. 389 
 
 stone, the effect was a calcination rather than a vitrifaction. 
 This phenomenon is worth looking into, as camps with simi- 
 larly constructed walls have been described in France. 1 
 
 Of the ordinary vitrified forts, several have been noticed in 
 Brittany and Normandy, 2 Saxony, Bohemia, Silesia, Thurin- 
 gian Forest, and the Rhine district. 3 
 
 II. BROCHS. 
 
 Like the vitrified forts, those massive tower-like buildings 
 known as Brocks, and found nowhere else but in Scotland, 
 have given rise to a considerable amount of controversial 
 literature. Before they succumbed to the ravages of time, 
 which have now reduced the great majority of them into an 
 unrecognisable heap of ruins, some 400 might have been seen 
 conspicuously dotting the more fertile lands along the shores 
 and straths of the counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, 
 Inverness, Argyll, the islands of Orkney, Shetland, Bute, and 
 some of the Hebrides. Outside this area only seven examples 
 have as yet been recognised as true brochs viz., two in 
 Forfarshire, and one in each of the counties of Perth, Stirling, 
 Mid-Lothian, Selkirk, and Berwick. The special characters 
 of these remarkable buildings are so uniformly alike that, 
 except in regard to a few minor differences chiefly dimen- 
 sions it may be asserted, as literally true, that what applies to 
 one applies to the whole so much so, indeed, that it has 
 been seriously maintained that they were all built at the same 
 time and from one plan. 
 
 The most perfect now extant is the broch of Mousa 
 (PI. XV.), situated on a small island in Shetland. It is built 
 
 ' Camps vitrifies et Camps calcines. Barthdemy. 
 
 a Mem. de la Soc. Antiq. de France, vol. xxxviii. p. 83. 
 
 3 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 332 ; Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. viii. p. 145.
 
 390 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 of dry-stone masonry, 50 feet in diameter and 45 feet high. 
 At some distance it looks like a truncated cone, but closer 
 inspection shows it to be a circular wall, 15 feet thick, and 
 enclosing an open court 20 feet in diameter. The outside 
 wall-face slants a little inwards from base to top, but the 
 inner is nearly perpendicular. An entrance passage, 5 feet 
 3 inches high and 2 feet n inches wide, with jambs and 
 lintels of flagstones, forming a kind of tunnel right through 
 the wall, is the only access to the court. Four door-like 
 openings may be seen in the wall facing the court near the 
 ground-level, and about equidistant from each other. Three 
 of these openings lead into oval-shaped beehive chambers, 
 constructed in the solid wall and having their major axes 
 in the direction of the curve of the wall. The other opens 
 into a small recess from which a spiral stair made of un- 
 dressed flagstones ascends to the top. On mounting the 
 stair for about 10 or n feet we find that the surrounding 
 wall, which up to this point is solid, with the exception of 
 the beehive-chambers already referred to, now becomes split 
 into two walls, leaving a vacancy, about 3 feet in breadth, 
 between them. At successive intervals upwards this inter- 
 mural space is bridged over with flagstones, thus dividing it 
 into a series of galleries running round the entire building. 
 The lower galleries are from 5 to 6 feet high, but as we 
 ascend they diminish in height. The stair continues its spiral 
 course to the top, intersecting these galleries, and thus gives 
 access to them all. They are lighted from the interior by 
 shallow openings, or windows, which look into the court. No 
 access to any part of this curious structure can be got except 
 by the passage on the ground-level, about the middle of which 
 there is evidence to show that it had been protected by a 
 stone door barred from within. In other brochs there is 
 usually a guard-chamber on one or both sides of the entrance
 
 BROCHS. 391 
 
 passage, constructed in the solid wall, after the manner of the 
 beehive chambers. 
 
 Of the other brochs there are now only a few which show 
 any considerable portion of their walls above the fallen debris, 
 the rest looking like dilapidated tumuli or cairns. Sometimes, 
 indeed, a cultivated hillock, over which the plough has regu- 
 larly passed for centuries, conceals beneath it the well-defined 
 foundations of a broch. Of their present ruined condition 
 the broch at Ousdale, Caithness, excavated by Mr James 
 Mackay 1 in 1891, furnishes a good example. The situation 
 and general appearance of the ruins are thus described : " It 
 stands on a prominent eminence near the confluence of the 
 Ousdale and Borgue burns one mile from the Ord of 
 Caithness, four miles from Berriedale, and about 400 yards 
 from the sea, commanding a good sweep of the latter. On 
 one side it is protected by the steep precipice of the Borgue 
 burn, and on the remaining sides by ramparts consisting of a 
 well-built wall about 8 feet thick, and faced apparently with a 
 dry ditch. The outworks surround the tower on three sides, 
 and show signs of a second occupancy by a later and inferior 
 race. The style of building of the hut-circles, of which the 
 outworks are composed, is to a certain extent copied from that 
 of the original broch in so far as the overlapping of the stones 
 for the purpose of forming arches consist, and they were prob- 
 ably buik with material taken from the tower after it had 
 fallen into ruins. 
 
 "The broch presented the usual appearances of a grass- 
 covered mound with stones cropping up over the surface. 
 The entire diameter of the tower is 50 feet, and the diameter 
 of the inner area or court 24 feet. The walls are 14 feet thick 
 at the entrance, and 12 feet thick at the other side. The 
 highest part of the wall remaining is 14 feet ; and although 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvi. p. 351.
 
 392 
 
 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 this hardly shows sufficiently the traces of galleries, the presence 
 of stairs shows their former existence. The inner court was 
 completely filled up with stony detritus to a depth of 10 feet, 
 
 Fig. 225. Ground-plan and sections of brock of Ousdale, Caithness. 
 
 and the remaining 4 feet consisted of charcoal and what ap- 
 peared to be ashes of peat in alternate layers." 
 
 As will be seen from the plan and sections (fig. 225), the 
 broch contained an en trance -passage, with wall -checks for
 
 BROCHS. 393 
 
 two doors and a guard-chamber between them ; a chamber in 
 the wall entering from the court; and a third chamber from 
 which the stair ascended. All these chambers were con- 
 structed with beehive roofs, and the doorways heavily linteled. 
 In the guard-chamber " was found a cist, 2 feet square, covered 
 over with a flag, and containing ashes, charcoal, and a dark 
 unctuous clay. ... At a height of 8 feet from the floor a 
 scarcement or ledge, nearly a foot in width, ran round the entire 
 inner court ; but, unlike that in most brochs, it is undoubtedly 
 part of the original building, and not a secondary construction." 
 In clearing out the chamber at the foot of the stair a human 
 skeleton was discovered, head downwards, roughly built in 
 and covered with small stones and earth. Of the interior and 
 its contents Mr Mackay gives the following account: "At 
 about 4 feet above the real floor were found traces of a second 
 occupation, probably after the tower may have been partly in 
 ruins, several partitions of large slabs set on end being found 
 at this level. The real floor of the central court consists of 2 
 feet of fine puddled clay laid on the natural bed. This floor 
 was covered with layers of ashes and charcoal, which contained 
 large quantities of animal bones, many half burnt, and some 
 split for the purpose of extracting the marrow. Large quan- 
 tities of shells of the limpet and periwinkle were also found, 
 and a considerable quantity of wild-hazel nuts. The following 
 articles were also found amongst the ashes on the floor and 
 throughout the building: A damaged stone hatchet, with a 
 slight groove round the centre ; a granite mortar carefully 
 hollowed out, the hollowing being i foot in diameter and 10 
 inches deep ; several very rude mica-schist querns, some 
 of which are broken ; stone mullers ; stone hammers or 
 ' pounders,' generally much abraded at one end, and some- 
 times at both ; three mica-schist discs, eight inches in diameter, 
 with holes two inches in diameter through the centre ; several
 
 394 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 whorls in sandstone and steatite ; a large quantity of fragments 
 of very coarse hand-made pottery, fire baked, some composed 
 of a layer of black clay inside and a layer of red outside, the 
 shapes appeared to be globularly bulging, with everted rims; 
 part of a small cup of a finer blue clay, with flat bottom and 
 slightly bulging sides ; several specimens of whetstones ; part 
 of a wooden dish or scoop with everted rim, apparently about 
 5 inches in diameter and 2 inches in depth ; a piece of pol- 
 ished lignite, which may have formed part of an armlet." 
 
 The animals represented by the osseous remains, as identi- 
 fied by Dr R. W. Reid, Professor of Anatomy in the Univer- 
 sity of Aberdeen, were deer, ox, sheep, hare, and a large bird. 
 
 From historical evidence we know that many of these brochs 
 were formerly much higher than they are now. Dun Carloway, 
 on the west coast of the island of Lewis, is said to have been 
 40 feet high in the end of last century ; and it is still, next to 
 that of Mousa, the best preserved. Pennant describes the 
 broch at Glenelg as being in his time (1776) 30}^ feet high, 
 and he adds that 7^ feet had just been removed. Mr Low, 
 in his 'Tour through Orkney and Shetland' (1774), states 
 that the " Fight's " castle at Burraness, in the island of Yell, 
 was 20 feet, and that at Cullswick 23 feet, in height. The 
 natural inference is that formerly they were all sufficiently 
 lofty to prevent an attacking party from climbing over the 
 walls. 
 
 As regards the structural peculiarities and special design of 
 brochs, Dr Joseph Anderson, one of our most distinguished 
 investigators of brochs, thus expresses himself: "The design 
 of the whole structure and the arrangements of all its separate 
 parts exhibit a careful and laborious adaptation of means and 
 material to the two main objects of shelter and defence. The 
 clever constructive idea of turning the house outside in as it 
 were, placing its rooms within its walls, and turning all their
 
 BROCHS. 395 
 
 windows towards the interior of the edifice, implies boldness 
 of conception and fertility of resource. The height of the 
 wall, which effectually secured the inmates against projectiles, 
 also removed its essentially weak upper part beyond reach 
 of assault, while the pressure of its mass knit the masonry 
 of the lower part firmly together, and its thickness made it 
 difficult to force an entrance by digging through it if such 
 a wall could be approached for this purpose when the whole 
 of its upper materials were deadly missiles ready to the hands 
 of the defenders. The door, securely fastened by its great 
 bar, is too strong to be carried by a rush. Placed 4 feet or 
 more within the passage, it can only be reached by one man 
 at a time, and the narrowness of the passage prevents the use 
 of long levers. In all probability the door itself is a slab of 
 stone, and impervious to fire. But even if it is forced, and 
 entrance gained to the interior court, the enemy finds himself 
 as it were in the bottom of a well 30 to 40 feet in diameter, 
 with walls 50 feet high, pierced on all sides by vertical ranges 
 of windows, or loopholes, commanding every foot of the same 
 space below, and rising to the number of twenty or more, 
 immediately over the door which gives access to the galleries. 
 In short, the concentration of effort towards the two main 
 objects of space for shelter and complete security was never 
 more strikingly exhibited, and no more admirable adaptation 
 of materials so simple and common as undressed and un- 
 cemented stone, for this double purpose, has ever been 
 discovered or suggested." 1 
 
 Such being the structural characteristics of the brochs, we 
 have now to glance at some of the minor differences and 
 peculiarities observed in individual specimens. And, first, 
 as regards the more constant characters there may be slight 
 variations. For example, the entrance- passage may have 
 1 Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 203.
 
 396 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 one or two doors, one or two guard-chambers, or none at all. 
 Thus in the broch of Glenelg, Inverness-shire, the entrance- 
 passage, at 4 feet from its outer end, has large slabs set on 
 end as door-checks, but from this point inwards it widens, 
 the roof becomes more lofty, and on the south side there is 
 a guard-chamber. In the broch of Kettleburn there are two 
 guard-chambers, one on each side of the entrance-passage. 
 The broch of Carn-liath, in Dunrobin Park, presents a more 
 exceptional deviation from the rule in having no chambers 
 in the wall entering from the ground-floor, but instead of 
 them there were in the court area two underground chambers 
 faced with flags. 
 
 The broch of Kintradwell is described by Dr Joass 1 as 
 having check-pieces fixed in the wall for two doors, the first 
 6 feet and the second 14 feet from the outer end of the 
 en trance- passage, with a guard-chamber between them. Also 
 at the side of the central area there was a well, 7 feet deep, 
 with some stone steps leading down to near its bottom. On 
 one of these steps a stone cup, 5 inches in diameter, was 
 found, probably used as a drinking-cup. There were, how- 
 ever, some further peculiarities which, in the opinion of the 
 explorer, formed no part of the original structure. Round 
 the open court there had been constructed a wall, 8 feet 
 high and i foot thick, the object of which was to supply a 
 ledge or scarcement for supporting a wooden roof. Also, out- 
 side the broch proper, the ground was covered for a distance 
 of 20 yards with a medley of the foundations of buildings 
 of an inferior order of architecture. Among these ruins, at 
 a depth of from 2 to 2^ feet from the surface, ten skeletons, 
 in a much decayed condition, were discovered. Along with 
 one of these skeletons there was an iron spear-head, and with 
 another the blade of an iron dagger. Dr Joass considered 
 1 Archreologia Scotica, vol. v. p. 95.
 
 BROCHS. 397 
 
 these burials to be of a later date than either the broch or its 
 secondary buildings. 
 
 Similarly, the broch of Yarhouse, excavated by Dr Joseph 
 Anderson, had associated with it, both outside and inside, 
 a mass of secondary buildings, among the ruins of which 
 human skeletons were found. These Dr Anderson believed 
 to have been buried after the broch and its outhouses had 
 already succumbed to the ravages of time to the extent 
 of becoming a grassy mound. Near one of the bodies 
 lay a flat circular brooch of brass, bearing an inscription 
 which identifies it with brooches of the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries. There were casual interments during Christian 
 times, but there is evidence which connects the custom 
 with paganism as well. Dr Petrie describes a small ceme- 
 tery of stone cists with burials after cremation, overlying the 
 ruined broch of Okstrow in Orkney. 1 
 
 Like that at Kintradwell, the broch of Yarhouse contained 
 an interior wall built of inferior masonry against the original 
 wall of the broch, and attached to it were remains of par- 
 titions. " These partitions," writes Dr Anderson, 2 " were 
 partly built, and partly formed of long slabs set on end. 
 They rose to about 8 feet the same height as the scarce- 
 ment. The partitions and the inner wall forming the 
 scarcement were founded on an accumulation of rubbish 
 largely mixed with ashes and food - refuse, which covered 
 the original floor of the broch to the depth of 12 to 14 
 inches. They were therefore clearly secondary constructions, 
 made to adapt the broch to the purpose of a secondary occu- 
 pation." Similar proofs of later adaptations of the brochs 
 to different conditions of life have been observed in many 
 other instances, as at Burwick, Kettleburn, Lingrow, &c. 
 
 Many of the brochs were built in positions evidently selected 
 1 Arch. Scot., vol. v. p. 76. * Scotland in Pagan Times, p. 229.
 
 398 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 for natural strength, such as Cole's Castle, near Brora, Suther- 
 landshire, which occupies the top of an isolated eminence 
 accessible only on one side. 1 Others occupied promontories 
 or small islands in lakes, such as the brochs of Snaburgh and 
 Burraness, both in the island of Unst, in Shetland, which were 
 protected by fortifications and ditches on the land side. The 
 broch of Clikamin, at Lerwick (PI. XVI.), though on an 
 island, was fortified by a thick stone wall which completely 
 surrounded the island. Inside this enclosure was the broch 
 proper, strengthened in the usual way. The loch is now 
 lowered and visitors can approach the ruins on foot, but it 
 will take them some time to master the intricacy of the 
 structure with its doors, passages, guard-chamber, vaults, &c. 
 The broch on Cockburn Law, known as Edenshall, identified 
 as such by the remains of a stair and beehive chambers in the 
 thickness of the wall, is important as being surrounded by a 
 double rampart of earthworks in the ordinary manner of the 
 British forts. The broch was one of the largest known, its 
 wall being 17 feet thick and the area enclosed no less than 
 56 feet in diameter. Outside the broch, but within the area 
 defended by the earthworks, are numerous ruins of circular 
 huts and other buildings, as shown on the accompanying 
 plan (PI. XVII.), taken from Mr John Turnbull's account of 
 this remarkable stronghold. 2 
 
 The relics collected on the sites of brochs are not less 
 instructive than the buildings themselves, inasmuch as they 
 disclose, with tolerable fulness, the culture and social con- 
 dition of their occupants. On comparing the various 
 collections derived from the very considerable number of 
 excavations now recorded, they appear so marvellously alike 
 that, with the exception of one or two stray objects from 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xv. p. 310. 
 
 2 Proc. Berwickshire Nat. Club, 1879-81.
 
 
 PLATE XVII.-EDENSHALL, COCKBURX LAW, HKRWUKSHIKK
 
 BROCKS. 399 
 
 foreign cultures, they may be discussed as one homo- 
 geneous group. The following may be noted as the most 
 common : 
 
 Stone. Querns, rubbers, hammer-stones, polishers ; oval or 
 circular cups, mortars, pestles, whorls, discs, balls, whetstones ; 
 vessels of steatite, &c. 
 
 Horn and bone. Pins, bodkins, buttons, knobs, long- 
 handled combs supposed to have 
 been used in weaving, toilet combs 
 (fig. 226), needles; handles for 
 knives and instruments are largely 
 represented. 
 
 Bronze. Objects of bronze are 
 not numerous, being confined to Fig . 226 . _ Bone famb from the 
 
 pins, armlets, and buckle -like Knowe of Saverough, Orkney 
 
 brooches. 
 
 Iron. Objects of iron are also sparingly represented, and 
 they are generally so much corroded that it is difficult to 
 identify them. As specific implements and weapons may 
 be noted the knife, socketed chisel, spear, and dagger. 
 
 Pottery. Fragments of pottery are common, showing a 
 coarse unglazed ware in the form of globular vessels with 
 everted rims. 
 
 The animals used as food by the inmates of the brochs 
 are abundantly represented in the accumulated refuse-heaps 
 found on almost all the sites hitherto explored. They are 
 chiefly the following : Red- and roe-deer, ox, sheep, goat, 
 pig, horse, dog, whale, seal, various kinds of fish, and the 
 common edible molluscs. 
 
 Among the relics regarded as exceptional and special the 
 following may be noted : 
 
 i. In the broch of Carn-liath there were found rings of 
 shale or lignite, some in the process of being manufactured ; 
 
 2 E
 
 400 
 
 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 two plates of hammered brass ; and a silver fibula of Roman 
 type. 1 
 
 2. At Kettleburn a pair of bronze tweezers, 4^ inches long 
 and i ^ inch in breadth, elegantly manufactured and orna- 
 mented after Late Celtic style. 2 
 
 3. The broch of Dunbeath, excavated by Mr T. Sinclair, 
 contained chambers loftier than usual, and among the relics 
 were an iron spear-head and a whetstone. A quantity of 
 charred grain, bere, and oats was found on the floor. 3 
 
 4. In one of the brochs in the parish of Harray an orna- 
 mental bronze knob (fig. 227) was found, which is of much 
 
 interest as being almost identical with a 
 number of objects found on the crannog 
 of Lisnacroghera 4 (PI. VI., Nos. 28-30). 
 
 5. Fragments of Samian ware were 
 found in the brochs of Burray and 
 Okstrow, as well as in one at Keiss, 
 recently explored by Sir F. T. Barry ; and 
 four silver coins of the Roman Empire, in 
 the outhouses of the broch of Lingrow. 
 
 6. The broch of Torwoodlee, Selkirk- 
 shire, recently investigated by Mr James 
 
 Fig. 227. Bronze object Curie, 5 is remarkable for the preponder- 
 
 ^ CG f leliCS Cmanatin S fr m Roman 
 
 civilisation found on its site. These 
 include Samian pottery, glass vessels of well-known Roman 
 types, armlets of opaque glass with enamel, a bronze disc with 
 enamel, and some harness-rings in Late Celtic style of art. 
 
 1 Arch. Scot., vol. v. pi. xvi. - Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. i. p. 266. 
 
 3 Arch. Scot., vol. v. p. 146. 
 
 4 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. vii. p. 103, and 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe, ' 
 P- 383. 
 
 8 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvi. p. 68. 
 
 f Harray(^ *"** '"
 
 BROCKS. 401 
 
 7. Among miscellaneous objects are a stone pebble with 
 a hollow streak (fig. 228), supposed to be a strike-light, a 
 clay mould for casting bronze pins (Lingrow), disc made 
 of bone (Burrian), double- 
 edged combs like those 
 from the Terp- mounds in 
 Holland, a stone with two 
 triangles crossed, the meta- 
 tarsal bone of an ox with in- 
 cised symbols of a crescent 
 
 Crossed with a V-shaped Fi g- 228. Quarts pebble from the brock 
 . r /~i i of Kintr ad-well (i). 
 
 sceptre, a cross of Celtic 
 
 form, a fish, an ogham inscription, and a cup made of the 
 
 vertebra of a whale. 
 
 This is but a meagre account of the archaeological pheno- 
 mena disclosed by the explorations of the Scottish brochs. 
 The problem now to be considered is, Who were the people 
 who constructed and inhabited them? Their geographical 
 distribution coincides so fully with that of the roving Norse- 
 men in their excursions to our shores, that in answer to the 
 above question two possibilities are suggested : " Either they 
 were erected by the Picts or Celtic races who inhabited these 
 islands from the earliest times to which history and tradition 
 ascend ; or they were the work of the Norwegians who settled 
 on the islands in or before the eighth century after Christ, 
 and finally conquered and extirpated the Celtic inhabitants." 
 
 The problem at issue is fairly well set forth in the above 
 statement by James Fergusson, F.R.S., who energetically 
 defended the- latter alternative, or Norwegian theory of the 
 origin of the brochs, in a special treatise entitled ' The Brochs 
 and the Rude Stone Monuments of the Orkney Islands' 
 (London 1877). As Mr Fergusson's essay had to a large 
 extent assumed a polemical character, mainly directed against
 
 402 WORKS OF DEFENCE. 
 
 the views of Dr Joseph Anderson, who held the other, or 
 Celtic, theory of the origin of the brochs, the latter was con- 
 strained to take up the challenge. His reply will be found in 
 the ' Proc. Soc. A. Scot.,' vol. xii. pp. 314-356. I cannot recall 
 any scientific controversy that repays perusal better than these 
 two essays ; but even should I have space to summarise the 
 arguments pro et con,, it would be an injustice to my readers 
 to deprive them of the full effect of the argumentative style 
 and methods of two such able and competent controversialists. 
 As I agree with Dr Anderson's views in this matter, it will 
 suffice here to state, in a condensed form, the conclusions he 
 arrived at in regard to the brochs, after a comprehensive sur- 
 vey of their structural characteristics, their geographical range, 
 and their contents, with special reference to the questions of 
 their origin and their relation to other antiquities in Northern 
 Scotland. They are as follows : 
 
 1. The brochs are allied by their structural characteristics 
 to the Celtic and not to the Norwegian group of stone monu- 
 ments, in which no instance of a vaulted chamber ever occurs. 
 
 2. Their geographical range and local distribution imply 
 their native origin, and are incompatible with the theory that 
 they were built by the Norwegians. 
 
 3. The Norwegian remains from graves of the Viking period 
 in Scotland are wholly similar to the remains of the Viking 
 period in Norway, and are thus easily distinguishable from 
 the Celtic remains with which they are locally associated. 
 
 4. The general fades of the group of relics found in the 
 brochs agrees completely with that of the group of relics of 
 the post-Roman period of Celtic Scotland, and this is sufficient 
 evidence that their occupants were not Norwegian. 
 
 Among the more recent investigations of brochs the most 
 important are those conducted by Sir F. T. Barry, Bart., M.P., 
 on his Keiss estate and elsewhere, in Caithness no less than
 
 BROCHS. 403 
 
 eight brochs having been excavated by him during the last 
 few years, including the " Harbour Mound," partially explored 
 by the late Mr Samuel Laing, M.P., and described in his ' Pre- 
 historic Remains of Caithness ' (1866). A communication on 
 the results of these excavations, by the explorer, was read 
 at the Society of Antiquaries, London, on the 8th of June 
 last ; and its publication will be awaited with much interest, 
 mainly to see if his discoveries have a tendency to shift 
 backwards the chronological horizon usually assigned to these 
 structures as was the case with the remains found in the 
 broch at Torwoodlee, which point to a period close on the 
 Roman occupation of the district. The relics, some of 
 which I recently saw at Keiss Castle, are generally of the 
 same character as those already found on the sites of the 
 northern brochs. Among them may be noted long-handled 
 combs, implements of deer-horn, pottery (including two small 
 pieces of "Samian" ware), bone pins and a bone needle, 
 whorls, whetstones, stone lamps, mortars and cups ; also 
 bones of the great auk, part of the antlers of the elk and 
 reindeer, and the tooth of a bear (see p. 91). The broch 
 of Nybster was on a small promontory, with precipitous 
 sides, jutting into the sea. Before excavations its site was 
 a greensward with a ditch across its narrowest part. Parallel 
 to this ditch there was a stone wall, 15 feet thick, containing 
 an entrance passage with check-pieces for two doors, and on 
 each side of its inner end were a few steps of a stair leading 
 to the top of the wall. The broch, with its entrance facing 
 the south, was immediately beyond this rampart, and in front 
 of it were remains of outhouses which, unlike the generality 
 of brochs, showed no indications of having been due to 
 secondary occupation. Indeed all these structures appeared 
 to me to have been the component parts of one original 
 fortification.
 
 404 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 EW archaeological subjects have excited 
 more general interest in the scientific 
 world than the discovery of the remains 
 of those strange habitations known 
 as Lake - dwellings, the investigation of 
 which has been steadily prosecuted 
 throughout Europe for now close upon half a century. 
 The comparative security afforded by natural islands could 
 not fail to attract the notice of man from the very dawn of 
 his reasoning faculties, and it is probable that he resorted 
 to such means of protection as soon as he became acquainted 
 with the buoyant properties of a log of wood, and utilised his 
 experience by the invention of -the dug-out canoe. From the 
 natural to the artificial island was but a stage of transition 
 which in course of time could be readily bridged over by 
 his progress in mechanical skill. But whatever may have 
 been the primary object of these structures, or the precise 
 circumstances which led to their development, one thing is 
 certain, that they continued for many centuries to be the 
 characteristic abodes of the early inhabitants of Central 
 Europe, in localities where the requisite conditions were
 
 IRISH CRANNOGS. 405 
 
 to be found. The remarkable development of the system 
 in Central Europe, during the Stone and Bronze Ages, seems 
 to have come to a sudden end within prehistoric times ; and, 
 indeed, so completely had the custom fallen into desuetude 
 that scarcely a trace of it has survived in the traditions or 
 annals of those very countries in which lake-dwellings were 
 most abundant. To have rescued so singular a phase of 
 human civilisation from oblivion is one of the greatest tri- 
 umphs of prehistoric archaeology. 
 
 i. Sketch of Lake-dwelling Researches. 
 
 The actual starting-point of lacustrine research may be 
 dated to an incident which took place in Dublin upwards 
 of half a century ago. It appears that early in the spring 
 of 1839 curiosity was roused at the Museum of the Royal 
 Irish Academy by the frequency of the visits of a local 
 dealer offering for sale objects of a miscellaneous character, 
 many of which were of rare antiquarian value. These objects 
 were said to have been found in a peat-bog in the county of 
 Meath, and their assortment in such a place seemed so strange 
 to Dr Petrie that he resolved to visit the locality. Accordingly 
 he and Surgeon Wilde (aftenvards Sir W. Wilde) started in 
 search of the mysterious find, and were conducted to the 
 peat-bog of Lagore, near the village of Dunshaughlin. Here, 
 within the boundaries of a drained lake and under a thick 
 covering of peat, was an artificial mound then partially 
 exposed by peat-cutters. This mound had been well known 
 to bone collectors for upwards of ten years, during which 
 time, it is said, they had dug out, and exported to a factory 
 of bone-manure in Scotland, no less than 150 cart-loads of 
 bones. The mound was of a circular shape, slightly raised 
 above the surrounding plain, and measured 520 feet in cir-
 
 406 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 cumference. Along its margin were " upright posts of black 
 oak, measuring from 6 to 8 feet in height; these were 
 mortised into beams of a similar material, laid flat upon 
 the marl and sand beneath the bog, and nearly 16 feet 
 below the present surface. The upright posts were held 
 together by connecting cross-beams, and fastened by large 
 iron nails." 
 
 That the nature of this mound was correctly interpreted 
 by Irish archaeologists may be gathered from the abstract 
 of Sir William Wilde's paper on the Lagore lake - dwelling 
 or crannog in the ' Proceedings of the Irish Academy ' for 
 1840, from which the above extract is taken, as well as from 
 the further discoveries which immediately followed on its 
 publication such as the crannogs in Roughan Lake, Lough 
 Gur, Lake Monalty, Loch-na-Glack, Ballinderry, &c. 
 
 But the most important subsequent discoveries were due 
 to the workings of the Commission for the Arterial Drainage 
 and Inland Navigation of Ireland, which brought to light no 
 less than twenty -two crannogs throughout the counties of 
 Roscommon, Leitrim, Cavan, and Monaghan. Reports of 
 these crannogs by the engineers of the Board of Works, 
 along with plans, maps, sections, and a large assortment 
 of relics, were deposited at the time in the Museum of 
 the Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 While these crannog investigations were thus steadily pro- 
 gressing in Ireland, an independent discovery was announced 
 in Switzerland, which not only gave a new significance to the 
 Irish discoveries, but almost immediately opened up one of 
 the most prolific fields of prehistoric research which has ever 
 come under the cognisance of archaeologists. This discovery 
 was indirectly due to the exceptional cold of the winter of 
 l8 53'54 which caused the water in Lake Zurich to sink to 
 a lower level than any previously on record being one foot
 
 DISCOVERIES IN SWITZERLAND. 407 
 
 lower than the celebrated mark on the stone of Stafa, which 
 preserves the record of a similar phenomenon in 1674. In 
 these circumstances two of the inhabitants of Ober-Meilen, 
 whose vineyards came close upon the shore of the Lake, 
 began to extend them by enclosing portions of the exposed 
 shore with a stone wall, and filling in the space with mud, 
 so as to bring its surface above the ordinary level of the 
 water. In the course of these operations the workmen ob- 
 served, protruding through the mud in the bed of the 
 lake, portions of rotten posts, together with stone axes, 
 flint implements, and other worked objects, which excited 
 their curiosity. Mr Aeppli, the village schoolmaster, heard 
 through his scholars of the curious things turned up in 
 these diggings, and as soon as his day's duties were over 
 he went to see the place. After inspecting some of the 
 objects which the workmen had laid aside, Mr Aeppli 1 
 thus expressed himself to the interested bystanders : " Hier 
 hat die Menschenhand gearbeitet, das sind Werkzeuge und 
 Gerathe, die der Mensch einst gebraucht hat; ihre Form 
 gehort menschlicher Thatigkeit an." 
 
 He then wrote a short account of what he had seen, and 
 sent it to the Antiquarian Society at Zurich. Within four 
 hours of the despatch of his epistle three representatives of 
 the Society arrived at Ober-Meilen, among them being the 
 President, Dr Ferdinand Keller. 
 
 After careful consideration of the facts, Dr Keller came 
 to the conclusion that the piles had supported a platform 
 upon which huts had been erected, and that, after a long 
 period of occupancy, the entire structures were destroyed 
 by a conflagration. 
 
 This important deduction, strengthened by the traditional 
 stories of submerged cities long current among the fishing com- 
 1 F. Staub, Die Pfahlbautcn in den Schweizer-Seen, p. 8.
 
 408 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 munity, spread rapidly among the Swiss people, and produced an 
 immediate army of explorers, who commenced a vigorous search 
 for similar remains in this and the adjacent lakes. Guided 
 partly by the recollection of previous finds, the significance 
 of which became now apparent, and partly by the knowledge 
 of local fishermen, who, from practical experience of disasters 
 to their fishing-gear, could at once point to numberless fields 
 of submerged woodwork, the efforts of these pioneer lacus- 
 treurs were speedily crowned with the greatest success. In 
 the spring of the same year the famous station, known as 
 the Steinberg at Nidau, was discovered, as well as many 
 others in the Lakes of Bienne, Neuchatel, and Geneva; 
 so that before the report of the Ober-Meilen discovery 
 could be published in the ' Transactions of the Antiquarian 
 Society of Zurich,' Dr Keller had equally interesting materials 
 from other stations to record. This report, which appeared 
 towards the close of 1854, under the title "Die Keltischen 
 Pfahlbauten in den Schweizerseen," at once attracted the 
 attention of archaeologists throughout Europe. 
 
 The immediate outcome of the publicity thus given to the 
 existence of an ancient lacustrine civilisation in Switzerland 
 was a systematic search for similar antiquities throughout 
 Europe. Nor was this search in vain, for within a few 
 years analogous remains were found in many of the lakes 
 and turbaries of France, Germany, Austria, and Italy; and 
 more recently the area of their development has been ex- 
 tended to Bosnia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and probably 
 other localities. 
 
 The merit of being the first to direct attention to Scottish 
 crannogs belongs to Dr Joseph Robertson, who brought the 
 subject before the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of 
 Scotland in a paper read on December 14, 1857. The facts 
 adduced by Dr Robertson consisted chiefly of historic ref-
 
 SCOTTISH CRANNOGS. 409 
 
 erences to island - forts, and submerged wooden structures 
 exposed, in the course of the drainage of loch and marshes, 
 during the last, and the early part of this, century. Although 
 this kind of evidence conclusively proved the existence of 
 crannogs, it gave little information as to their nature and 
 function in the social organisation of the times. The first 
 great discovery which brought them on the field of practical 
 research was made in the Loch of Dowalton, Wigtownshire, 
 about thirty-five years ago. In order to drain the extensive 
 meadows occupying the western portion of the Dowalton 
 valley, the proprietor, Sir William Maxwell, Bart., conceived 
 and successfully carried out a project of draining the loch 
 by cutting a new outlet through the narrow lip of rock 
 which, at a certain portion of its margin, was the only 
 barrier between its waters and the lower ground beyond. 
 This excavation was completed during the summer of 1863, 
 and, as the waters subsided, a group of five or six artificial 
 islands gradually emerged, like a scene in fairyland, from the 
 bosom of the lake. The antiquarian remains collected on 
 these islands ultimately disclosed a picture of early Scottish 
 civilisation hitherto unknown to historians or to archaeologists. 
 Sir Herbert Maxwell, to whom the event was especially excit- 
 ing, on account of the bewilderment of the aquatic birds 
 which were in the habit of frequenting the loch, and the 
 tragic fate of its fish, gives the following reminiscence of 
 the circumstances which led to the recognition of the true 
 nature of the islands : " I remember when Lord Lovaine 
 was taken down to see the drainage operations in 1863, 
 that the islands were then appearing above the subsiding 
 waters. His lordship had, I think, just returned from 
 Switzerland, where he had visited the lake- dwellings there. 
 My father told me that he exclaimed, ' Why, here are just 
 the things I have been looking at in the Swiss lakes.'"
 
 410 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 In August of that year the late Duke of Northumberland, 
 then Lord Lovaine, read a descriptive account of these cran- 
 nogs at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne meeting of the British 
 Association. 
 
 A couple of years later, Dr Stuart, Secretary of the Society 
 of Antiquaries, visited Dowalton, and, owing to the more 
 complete drainage of the loch, was enabled to examine the 
 islands under more favourable conditions. The result of his 
 labours was an elaborate paper to the Society, in which he 
 
 Fig. 229. Bronze patella ($% inches in height) with the letters 
 CIPIPOLIEI stamped on handle, Dowalton. 
 
 gave a detailed account of their structure and of the relics 
 found on them ; and to which he added all the facts he 
 could glean from historical and other sources, including some 
 of the contents of the unpublished paper of Dr Robertson. 
 
 Among the industrial remains collected on and around 
 these islands were canoes, bronze dishes of Roman origin 
 (fig. 229), bracelets and beads of glass (fig. 230), bronze 
 brooches and other ornaments, crucibles and iron slag, 
 perforated axe -heads and hammers of iron, fragments of
 
 LOCH DOWALTON. 
 
 Samian ware, querns, hammer-stones, a leather shoe stamped 
 with a pattern (fig. 232), &c., &c. From the undoubted 
 Roman element which characterised a considerable number 
 of these relics, the habitable period of the Dowalton lake- 
 
 Fig. 230. Beads of glass from Dowalton ({). 
 
 dwellings must be relegated back to the early centuries of 
 the Christian era. 
 
 After the publication of Dr Stuart's paper in 1866, little 
 progress was made in the exploration of Scottish crannogs, 
 although traces of them were occasionally noticed throughout 
 the country, till the dis- 
 covery and excavation of 
 the Lochlee crannog in 
 1878-79. This was the 
 commencement of a series 
 of explorations, conducted 
 under the auspices of the 
 Ayr and Galloway Archae- 
 ological Association, which 
 culminated in the excava- 
 tion of no less than six 
 typical crannogs through- 
 out the counties of Ayr and Wigtown. From a careful con- 
 sideration of the relics thus collected, there can be no ambiguity 
 as to the testimony they afford of the peaceful occupation of 
 their owners. Indeed, among a very large and varied assort- 
 ment of objects indicating the prosecution of various industries, 
 
 Fig. 231. Brvnse ffnannular brooch, 
 Dowaiton (}).
 
 412 
 
 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 the warlike element is but feebly represented by a few iron 
 daggers and spear-heads, one or two tips of the crossbow-bolt, 
 and a quantity of so-called sling-stones. Among the rarer 
 objects the following may be mentioned : Two spiral finger- 
 rings of gold (fig. 233), and a crucible containing particles of 
 
 Fig. 232. Portion of leather shoe (length 7 inches), Dovaalton. 
 
 this metal ; a gold coin of Saxon origin (fig. 234) supposed 
 to have been originally a forgery, as it was made up of two 
 thin gold plates and a copper core ; an amber-coloured bead 
 of glass (fig. 235); two cup-marked stones, one of which has 
 
 Fig. 233. Two spiral finger-rings of gold, Buston (}). 
 
 the cup surrounded by two concentric circles (fig. 237) ; a 
 pendant of jet in the form of a cross inscribed in a circle 
 and ornamented with small incised circles (fig. 238) ; a conical 
 object of rock-crystal highly polished and having some re- 
 semblance to the settings on early book-covers (fig. 236) ; a
 
 AYRSHIRE CRANNOGS. 
 
 413 
 
 flat piece of ash-wood having both sides ornamented with an 
 incised spiral pattern; a remarkable fringe -like apparatus 
 made of the long stems of a moss (Polytrichum commune) 
 (fig. 239) ; a bridle-bit, partly of iron and partly of bronze 
 (fig. 240); several toilet combs (fig. 241); fibulae of Romano- 
 
 2 34 235 236 
 
 Fig. 234-236. Gold coin (Bus/on), glass bead, and rock-crystal from 
 
 Lochspouts (\). 
 
 British types (fig. 242); an ornament of bronze wire coiled 
 into a double spiral (fig. 243), &c. 
 
 Since the reports on these various investigations appeared 
 in the Collections of the Association, only three genuine 
 
 Fig. 237. Stone with c up-and- 
 ring markings, Lochlee (J). 
 
 Fig. 238. Jet ornament. Lock- 
 sf>out i (\). 
 
 crannogs have been excavated in Scotland viz., one in 
 Lochan Dughaill, Argyllshire; one at Hyndford, near the 
 town of Lanark ; and a third a stone crannog in Ashgrove 
 Loch, near Stevenston, Ayrshire. As these crannogs were 
 investigated subsequent to the publication of my books on
 
 414 
 
 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 the Scottish crannogs (1882) and the Lake - dwellings of 
 Europe (1890), I shall here give a short account of the archae- 
 
 Fig. 239. Fringe made from the stems of 
 a moss (Polytrichum commune), Loch- 
 lee ($). 
 
 Fig. 240. Bridle-bit of bronze 
 and iron, Lochlee (^). 
 
 logical results, by way of supplementing the information 
 already before the public.
 
 CRANNOG OF LOCHAN DUGHAILL. 
 
 415 
 
 The crannog of Lochan Dughaill l is interesting, inasmuch 
 as it revealed the foundation of a circular wooden house over 
 
 Fig. 241. Bone comb, Buston (). 
 
 Fig. 242. -Bronze fibula, Lochlee W. 
 
 i &' "43- *** &ral 
 ornament, Lochspouts 
 
 the artificial island, as already described (p. 334). The island 
 
 consisted of timbers and brushwood, arranged in transverse 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 211. 
 
 2 F
 
 416 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 layers to a depth of over 4 feet and surrounded by a circle 
 of piles, whose surface formed an oval space, 49 feet long by 
 45 feet broad. 
 
 All the relics collected in the course of the investigation 
 were found on the surface of the woodwork, and, though not 
 numerous, they are of some archaeological value. The fol- 
 lowing are the principal objects : 
 
 A small flint scraper of prehistoric workmanship, which 
 probably came from a grave of the Stone Age in the 
 neighbourhood, was utilised by the crannog inhabitants 
 as a strike-light (fig. 244). 
 
 A circular stone disc, 3^ inches in diameter, and rather 
 more than an inch in thickness, having a central per- 
 foration half an inch in diameter. 
 Four sharpening stones made of a fine-grained sandstone, 
 
 found in the primary rocks in the vicinity. 
 Five or six kidney-shaped polishers of a whitish quartz, 
 
 6 to 8 inches in length. 
 Half of a bracelet made of cannel coal, showing a diameter 
 
 (internal) of 2^ inches. 
 
 Some fragments of glazed earthenware (wheel-made), found 
 together, were reconstructed into a jar 6^ inches high 
 
 (% 245)- 
 Among the other relics may be mentioned a projecting 
 
 handle of the same kind of earthenware as the jar (fig. 
 
 246); a crucible i^ inch in greatest diameter (fig. 247); 
 
 and some portions of worked wood having round and 
 
 square holes. 
 
 The Hyndford crannog, discovered and excavated by Mr 
 Andrew Smith in 1898, is situated about two miles east of the 
 town of Lanark. Some twenty years ago the site of this 
 dwelling was a small wooded island, but immediately prior 
 to the excavations only the stumps of trees were to be seen
 
 CRANNOG OF LOCHAN DUGHAILL. 
 
 417 
 
 dotting the surface of a grassy flat mound, some 70 or 80 
 feet in diameter. In winter, and during rainy weather, the 
 mound was often completely surrounded by water, but in 
 
 Fig. 244. Flint 
 scraper ( J). 
 
 Fig. 245. Jar of glazed earthenware 
 (6K inches high). 
 
 summer-time there was only a large pond encompassing 
 about three-fourths of its circumference, leaving a dry neck 
 on the north-east side which connected it with the cultivated 
 
 Fig. 246. Handle of earthen-ware vessel. 
 (4 inches in length). 
 
 Fig. 247. A crucible of clay 
 (actual size). 
 
 land. The depth of the pond is very considerable close to 
 the mound, and indeed it looks as if it had been intention- 
 ally deepened. The method of excavating adopted was to 
 clear off the entire debris down to the original flooring of the
 
 4i8 
 
 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 dwelling, a depth of from 2^ to 3 feet. Underneath this 
 there was a layer of much decayed brushwood mixed with the 
 clayey silt on which it was originally laid. A circle of piles, 
 having a diameter of about 49 feet, was exposed in the interior, 
 the stumps of which projected some 2 feet above the floor- 
 ing. They were irregularly set, as if two or three rows 
 had been placed together, and it is probable that they 
 formed part of a wooden house. Towards the centre of 
 the circle of piles there were three fireplaces separated from 
 each other by an interval of a few yards, each of which 
 contained several superimposed hearths one above the other. 
 A large quantity of ashes, charcoal, and bones of animals 
 broken and sometimes burnt was found throughout the 
 debris, more especially on the south side, where there was 
 an accumulation, suggestive of a kitchen-midden, occupying 
 a space partly inside and partly outside the circle of piles. 
 The relics, which were not localised in any way but scattered 
 throughout the whole ruins, are of special 
 interest on account of the number of 
 Roman remains among them. The fol- 
 lowing are the most important up to 
 this date : 
 
 Stone. A neatly formed polished celt, 
 3 inches long (fig. 248), and a fragment 
 of another specimen ; a circular disc 
 beautifully polished on both sides, 3 
 Fig. 248. stone axe inches in diameter, and rather more than 
 
 a i uarter of an inch thick ; another 
 
 stone, 3 by 2}^ inches, had the same 
 characters as the former, but differed in being of a rect- 
 angular shape ; four small and neatly formed sharpening 
 stones; one whorl made of sandstone, ifa inch in diameter, 
 and two of a light-yellowish shale, one of the latter having
 
 HYNDFORD CRANNOG. 
 
 419 
 
 a circular groove near its margin (fig. 254) ; several portions 
 of querns ; a small mortar with traces of gold in it (fig. 252) ; 
 portion of a stone cup (steatite) with a perforated handle (fig. 
 251); hammer-stones, pestles, perforated pieces of shale, &c. 
 
 Bronze. A spiral finger-ring of 3^ coils (fig. 253); two 
 rings i^i inch in diameter; portions of small tubing, and a 
 square rod or wire, 9 inches long; portion of a beaded 
 torque (fig. 154, p. 253). 
 
 Glass. Three melon-shaped beads of different sizes (fig. 
 
 Figs. 249-254. Various objects found in the Hyndford crannog. 
 
 i, Glass bead ; 2, Glass bracelet ; 3, Portion of steatite cup (J) ; 4, Stone mortar ; 5, 
 Bronze finger-ring ; 6, Spindle-whorl of shale (all <} with the exception of No. 3). 
 
 249), an elongated drop, and fragments of glass vessels ; por- 
 tions of five bracelets of different patterns (fig. 250). 
 
 Pottery. Portions of at least six different vessels of red 
 "Samian" ware, one with a pattern and figures; handles and 
 portions of four vessels of the grey Roman pottery ; fragments 
 of a very hard glazed ware of a bluish-green colour, indicating 
 a vessel with a long wide neck, bulging in the middle, and 
 ornamented with wavy lines.
 
 42O LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 Lead. A large mass weighing 13 Ib. 9 oz., showing cuts on 
 its surface, and another small portion. 
 
 Iron. Axe- and hammer-heads and picks one axe has 
 imbedded in its corroded mass the tooth of a large ruminant ; 
 an iron collar, 6 inches in diameter, made of a flat band i to 
 i "fa inch broad ; portions of iron slag. 
 
 Miscellaneous. Portion of a remarkable mould like one 
 found in Ayrshire ; l a small hemispherical object of red 
 enamel about the size of the half of a large hazel-nut, show- 
 ing a check pattern on its inner side. 
 
 The stone crannog in Ashgrove Loch, which was partially ex- 
 cavated by Mr John Smith, 2 consisted of a circular stone wall 
 enclosing a space of about 30 feet in diameter. Before its 
 excavation it presented the appearance of a mound on the 
 margin of the present loch, but in former times it would 
 be within its boundaries. Trenches having been dug through 
 the interior of this mound, Mr Smith came upon a built 
 drain, covered with sandstone slabs, which he regarded as 
 a water-tank. The wall, which on the land side had a 
 thickness of 9 feet, but less than half this on the other, 
 was placed upon a bed of brushwood, and built of " rough 
 blocks of sandstone, and a few whinstones, laid in a mortar 
 of tough yellow clay." 
 
 A causeway of rough blocks of sandstone slabs leading 
 from this wall to the land was discovered about 2 feet 
 beneath the present surface. The kitchen-midden was piled 
 up outside the wall, and in it were found the following 
 relics : 
 
 i. A large number of bones, both entire and split, of 
 red-deer, ox, pig, sheep, and goat. 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. i. p. 45. 
 
 2 Collections, Ayr and Gal. Arch. Association, vol. vii. p. 56 ; also 
 'Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire,' p. 48.
 
 CRANNOG IN ASHGROVE LOCH. 421 
 
 2. Several chisels and knife-like objects, a wedge, a large 
 needle perforated in the centre, a spoon, and a narrow 
 needle all of bone. 
 
 3. Several hammer-stones and a few smooth stones. 
 
 4. Bit of gas-coal with a round hole bored through it. 
 
 5. A pair of steel sheep-shears. 
 
 6. Numerous specimens of Littorina littorea. 
 
 " From the details given above," writes Mr Smith, " I 
 think the history of the spot may be read thus : on top 
 of a bluish clay-bed there had accumulated a bed of brown 
 moss, possibly entirely from the decay of water-plants, i 
 foot in thickness on the land side of the crannog, and 4 
 feet thick on the loch side. Then the position was occupied 
 by man, who laid on top of the moss a layer of branches, 
 and on this built a stone crannog, 43 feet in largest outside 
 diameter, with a built water-tank under the floor, the interior 
 of the dwelling being possibly divided into compartments, 
 roughly paved, and carpeted with heather. 
 
 " All the deers' horns got were divested of the tines, except 
 the brow one, and look remarkably like picks, and have pos- 
 sibly been used as such. Some of them are pretty well coated 
 with vivianite. 
 
 " There are possibly remains of five other crannogs in the 
 loch, but nothing has been done to explore them, and the 
 place, when in its 'glory,' must have formed a very quaint 
 little lake-village, the loch being nearly completely surrounded 
 by rising ground." 
 
 The earlier evidence adduced in support of the existence 
 of lake-dwellings south of the Scottish Border was in most 
 instances too fragmentary to be of scientific value. Of this 
 character were the structures in some of the Meres of Norfolk 
 and Suffolk, described by Sir Charles Bunbury, Professor 
 Newton, and the Rev. Harry Jones; also the reputed pile-
 
 422 LAKE-DWELLINGS 
 
 structure in Cold Ash Common, Berks, noticed by Dr S. 
 Palmer. 
 
 In 1866 General Pitt-Rivers communicated to the Anthropo- 
 logical Society of London a paper entitled "A Description 
 of Certain Piles found near London Wall and Southwark, pos- 
 sibly the remains of Pile- Buildings." The author began by 
 observing that his attention was directed to the locality by a 
 short paragraph in the ' Times ' of the 2oth October, stating 
 that upwards of twenty cartloads of bones had been dug out 
 of the excavations which were being made for the foundations 
 of a wool warehouse. Here, in a bed of peat, 7 to 9 feet 
 thick, intervening between the accumulated debris of modern 
 London and a bed of gravel, the workmen came upon a 
 number of wooden piles whose tips penetrated into the gravel. 
 Scattered through this peat were numerous articles of human 
 workmanship ; also several kitchen-middens, containing the 
 nondescript remains of human occupancy. The majority of 
 the relics were of Roman origin, and included coins, tiles, 
 pottery, and articles of dress. In addition to these there were 
 others of ruder construction, made of bone and horn, such as 
 knife-handles, spear-heads, a couple of bone skates, &c. 
 
 In 1870 a circular island, near the shore of the Lake of 
 Llangorse, Wales, was shown by the Rev. Mr Dumbleton to 
 have been constructed after the manner of the stockaded 
 islands or crannogs. In the course of the excavations, remains 
 of a log-flooring, charcoal, food-refuse, &c., were turned up, 
 but among them there was no relic of sufficient character to 
 give a clue to the period when the island was constructed or 
 inhabited. 
 
 In 1880 the Drainage Commissioners of the Holderness 
 found it necessary to deepen some of the drains in that low- 
 lying district, and when this was being done Mr Thomas 
 Boynton's attention was directed to some prepared woodwork,
 
 IN ENGLAND. 423 
 
 and bones of animals found in the stuff thrown out, which he 
 regarded as evidence of a lake-dwelling. Such remains were 
 observed at five different localities, two of which have since 
 been more or less explored, with the result that there could 
 be no doubt that they were the sites of human habitations, 
 having some structural resemblance to the fascine lake- 
 dwellings of Switzerland. Some very curious implements 
 made of the articulated ends of the long bones of some large 
 bovine animals, a flint scraper, a stone axe, a bronze spear- 
 head, and portions of two jet bracelets, are the chief relics 
 recorded. 
 
 Indications of lake-dwellings, discovered on the banks of 
 the Costa, near Pickering, Yorkshire, in 1893, by Mr James 
 Mitchelson, have been recently described by the Hon. Cecil 
 Duncombe, F.G.S., at a meeting of the Anthropological In- 
 stitute (vol. i., New Series, p. 150). As only a partial explor- 
 ation of the locality has been made, the author refrains from 
 formulating any positive conclusions on these discoveries. 
 The evidence adduced in support of lacustrine habitations 
 consists of rows of piles, suggesting gangways converging to 
 one point where "water always rested or flowed in ancient 
 times." 
 
 A section of the ground showed superficial soil, 8 or 10 
 inches ; stiff blue clay, 2 feet 6 inches ; peat, 6 feet, resting on 
 the Kimmeridge clay. A hole, 12 feet by 9 and 6 to 7 feet 
 deep, was dug round some piles, and, near the bottom of the 
 peat, relics of human occupancy were found, consisting of a 
 cartful of animal bones and a quantity of broken pottery. 
 
 The animals represented were man (at least four indivi- 
 duals) ; horse (small variety), numerous ; ox (JBos longifrons], 
 numerous ; sheep (straight - horned), numerous ; goat, one 
 skull ; pig (both wild and domesticated) ; wolf, fox, otter, 
 beaver (one skull), voles, and birds.
 
 424 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 Portions of deer- horn showed marks of cutting, others 
 were worked into rude implements, and one split portion 
 contained five small perforations. The pottery was all hand- 
 made, formed of " coarse clay mixed with spar and small 
 stones." Some fragments indicated vessels of large size, 
 reminding Captain Buncombe of those found in the Holder- 
 ness. 
 
 All these remains are, however, quite compatible with Mr 
 C. H. Read's opinion that they must be assigned to the early 
 Iron Age rather than to an earlier date. The absence of 
 metals counts for very little in a mere preliminary investiga- 
 tion such as this has been ; but enough has been disclosed to 
 show the extreme interest of these early remains of British 
 lake -dwellings and the desirability of having the Costa site 
 more fully explored. 
 
 These meagre records comprise nearly all the results of 
 lacustrine research in England, with the exception of the 
 Glastonbury lake -village discovered in the spring of 1892 
 by Mr Arthur Bulleid, and since excavated under his care. 
 The site of this remarkable settlement occupies some three or 
 four acres of a flat meadow, within the boundaries of what is 
 supposed, on good grounds, to have been formerly a lake or 
 marsh. Before excavations were begun all that the eye could 
 discern, on the undisturbed surface, were sixty or seventy low 
 mounds huddled in the corner of a field. These mounds 
 were the debris of dwelling-huts, and the foundation on which 
 they stood consisted of layers of brushwood and trees bound 
 together, at least in some places, with mortised beams pre- 
 cisely similar to those of the crannogs. A strong palisading 
 of piles and brushwood surrounded and protected the village. 
 Its marginal boundary was very irregular, probably from the 
 fact that enlargement continued to be made by the addition 
 of huts projected from different parts of the original nucleus.
 
 LAKE-VILLAGE AT GLASTONBURY. 425 
 
 The huts were circular or oval, and varied in size from 20 to 
 35 feet in diameter. Each hut contained a central hearth, 
 sometimes neatly made of flat stones embedded in the clay 
 flooring, but as subsidence, due to the compression and decay 
 of the under-structures, progressed, the occupants superadded 
 new floorings. These, on being repeated several times, 
 showed on section a stratified appearance. In this way 
 several hearths, five or six being not uncommon, were ob- 
 served superimposed one above the other, precisely in the 
 same manner as has been observed on the Lochlee crannog. 
 The objects collected form a large and varied assortment, 
 made of stone, bone, horn, wood, bronze, iron, lead, glass, 
 
 Figs. 255, 256. Two fib nice and portion of handle of b rouse mirror from 
 Glastonbury lake-village ($). 
 
 amber, and pottery, besides the osseous remains of man and 
 the ordinary domestic and wild animals. These remains 
 illustrate, with rare and singular completeness, the life-history 
 of the community its social industries, culture, and civilis- 
 ation. Many of the relics exhibit the special characteristics of 
 Late Celtic art ; nor does it appear that they have been in- 
 fluenced in any way by Roman civilisation, so that this feature 
 alone gives to the Glastonbury lake-village an exceptional 
 importance among the lacustrine researches hitherto prose- 
 cuted within the British Isles. 
 
 Among the bronze objects are many fibulae of La Tene 
 types (fig. 255), spiral finger- rings, penannular brooches,
 
 426 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 portions of mirrors (fig. 256), and an elegant bowl. Of bone 
 or horn we have needles, pins, handles of instruments, long- 
 handled combs, some of the latter being decorated. The 
 pottery consists of various vases and dishes, some showing de- 
 vices of unmistakably Late Celtic character ; iron weapons and 
 implements, generally much corroded ; a fine specimen of a 
 saw, still retaining its wooden handle, is of the same character 
 as that found on Hunsbury camp, and figured on page 273. 
 A leaden weight, shaped like a cheese, and weighing 4 ounces 
 229 grains, is the only thing which betrays a suspicion of 
 Roman origin. Among the objects of wood are a canoe, 
 the framework of a loom, a decorated stave of a bucket, 
 part of the axle and nave of a wheel with a couple of spokes 
 in their place, and a ladder ; querns, loom weights, crucibles, 
 thousands of sling-bolts, made of clay both burnt and un- 
 burnt, &c. 
 
 2. Structure of Lake- dwellings. 
 
 The preliminary problem which had to be solved before 
 lacustrine habitation became possible was to construct a level 
 platform, sufficiently elevated above the water to be beyond 
 the action of the waves, on which dwelling- huts could be 
 erected. This had been effected in one or other of the three 
 following ways : 
 
 i. By driving long piles of wood into the bed of the lake, 
 leaving their tops projecting at a uniform height above the 
 water, and placing over them transverse beams, so as to form 
 a platform capable of supporting such buildings as were con- 
 sidered necessary for the domestic comfort of their inhabitants. 
 The dwellings so constructed are called Pile-structures or Pile- 
 dwellings^ Pfahlbauten, Palafittes, &c. This was the method 
 most commonly adopted in Switzerland, Austria, Savoy, and 
 North Italy.
 
 VARIOUS METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION. 427 
 
 2. A second method was to construct a series of rectan- 
 gular basements of wood in close proximity to each other, 
 each basement having its sides formed by a succession of 
 horizontal beams lying one above the other like the logs in 
 a Swiss chalet, and overlapping at the four corners. These 
 compartments measured only a few yards in diameter. Their 
 lowest beams rested on the bed of the lake, and when the 
 requisite height above the water was attained, the usual plat- 
 form was laid across, and so the empty spaces underneath 
 became covered over. This plan, selected probably with the 
 object of saving material, is analogous to the columnar and 
 vaulted foundations of modern buildings. It appears to have 
 been adopted chiefly by the founders of the sporadic lake- 
 dwellings of the Iron Age. Characteristic examples have 
 been investigated in Lake Paladru, France, and in the lakes 
 of Persanzig, Arys, Daber, and others, in Germany. 
 
 3. The third method was by constructing an artificial island 
 of timbers, laid in layers transversely to each other, and gener- 
 ally mixed with stones and earth, so as to afford a substantial 
 basis for a building which could be used as a habitation, or as 
 a fort. This was the method almost invariably practised by 
 the inhabitants of the British Isles, and the ruins of such 
 habitations are now frequently met with in the form of sub- 
 merged, or partially submerged, islands known as crannogs. 
 
 As regards the pile -structures proper, everything huts, 
 platforms, and piles, except their submerged lower ends has 
 disappeared ages ago, either by natural decay or by the 
 accident of a conflagration. Such a catastrophe was by no 
 means an uncommon occurrence among the Swiss lacustrine 
 villages ; but, strange to say, it was, from an archaeological 
 point of view, the most fortunate termination these struc- 
 tures could have had. In the hurry and scrimmage of a con- 
 flagration not only did many articles of value drop into the
 
 428 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 lake, but some of the most perishable commodities such 
 as grain, fruits, bread, cloth, &c. and, what is not the least 
 interesting, portions of the clay mouldings of the hut walls, 
 were first charred before they dropped into the subjacent 
 mud, and thus became less liable to decomposition. 
 
 When we consider the number and extent of the lake- 
 villages which formerly clustered along the sheltered bays 
 in the larger lakes of Switzerland, we begin to realise the 
 labour involved in their construction. One of the Bronze- 
 Age stations at Merges, in the Lake of Geneva, was 1200 
 feet long by 150 feet broad; and the whole of this area 
 was thickly studded with the stumps of the piles which 
 had supported the huts. Mr Lohle, the explorer of Wangen, 
 a station of the pure Stone Age in Lake Constance, estimated 
 the number of piles used in its construction at 40,000 or 
 50,000. Dr von Fellenberg calculated, by counting the 
 number of piles in one or two selected spots, that the entire 
 number required for the Bronze-Age settlement at Moringen 
 could not have been less than 10,000. A more striking and 
 realistic phenomenon has rarely come before archaeologists 
 than that which the stations of Moringen and Lattringen pre- 
 sented, shortly after the Lake of Bienne became affected by 
 the results of the Correction des eaux du Jura an operation 
 which lowered its surface from 6 to 8 feet. Photographic 
 illustrations of their sites, taken in 1876, show quite a forest 
 of black-looking stumps rising a few feet above the muddy 
 bottom, which then for the first time became exposed to view. 
 A similar sight was witnessed a few years later (the autumn of 
 1884), at Cortaillod, in Lake Neuchatel, and it made such an 
 impression on the minds of the country-people that they 
 flocked in crowds to behold the novel spectacle. The 
 recently emerged piles, as positive evidence of human habita- 
 tion, could not be gainsaid, more especially as relic-hunters
 
 PILE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 429 
 
 were finding a rich harvest among the debris in the surrounding 
 mud. The pile-structures which became embedded in peat 
 are, however, still better preserved, as may be seen from the 
 accompanying illustration (fig. 257), taken from a freshly exca- 
 vated portion of the celebrated station of Robenhausen. 
 
 Contemporary with these pile-dwellings there existed through- 
 out the same regions of Central Europe other lake-dwellings 
 
 Fig. 257. View of piles exposed on peat at Robenhausen, Switzerland. 
 
 which, instead of platforms on tall piles, had solid substruc- 
 tures composed of layers of timbers alternating with beds 
 of clay. Such structures are commonly met with in the 
 smaller lakes, and their remains are now generally buried in 
 peat. Characteristic specimens of this class have been in- 
 vestigated at Wauwyl, Niederwyl, and Schussenried. Ex- 
 amples of the artificial island or crannog have also occasionally
 
 430 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 been met with on the Continent. In this category are to be 
 reckoned a prettily wooded island in the Lake of Inkwyl, near 
 Soleure ; also one in Lake of Nussbaumen, which measured 
 no by 60 feet, and a third in the Arrasch See, in Livonia, 
 which belonged to the Iron Age. 
 
 But it was within the British Isles that the artificial islands 
 acquired their greatest development, some 300 having been 
 recorded and more or less investigated, of which considerably 
 more than two-thirds are in Ireland. The most precise in- 
 formation as regards their structure, however, has been fur- 
 nished by one or two of the Scottish examples, notably those 
 of Lochlee and Buston, in the county of Ayr. 
 
 The construction of a crannog must have been a gigantic 
 piece of work, requiring in many cases the services of the 
 whole village community. In a lake containing soft and 
 yielding sediment it is manifest that any heavy substances, 
 such as stones or earth, would be inadmissible, owing to 
 their weight, so that logs of wood, provided there was an 
 abundant supply at hand, would be the best and cheapest 
 material that could be used. The plan adopted seems to 
 have been to make first a floating raft of stems of trees, 
 brushwood, bracken, heather, &c., mingled with stones and 
 earth, until the mass grounded. When this was effected 
 the entire mass was pinned together and surrounded by 
 circles of piles, firmly united by horizontal beams with 
 mortise - holes to receive the uprights. These horizontal 
 beams were arranged in two ways. One set ran along 
 the circumference, and bound together all the uprights in 
 the same circle, while others took a radial direction and 
 connected each circle together. Sometimes the latter were 
 long enough to embrace three circles. The external ends 
 of the radial beams were occasionally observed to be con- 
 tinuous, with additional strengthening materials wooden
 
 ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS. 431 
 
 props, large stones, &c. which appeared also to act as a 
 breakwater. On one side of the Lochlee crannog there was 
 a large accumulation of brushwood outside the stockade. 
 The mechanical skill displayed in the construction was 
 specially directed to give stability to the island, and to pre- 
 vent superincumbent pressure from causing the general mass 
 to bulge outwards. 
 
 The internal composition of the Lochlee island was care- 
 fully ascertained by cutting a large rectangular hole near 
 its centre, which was carried down till the original silt of 
 the lake was reached a depth of 10 feet from the primary 
 floor of the dwelling-house, or about 16 feet from the surface 
 of the mound. The result of this was to show that the 
 solid mass was composed of the unbarked stems of various 
 kinds of trees, from 6 to 12 inches in diameter, laid in 
 transverse layers over each other. At the very bottom a 
 large trunk, 14 inches in diameter, was encountered, between 
 which and the lake sediment there were only a few hazel 
 twigs. Interspersed among this woodwork, and stretching 
 beyond the limits of the cutting, were prepared oak-beams 
 pinned at their ends to others of the same kind, as well as, 
 here and there, to the ordinary rough logs. This arrange- 
 ment probably extended to the marginal stockades, and so 
 formed a strong binding framework to the whole island. 
 One pin, some 3 or 4 inches in diameter, penetrated through 
 no less than four beams in successive layers, and terminated 
 ultimately in a large trunk, 13 inches in diameter. One of 
 these oak-beams measured 8 feet 3 inches in length and 10 
 inches in breadth ; and the holes in it were 5 feet apart. 
 Another terminated in a small round projection or tenon, 
 which evidently fitted into a mortised hole in an adjacent 
 beam. 
 
 Some of the artificial islands have been constructed of dry 
 
 2 G
 
 432 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 stones with, or without, a wooden foundation, and numerous 
 examples of them have been recorded both in Ireland and 
 in Scotland. According to Mr Kinahan, the largest and 
 most characteristic stone crannog in Ireland is Hag's Castle, 
 Lough Mask, county Mayo. In Scotland, a specimen in the 
 White Loch of Ravenstone, Wigtownshire, explored some 
 years ago by the late Lord Borthwick, under my super- 
 vision, had the appearance of a mound of stones with a 
 level surface 80 feet square. On the surface there were 
 ruins of stone buildings, but on excavating a hole near the 
 centre, to a depth of 6 or 7 feet, we came on a found- 
 ation of large beams and trunks of trees. 1 
 
 Many, if not all, of the lacustrine villages of Central Europe 
 were connected with the shore by means of one or more gang- 
 ways, supported by a double row of piles, and varying in length 
 and breadth according to the situation and requirements of 
 each village. Dr Gross informs us that the bridge leading 
 to the Bronze-Age settlement at Moringen was about 200 
 yards in length, and from 10 to 12 feet in width ; while 
 that to the Stone - Age station in the same locality was 
 considerably shorter, and only 5 to 8 feet wide. The ex- 
 tent of the space occupied by piles at Robenhausen was 
 about 3 acres, and the nearest point of the old lake-shore 
 was some 2000 paces distant ; but yet it would seem, from 
 traces of piles found in the peat, that a bridge at one time 
 traversed the whole of this distance. Remains of similar 
 approaches have been frequently observed in connection with 
 the sporadic dwellings in the outlying districts of Europe. Dr 
 Conwentz 2 has recently shown that, in prehistoric and early 
 medieval times, wooden roads and bridges had been con- 
 structed in North Germany across bogs and marshes, the 
 
 1 Collections of Ayr and Gal. Arch. Association, vol. v. p. 121. 
 a Die Moorbiiicken im Thai der Sorge, 1897.
 
 ACCESS TO CRANNOGS. 433 
 
 remains of which are at the present time occasionally met 
 with buried in peat and other superficial accumulations. 
 
 Access was had to the Scottish and Irish crannogs by vari- 
 ous means. Some had moles or stone-causeways, the existence 
 of which in some instances only became known upon the 
 drainage of the lake. Hence it has been conjectured that 
 these approaches might have been always submerged, and 
 so supplied, on emergencies, a secret means of communi- 
 cation with the shore. This idea was suggested by the 
 tortuous direction which many of them assumed, as, for 
 example, the causeway discovered after the drainage of the 
 Loch of Sanquhar, which had a zigzag direction, and so 
 could only be waded by persons intimately acquainted with 
 its windings. Others were approached by a wooden gangway, 
 the evidence of which in some cases still exists in the form 
 of a double row of piles. Both at Lochlee and Lochspouts 
 it was ascertained that these piles were tightly embraced at 
 their lower extremities by a curiously constructed network of 
 horizontal beams, spreading from one line of uprights to the 
 other. As these structures were buried from 3 to 7 feet 
 beneath the lake -bed, my first impression was that they 
 might have been used, like the submerged stone causeways, 
 as a concealed means of communicating with the shore. 
 To test this suggestion, I caused a special excavation to 
 be made along the line of a gangway at the Miller's Cairn, 
 in Loch Dowalton. After digging through 3 feet of hardened 
 mud we came upon a stratum of fine, blue, and extremely 
 tenacious clay. The pointed stakes, which penetrated into 
 this clay only a few inches, here met with a firm resistance. 
 It then occurred to me that the ingenious arrangement of 
 the wooden beams at the crannogs of Lochlee and Loch- 
 spouts served merely the same end as the blue clay at 
 the Miller's Cairn, and that they were to be found only
 
 434 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 in localities where there was a great depth of mud incap- 
 able of affording a sufficient basis of resistance to the piles. 
 It is curious to note the ingenuity and variety of means by 
 which such difficulties were overcome. 
 
 In addition to the ordinary lake-dwellings, or palafittes, there 
 is to be found, in the eastern part of the Po Valley, another 
 class of ancient habitations known as terremare, which are so 
 closely allied to the former that they may be regarded as land 
 palafittes. They date from the Bronze Age, being apparently 
 a development of the lacustrine system ; and although long 
 known as the source of many interesting antiquities, it was only 
 after the lake-dwelling researches came into vogue that their 
 real nature was recognised. Nearly one hundred of these 
 mounds have now been more or less investigated, with the re- 
 sult that there can no longer be any doubt that they are the 
 sites of ancient villages constructed on piles, and fortified by 
 an earthen dyke and a ditch. In their construction one uni- 
 form plan was adopted. Having selected a suitable site, 
 always four-sided and orientated, but of course varying in size 
 according to the requirements of the community, the construc- 
 tors proceeded to surround it with a ditch, the excavated 
 material being thrown up in the form of a dyke on the inner 
 side. The area thus enclosed was then thickly planted with 
 stakes, the tops of which were brought to a common level, and 
 over them a wooden platform was laid. On this platform cot- 
 tages made of light timbers and clay were erected. Thus, in 
 a very simple manner, was constructed a fortified village, ac- 
 cess to which was secured by one or more wooden bridges 
 spanning the surrounding ditch. The vacant space beneath 
 the common platform became a convenient receptacle for all 
 sorts of refuse, including lost and worn-out objects of industry. 
 When in the course of time this space became filled up, the 
 terramaricolt, in order to avoid the labour of having to remove
 
 TERREMARE. 435 
 
 the debris which would otherwise accumulate around them, 
 adopted the ingenious method of constructing a brand-new 
 platform above the former. It seems that a preliminary step 
 to the carrying out of this project was to set fire to the entire 
 village, thus at one coup getting clear of all sanitary difficulties 
 as well as of a number of uninvited guests. Having thus 
 started with a clean bill of health, they elevated the dyke to 
 the requisite height, and planted stakes, as formerly, for the 
 support of the new platform and huts the stakes in this case 
 penetrating only into the accumulated rubbish of the former 
 village. This mode of procedure appears to have been re- 
 peated over and over again, until in the course of ages the 
 successive deposits accumulated to a height of 15 or 20 feet. 
 
 3. Marine Dwellings. 
 
 Before the construction of the great sea-dykes in Holland, 
 nearly the whole of West Friesland would have been in that 
 hybrid condition described by Pliny, in which it was difficult 
 to say whether it belonged to sea or land ("dubiumque terrae 
 sit, an pars maris "). " Here," says this writer, " a wretched 
 race is found, inhabiting either the more elevated spots of 
 land, or else eminences artificially constructed, and of a height 
 to which they know by experience that the highest tides will 
 never reach. Here they pitch their cabins ; and when the 
 waves cover the surrounding country far and wide, like so 
 many mariners on board ship are they," &c. At the present 
 time this region is richly cultivated, and looks as if it were a 
 dead level, and it is only on close inspection that certain ele- 
 vations of considerable extent, called terpen, scattered irregu- 
 larly over the country, can be detected. It is on such eleva- 
 tions that villages and churches are generally built, and, till 
 they accidentally attracted the attention of agriculturists within
 
 436 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 recent years, no one seemed to have thought anything about 
 their origin. They are now proved to have been originally 
 constructed as pile-dwellings, precisely similar to the terretnare, 
 and are probably the actual mounds seen and described by 
 Pliny. They might therefore be more appropriately designated 
 as marine dwellings. 
 
 Like the terremare of Italy, the terpen are largely excavated 
 on account of their rich ammoniacal deposits, which are used 
 by agriculturists as guano. The industrial remains found in 
 the course of these operations are of a very miscellaneous 
 character, and give a vivid picture of the civilisation of their 
 inhabitants from Roman times down to the twelfth century. 
 Among the relics I noticed such objects as the shells of eggs 
 (hen and goose), some of which were unbroken, a flute made 
 of the shank-bone of an animal, large casks, canoes, loom- 
 weights, toilet-combs, iron bridle -bits, beads of glass and 
 amber, Anglo-Saxon, Byzantine, and Roman coins, bronze 
 pots, pottery, &c., &c. 
 
 Traces of marine pile-structures are also said to have been 
 found in the Bay of Wismar, North Germany. 1 
 
 The only remains suggestive of ancient habitations known to 
 me within the tidal shores of the British Isles are (i) a cairn 
 of stones on a substratum of wood near the island of Eriska, 
 at the mouth of Loch Crerar; (2) the Black Cairn, in the 
 Beauly Firth ; (3) some stumps of piles in Ardmore Bay, 
 county Waterford ; and (4) a curious wooden structure re- 
 cently discovered at Dumbuck within the tidal area of the 
 Clyde. 
 
 The Eriska mound, which was dry at low water but sub- 
 merged at spring-tides to the extent of 5 feet, was found on 
 examination to be composed of clay and stones resting on a 
 foundation of logs of wood. The mound was circular in form, 
 1 Lake-Dwellings of Europe, p. 311.
 
 MARINE DWELLINGS. 437 
 
 about 60 feet in diameter, and in digging a trench through it, 
 ashes, charcoal, and the broken bones of domestic animals (ox 
 and sheep) were turned up as evidence of human occupancy. 1 
 
 The Black Cairn, which is situated about 400 yards within 
 the flood-mark of the Beauly Firth, and nearly opposite to Red 
 Castle, is also said to be constructed on a foundation of large 
 beams. Miss C. Maclagan 2 thus refers to it : " We visited it 
 at low water of the lowest tide of the year, and believe it to be 
 a crannog greatly resembling one in the neighbouring ' Loch 
 of the Clans,' but resting on larger, stronger piles. Our boat- 
 men declared they had often drawn out of it beams 9 or 10 
 feet long and 3 feet broad, fresh and fit for use. They had 
 great difficulty in pulling them out, which they did by fixing 
 their anchors in a log or pile. Tradition says that as late as 
 1745 the place was an island, and a refuge to which some of 
 Prince Charles Edward's defeated adherents fled after the 
 battle of Culloden." 
 
 The "submarine crannog" at Ardmore, discovered by Mr 
 R. J. Ussher, 3 covers an oval space about 100 feet in diameter, 
 and contains piles in a stratum of peat. The present sub- 
 marine position of these remains may be reasonably accounted 
 for on the strength of the evidence that a submergence of the 
 land, since Neolithic times, has taken place along the southern 
 shores of England and Ireland, while, during the correspond- 
 ing period, the very opposite change has been proved to have 
 occurred in Scotland and the north of Ireland. 4 For further 
 references to marine dwellings see 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe,' 
 
 PP- 3". 3 8 9, 443 573. and 574. 
 
 The so-called crannog at Dumbuck is situated between 
 high- and low-water marks, and at full tide its site is covered 
 to a depth of at least 3 feet. Before it was subjected to the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xix. p. 192. 2 Hill Forts, &c., p. 89. 
 
 3 Proc. R. I. Acad., vol. ii., and series. 4 Arch. Journal, Sept. 1898.
 
 438 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 recent excavations conducted by Mr W. A. Donnelly, its dis- 
 coverer, I counted the tops of twenty-seven piles of oak, some 
 5 or 8 inches in diameter, cropping up through the mud in the 
 form of a circle 56 feet in diameter. The area thus defined 
 was occupied by three layers of timbers apparently the 
 trunks of small trees from the forest laid transversely one 
 above the other. The surface of this log -pavement was 
 not lower than that of the surrounding mud, so that a little 
 scraping with a small hand-shovel was sufficient to reveal its 
 extension over the entire area of the circle, with the exception 
 of a few yards in the centre, which were then occupied by a 
 heap of stones. On the removal of these stones it was ascer- 
 tained that the woodwork did not extend over the entire area, 
 but left a circular portion, about 2 yards in diameter, in the 
 centre free. Another unique feature of this structure was a 
 ring of horizontal woodwork, some 8 or 10 feet outside the 
 circle of piles, the intervening space being destitute of wood ; 
 so that this zone, when cleared of the mud, looked like a 
 canal separating the circle of piles, with its enclosed wooden 
 flooring, from the outer ring of woodwork. In short, the 
 woodwork was arranged in two concentric rings, the inner 
 being, however, much broader than the outer. The south- 
 east portion of this unpaved zone contained a refuse-heap of 
 ashes, charcoal, and broken bones, some of the latter being 
 calcined. Among the bones, Dr Traquair, F.R.S., has identi- 
 fied those of the ox, sheep, pig, deer, and roe, also some teeth 
 of the horse. Several portions of the antlers of deer had 
 marks of cutting and sawing implements on them. 
 
 Near the outer margin of the outer ring of woodwork, on 
 its north-east side, there was found a single-tree canoe, 33 
 feet long, 4 feet wide, and about i ^ foot deep, embedded in 
 mud just of sufficient depth to cover it. On the north-west 
 border of the central ring of woodwork there was exposed a
 
 THE DUMBUCK "CRANNOG." 439 
 
 massive beam of oak, some 15 feet long, which contained in 
 its middle two-thirds 5 slanting apertures, cut out of the solid, 
 like the steps of a stair. 
 
 The whole area occupied with these wooden structures was 
 strewn over with stones which, judging from their localised 
 grouping and the entire absence of stones in the surrounding 
 muddy deposits, must have been carried there by the hand 
 of man. One thing is quite evident, that the surface of the 
 exposed woodwork was not at any time the habitable level, 
 as it is covered every twelve hours by upwards of 3 feet 
 of water. Nor was there any evidence whatever to suggest 
 that it was a habitation supported on piles, analogous to the 
 pile-structures (Pfahlbauten) of the Stone and Bronze Ages of 
 Central Europe. The most probable explanation of the curious 
 set of phenomena here disclosed is, that the woodwork was the 
 foundation of a superstructure of stones, built sufficiently high 
 to be above the action of the tides and waves, over which there 
 had been placed some kind of habitation ; but whether it was 
 a crannog, fort, or watch-tower, still remains sub jttdice. The 
 unique arrangement of the woodwork at once suggests that the 
 central building was in the form of a round, hollow tower, 
 with very thick walls, like the brochs, and that outside this 
 there had been a circular wall or breakwater which had the 
 outer ring of woodwork for its foundation. Why, when, or by 
 whom the stones were removed there is no evidence to show ; 
 but were I to make a suggestion it would be that the stone 
 causeway, now laid along the bank of the recently made canal 
 which stretches from a point close to the "crannog" to the 
 railway, accounts for a large number of them. The site of 
 the building and its substructures of wood now alone re- 
 main to puzzle antiquaries. Similar wooden basements are 
 very common among the stone -crannogs of Scotland and 
 Ireland, as already explained.
 
 440 LAKE-DWELLINGS. 
 
 The most mysterious outcome of the Dumbuck investi- 
 gations is that relics, entirely new to Scottish archaeology, 
 but almost identical with those recorded as having been 
 found on the adjoining hill-fort of Dunbuie, have also been 
 found among the debris of this marine site some in the 
 refuse-heap, some in the canoe, and others in the empty 
 central space. The account of the Dunbuie fort and its 
 extraordinary relics having already been published as evi- 
 dence of a Neolithic and pre-Celtic civilisation l (not, how- 
 ever, without a protest on the part of a few antiquaries), 
 the same theories have appeared in current literature with 
 regard to the Dumbuck crannog. In dissociating myself from 
 these theories, which I regard as utterly untenable, I have else- 
 where given expression 2 to the opinion that these strange- 
 looking objects, both from Dumbuck and Dunbuie, do not 
 belong to any known phase of Scottish civilisation, and most 
 certainly not to the Neolithic period. The statement that a 
 wooden structure unquestionably showing the marks of metal 
 tools, and exposed on the surface of recent river deposits is a 
 Neolithic monument, is a palpable contradiction in terms. To 
 look for Neolithic remains in this locality, one would not go 
 to the superficial deposits within the present tidal area of the 
 Clyde, but rather to those which formed its shelving shore 
 in those earlier times. On the supposition that a crannog, 
 or any other analogous structure, had been constructed in the 
 Stone Age, near the line of low-water mark, its site would be 
 now, doubtless, many hundreds of yards inland, and buried 
 some S to 12 feet beneath the cultivated land of the present 
 day. The section of the sedimentary deposits on this site, so 
 far as I can gather from Mr Donnelly's statements, shows "a 
 bed of loam on which the timbers of the structure rest ; then 
 a bed of silt which is filled up with brushwood under the 
 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxx. p. 291. - Glasgow Herald, 7th Jan. 1899.
 
 MODERN PILE-DWELLINGS. 441 
 
 timbers " ; then layers of sand and gravel ; and finally the 
 blue glacial clay into which the tips of the piles penetrated. 
 These facts are probably correct, and harmonise with the 
 geological phenomena of the locality. The alluvial deposits 
 which have accumulated during, and since, Neolithic times 
 in the shallows of Dumbuck, have encroached on the water 
 in the form of a wedge, the thin edge being next low-water 
 mark. The increase of mud around the wooden structure, 
 since it was laid, is probably less than a foot in depth. 
 
 Among the genuine relics found at Dumbuck may be 
 mentioned portions of deer-horn sawn across, a quern, some 
 pointed implements of bone like those found in the Lochlee 
 crannog, and illustrated by fig. 79 in 'Ancient Scottish 
 Lake-Dwellings,' and a few polishers of stone all of which 
 unmistakably indicate the medieval character of this curious 
 structure. The quern, or hand-mill, was not known in Europe, 
 either in the Stone or Bronze Age, and none prior to Roman 
 times has been found in North Britain. The shale and slate 
 images and weapons, the perforated stone-pendants, oyster- 
 shells, and other objects, ornamented with cup-marks, con- 
 centric circles, &c., would be as much out of place as sur- 
 viving remnants of the prehistoric civilisation of Scotland in 
 Romano-British times, as they are now. 
 
 Pile-dwellings are still common in many parts of the world, 
 as in the Gulf of Venezuela, in South America, and on the 
 shores of nearly all the islands in the East Indies Borneo, 
 New Guinea, Celebes, &c. At Singapore I saw several pile- 
 villages situated on the charming little bays which are to be 
 met with in that neighbourhood. When the tide is full no 
 more picturesque sight could be imagined than one of these 
 villages, as may be seen from the accompanying photographic 
 view of one of them. (PI. XVIII.)
 
 442 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 AVING in previous chapters discussed the 
 general civilisation of the prehistoric in- 
 habitants of Scotland, we now come to 
 examine their physical characteristics, as 
 disclosed by such fragmentary remains 
 of their bodies as have survived to the 
 present day, and the relation of these characters to those 
 of foreign contemporaries, with the view of gathering some 
 information regarding the part of the world from which our 
 ancestors came, and the branch of the human family to 
 which they belonged. 
 
 One of the most important facts inculcated by the science 
 of anthropology is that racial characteristics are more per- 
 sistent than the superficial varnish supplied by a sudden 
 alteration in social environments, such as occurs when one 
 nation conquers and governs another. In this way the 
 interval of a few generations might suffice to bring about 
 a complete change in the language and culture of a people ; 
 but such influences do not so readily affect the organic 
 elements which determine the physiognomy, the stature, the 
 conformation and proportions of the body, and the colour
 
 TACITUS ON THE CALEDONIANS. 443 
 
 of the skin, hair, and eyes. In support of this doctrine I 
 might refer to the oft-quoted observation that the physical 
 peculiarities of the old - world races of the Nile valley, as 
 depicted on Egyptian tombs, have not materially altered 
 during the last five thousand years. Applying these prin- 
 ciples, even should they have to be greatly modified by the 
 results of cross-breeding, to the inhabitants of the British 
 Isles, we should naturally expect those of the present day to 
 preserve some of the typical characteristics of their prehistoric 
 forefathers. Although, in this case, we have no pictorial 
 representations of the ancient Britons as a standard of com- 
 parison, there is still extant a remarkable description of them, 
 which for our purpose is equally good. In his Life of 
 Agricola, the Roman historian Tacitus thus writes : " Who 
 were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous or 
 immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual 
 among barbarians. Their temperament of body is various, 
 whence deductions are formed of their different origin. Thus, 
 the ruddy hair and large limbs of the Caledonians point out 
 a German derivation. The swarthy complexion and curled 
 hair of the Silures, together with their situation opposite to 
 Spain, render it probable that a colony of the ancient Iberi 
 possessed themselves of that territory. They who are nearest 
 Gaul resemble the inhabitants of that country, whether from 
 the duration of hereditary influence, or whether it be that 
 when lands jut forward in opposite directions climate gives 
 the same condition of body to the inhabitants of both. On 
 a general survey, however, it appears probable that the Gauls 
 originally took possession of the neighbouring coast. The 
 sacred rites and superstitions of these people are discernible 
 among the Britons. The languages of the two nations do 
 not greatly differ. The same audacity in provoking danger 
 and irresolution in facing it when present is observable in
 
 444 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 both. The Britons, however, display more ferocity, not being 
 yet softened by a long peace ; for it appears from history that 
 the Gauls were once renowned in war, till, losing their valour 
 with their liberty, languor and indolence entered amongst 
 them. The same change has also taken place among those 
 of the Britons who have been long subdued ; but the rest 
 continue such as the Gauls formerly were" (chap, xi.) 
 
 The above statement I regard as a valuable landmark in 
 British ethnology, as it discloses, at the very dawn of the 
 historic period, the existence of two extremely different types 
 of people in different parts of Britain. Although the evi- 
 dence on which the historian assigns the one (Caledonians) 
 to a German and the other (Silures) to a Spanish origin 
 may not satisfy modern criticism, it does not follow that 
 his conclusions are erroneous. 
 
 With regard to the early ethnology of Western Europe, I 
 have elsewhere 1 attempted to establish the truth of the two 
 following propositions : (i) that during the Quaternary 
 period only dolichocephalic crania have been met with ; 
 and (2) that the first appearance of a brachycephalic people 
 on the scene was contemporary with the rudimentary de- 
 velopment of the Neolithic civilisation of Europe. My con- 
 cluding words on the subject were as follows : " From the 
 amalgamation of these varied races the highly mixed popu- 
 lations of modern Europe can be readily accounted for ; 
 but whether the brachycephalic people have been evolved 
 from the older dolichocephalic types still remains a contro- 
 verted problem. To my mind the glimpses which both 
 archaeology and human palaeontology have given us of the 
 career of man in Europe agree in support of the hypothesis 
 that two peoples, long and widely separated, had come into 
 contact in Southern France, and perhaps elsewhere, at the 
 1 Prehistoric Problems, p. 1 60.
 
 PALEOLITHIC CRANIA. 445 
 
 close of the Reindeer period. Of these the dolichocephalic 
 were the oldest, and probably the direct representatives of 
 Palaeolithic man." 
 
 When these words were written there was no occasion to 
 pursue the subject through Neolithic times, my task being 
 then restricted to the remains of Palaeolithic man, but now 
 it forms the starting-point of our inquiry. Considering the 
 rapidity with which craniological researches have advanced 
 within recent years, and the large amount of materials now 
 available for discussion, it will be necessary in this sketch 
 to dispense as much as possible with technical and ana- 
 tomical details, and to confine ourselves chiefly to results 
 which we consider to be well founded on facts. 
 
 i. Craniology. 
 
 The first to make a definite statement based on anatomical 
 data with regard to the prehistoric inhabitants of Scotland 
 was Sir Daniel Wilson, who, as early as 1850, read a paper 
 at the British Association on "The Existence of Primitive 
 Races in Scotland prior to the Celtae." Writing in 1863, 
 he makes the following remarks : " The results of my first 
 investigations into the physical characteristics of the earliest 
 races of North Britain appeared to me sufficient to establish 
 the fact that the Aryan nations, on their arrival, found the 
 country in the occupation of allophylian races, by whom 
 the wilds of Europe had already been reclaimed in part 
 for the use of man. Still further, I was led to conceive 
 contrary to the conclusions of Continental investigators of 
 the same evidence in relation to Northern Europe that 
 the earliest Scottish, and indeed British, race differed en- 
 tirely from that of Scandinavia, as defined by Professor 
 Nilsson and others, being characterised by the markedly 
 
 2 H
 
 446 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 elongated and narrow cranium, tapering equally towards the 
 forehead and occiput, already referred to here under the 
 
 Fig. 258. Two views of a skull from a cairn at Nether Urquhart, Fifeshire. 
 
 name of kumbecephalic or boat-shaped skull. It is a form 
 by no means peculiar to Britain." ! As illustrations of the 
 
 Fig. 259. Two views of a skull from a stone cist at Cockenzie, East Lothian. 
 
 kumbecephalic skull, Sir Daniel figures two crania (figs. 
 
 258 and 259), both from the National Museum of 
 
 1 Prehistoric Annals, 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 249.
 
 PRE-CELTIC CRANIA. 447 
 
 Antiquities in Edinburgh. One of these was "obtained 
 from a cist discovered under a large cairn at Nether 
 Urquhart, Fifeshire"; and the other from one of a "group 
 of short stone cists, opened at Cockenzie, East Lothian." 
 The cephalic index of the former is 70.7, and of the 
 latter 75.7. 
 
 With regard to Professor Nilsson's views on the priority of 
 a brachycephalic race in Scandinavia, it may be mentioned 
 that he subsequently abandoned them, as at p. 121 of the 
 third edition (1868) of his 'Primitive Inhabitants of Scandi- 
 navia ' we find the following statement : " Some isolated 
 brachycephalous crania have been occasionally found in our 
 stone sepulchres ; but it may be taken for granted that the 
 people who constructed these sepulchres belonged to one of 
 the dolichocephalous races which still inhabit the greater part 
 of the country." Sir Daniel Wilson associated the British 
 dolichocephalic race with the constructors of the chambered 
 barrows in the south-west of England, and maintained that 
 they were succeeded by a brachycephalic people, " among 
 whom apparently the simple arts of the Stone period still 
 prevailed ; though in their later barrows, weapons and im- 
 plements of bronze indicate their acquisition of the metal- 
 lurgic art." Both these races he regarded as pre-Celtic. 
 But, however this may be, it was inferred, from the data 
 then collected, that during the later portion of the Neolithic 
 period in Scotland there existed two races, differing widely 
 from each other in physique, and especially in the form of 
 the skull, the earlier of the two being dolichocephalic and 
 the other brachycephalic. The tendency of subsequent in- 
 vestigations has been not only to confirm the truth of this 
 hypothesis, but to extend its application to much wider 
 areas, embracing the whole of Western Europe, as will be 
 shown in the sequel.
 
 448 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Through the researches of Bateman, 1 Thurnam and Davis, 2 
 Busk, 3 and others, archaeologists have been long conversant 
 with the great generalisation that the human crania from the 
 chambered cairns of Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucester, and 
 some adjacent localities were, as a rule, dolichocephalic. 
 The occasional presence of a brachycephalic skull in some 
 of these cairns was easily explained on the supposition 
 that the short-headed people appeared on the scene while 
 their predecessors were still practising these methods of 
 sepulture. The co-existence of these two types of crania 
 in the round barrows of the Bronze Age goes far to sup- 
 port this view. 
 
 The ethnological doctrine thus formulated has been greatly 
 strengthened by the researches of Canon Greenwell among 
 British barrows, and the masterly monograph of Dr Rolleston 
 on the prehistoric crania thus collected. In a couple of pre- 
 liminary sentences Dr Rolleston puts the result of his cranio- 
 logical investigations in a very striking light : " A cranio- 
 grapher with Canon Greenwell's series before his eyes in a 
 coup-d'ozil view would be impressed with the fact that out of 
 the series, two sets, the one by its length typically illustrative 
 of the dolichocephalic, the other by its breadth as typically 
 illustrative of the brachycephalic form of skull, could at once 
 be selected, even by a person devoid of any special anatom- 
 ical knowledge. An antiquary similarly inspecting this series 
 with a knowledge of its archaeological history would, if he 
 separated it into two groups, the one containing all the skulls 
 of the Stone and Bone Age, the other containing all those of 
 the Bronze period, perceive that, while the latter group com- 
 prised both dolichocephalic and brachycephalic crania, and in 
 
 1 Ten Years' Diggings, &c. 
 
 2 Crania Britannica ; Mem. Anthrop. Soc. , vols. i. and iii. 
 * Journ. Ethnol. Soc. Lond., 2nd Series, vol. vi.
 
 LONG AND SHORT SKULLS. 449 
 
 very nearly equal proportions, none but dolichocephalic skulls 
 were to be found in any set of skulls from the barrows of the 
 premetallic period." l 
 
 According to Dr Thurnam's cranial statistics, the range of 
 the cephalic index in sixty-seven skulls from long barrows 
 was 63 to 79, and in seventy from round barrows 74 to 89. 
 There was thus no dolichocephalic skull (i.e., one with a 
 cephalic index less than 74) in a round barrow, and no brachy- 
 cephalic skull in a long barrow. It was on this evidence that 
 the famous aphorism, " Long barrows, long skulls ; round 
 barrows, round skulls," was founded. Later researches have, 
 however, entirely disproved the idea that long skulls were 
 confined to long barrows, for of the four typical long skulls 
 from Canon Greenwell's collection of crania from the York- 
 shire barrows, specially selected by Dr Rolleston for descrip- 
 tion and illustration, three were taken out of round barrows. 
 But the really important part of the aphorism viz., that short 
 skulls are not found in the earlier long barrows has been 
 confirmed by all subsequent researches. " It is undoubtedly 
 an important fact," writes Dr Rolleston, " that in no skull 
 from any long barrow, that is to say, in no skull undoubtedly 
 of the Stone Age, examined by us, has the breadth been 
 found to bear so high a relation as that of 80 : 100 of the 
 length ; for this alone would suffice to show that Retzius's 
 classification of skulls into two great divisions of dolicho- 
 cephalic and brachycephalic cannot, ever, when taken to 
 connote merely the strictest geometrical proportions, be 
 summarily set aside as an artificial one." '' 
 
 Dr Thurnam gives the mean height of the dolichocephalic 
 
 men of the long barrows at 5 feet 5.4 inches, and that of the 
 
 brachycephalic men of the round barrows at 5 feet 8.4 inches. 
 
 As Dr Rolleston's measurements are practically in accordance 
 
 1 British Barrows, p. 627. - Ibid., p. 637.
 
 450 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 with those of Dr Thurnam, we may accept it as a fact that 
 the former were less in stature than the latter ^by about 3 
 inches. "To this I would add," writes Dr Rolleston, 1 " that 
 whilst this very striking difference is brought out by taking 
 the average length of the two sets of femora, a simple inspec- 
 tion of the two sets of bones puts them into even sharper con- 
 trast. The longer femora very often are also the stronger in 
 a most marked degree, and amongst them are to be seen bones 
 with muscular ridges, and processes indicating the possession 
 by their owners of strength far exceeding that usually observ- 
 able in the skeletons of the earlier race. In like manner 
 other bones indicate unmistakably that the earlier was also 
 the feebler folk as a whole, though humeri and femora are 
 forthcoming from long barrows which show that men of great 
 muscular power, even if not of great stature, were not wanting 
 amongst the British tribes of the long-barrow period. In 
 some cases the muscular ridges on the long-barrow bones are 
 so well developed on comparatively ill-developed shafts as to 
 suggest the idea of a poorly or only intermittently well-fed 
 population which was constantly worked hardly. The large 
 size of the deltoid ridge on some small humeri has suggested 
 the perhaps fanciful hypothesis that the owners of such bones 
 had been employed in lifting the stones of the huge barrows 
 in which they were found entombed. The linea aspera on 
 the femora of the British long-barrows examined by me never 
 attains the enormous development which caused Professor 
 Busk and Dr Falconer to call the femora from the Genista 
 Cave at Gibraltar 'carinate,' and which has suggested the 
 name ' femur a colonne ' to Broca and Topinard, for similar 
 femora from early sepultures. In the absence of this 
 peculiarity, as also of the fluting of the fibula and of the 
 sabre-shape of the tibia which are found to accompany it, 
 1 British Barrows, p. 654.
 
 LONG-BARROW SKULLS. 451 
 
 these skeletons contrast with many of the probably earlier 
 skeletons described by the authors just referred to." 
 
 The truth of these general conclusions has been more 
 recently confirmed by the results of Dr Garson's careful de- 
 scription of seven skeletons found in a round barrow (Howe 
 Hill Barrow) in Yorkshire. 1 The average height of these 
 skeletons was calculated to be 5 feet 5.4 inches. One of 
 them was remarkable for its size, being, according to the 
 lowest computation, 6 feet 3 inches, a height which corre- 
 sponds precisely to the tallest long - barrow skeleton in 
 'Crania Britannica.' The cephalic index varied from 65.5 to 
 79.6, or an average of 74.7. "The skulls," says Dr Garson, 
 " are in all respects similar to those of long-barrow specimens 
 which have passed through my hands from different parts of 
 the kingdom, but I have never examined a series of skulls in 
 which there were such a large proportion of hyper-dolicho- 
 cephalic specimens." 
 
 I may observe that the Howe Hill Barrow was explored by 
 Mr J. R. Mortimer, whose experience in this kind of investi- 
 gation is so well known. It measured 125 feet in diameter, 
 47 feet across its summit, and 22 feet in height. Inside the 
 mound there was a central core, not, however, corresponding 
 with its present centre, in which the primary interments were 
 found. The portion outside this core contained mixed relics 
 British, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon and may therefore be 
 regarded as an addition to the mound in later times. " This 
 inner mound," continues Dr Garson, "consisted of two layers, 
 in the outer of which were found seven deposits of burnt 
 bones, with flint and bone implements and a piece of a food- 
 vase. In the inner or core of the barrow were numerous 
 cremated deposits extending to half its thickness, but fewer in 
 number below that. Towards the base line of the barrow and 
 1 Journ. Anth. Institute, vol. xxii. p. 8.
 
 452 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 in the central grave we have the skeletons placed in different 
 directions, chiefly lying on one or other side, with the limbs 
 drawn up towards the body. With them were found flint 
 implements carefully manufactured, worked flints, and flakes, 
 bone pins some of which were burnt. With the primary in- 
 terment at the bottom of the grave was a semi-globular vase of 
 Kimmeridge clay, but no cinerary urns were anywhere found. 
 The animal remains found in connection with the skeletons 
 were those of fox (identified as such by Mr Newton), ox, 
 deer, boar, and beaver. . . . From these data I think we 
 have undoubtedly to deal with the remains of a Neolithic 
 people, interred in an age before metal had been introduced 
 among them." 
 
 In Scotland some interesting discoveries of human remains 
 have been made in the caves at Oban, which have been ex- 
 posed from time to time along the foot of the cliff over- 
 hanging the ancient raised sea-beach, on which part of the 
 town is built. These have been carefully examined and 
 described by Sir William Turner. 1 Evidence of human 
 occupation was found in four caves, consisting of a few flint 
 scrapers and flakes, stone and bone implements, food-refuse, 
 &c., all apparently of the same character as the relics found 
 in the MacArthur Cave already described (p. 46). In one 
 of these caves some fragments of pottery were found which 
 Dr Joseph Anderson regards as resembling " in all their 
 characteristics the cinerary urns of the late Neolithic period 
 and of the Bronze Age." 
 
 Among the human remains, besides those from the Mac- 
 Arthur cave, there was only one skull, that of a child, suffi- 
 ciently preserved to admit of correct measurements being 
 taken. The cephalic indices of these three crania were 
 ascertained to be 75.4 (A) and 70.2 (B) for the two adults, 
 1 Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxix. p. 410.
 
 SKULLS FROM OBAN CAVE. 
 
 453 
 
 and 77.8 for the child. With regard to the physical charac- 
 ters of these cave-dwellers, of whom portions of about fifteen 
 skeletons were here represented, Sir William makes some 
 valuable observations. The skulls A and B "prove them 
 to have been people with well - developed crania, dolicho- 
 cephalic in form and proportions. . . . The great capacity 
 of the skull B (figs. 260-262), which, in its uninjured state, 
 had doubtless been capable of containing not less than 
 
 Fig. 260. Profile view of skull B, Mac Arthur Cave, Oban. 
 
 1730 c.c. of water, places it on a level with some of the 
 most capacious skulls of modern Scotsmen which I have 
 measured." The tibiae of one skeleton at least were platy- 
 cnemic, and one of the thigh bones was platymeric. As no 
 thigh bone was entire, the data for determining the stature 
 were unfortunately imperfect, but from the available materials, 
 such as they were, the height of one was calculated to be 
 about 5 feet 5 inches. Of course there is one objection to 
 the validity of general conclusions drawn from the sepulchral
 
 454 
 
 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 remains being applied to the Oban cave-dwellers, because 
 we are not certain that they were the same people. In the 
 MacArthur Cave the human remains were clearly subsequent 
 to the time when the Troglodytes made it their home ; but in 
 the other caves this relationship has not been noted. 
 
 Sir William Turner has for many years devoted great 
 
 Fig. 261. racial view of skull D. 
 
 attention to Scottish anthropology, and most of the human 
 remains found in prehistoric graves, &c., have passed through 
 his hands. I am fortunate, therefore, in having in his recent 
 Royal Institution lecture (March 26, 1897) the following 
 summary of his observations on the prehistoric craniology 
 of Scotland : 
 
 " As similar physical conditions prevailed both in England
 
 BRONZE-AGE SKULLS. 
 
 455 
 
 and Scotland during the polished Stone and Bronze periods, 
 there is a strong presumption that the two races had, in suc- 
 cession to each other, migrated from South to North Britain. 
 Unfortunately very few skulls have been preserved which can 
 with certainty be ascribed to Neolithic man in Scotland, but 
 those that have been examined from Papa Westray, the cairn 
 
 Fig. 262. Vertex view of skull B. 
 
 of Get, and Oban, are dolichocephalic, and doubtless of the 
 same race as the builders of the English long barrows. 
 
 " Seventeen skulls from interments belonging to the Bronze 
 period have been examined by the author. The mean length- 
 breadth index of twelve was 81.4, and the highest index was 
 88.6. In each skull the height was less than the breadth. 
 In the other five specimens the mean index was 74 ; the
 
 456 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 majority, therefore, were brachycephalic. In only one speci- 
 men was the jaw prognathic : the nose was almost always long 
 and narrow; the upper border of the orbit was, as a rule, 
 thickened, and the height of the orbit was materially less than 
 the width. The capacity of the cranium in three men ranged 
 from 1380 to 1555 c.c., the mean being 1462 c.c. In stature 
 the Bronze men were somewhat taller than Neolithic men. 
 The thigh-bones of the Bronze-Age skeletons gave a mean 
 platymeric index 75.1, materially below the average of 81.8 
 obtained by Dr Hepburn from measurements of the femora 
 of modern Scots. The tibiae of the same skeletons gave a 
 mean platycnemic index 68.3 intermediate, therefore, be- 
 tween their Neolithic predecessors and the present inhabitants 
 of Britain. Many of the tibiae also possessed a retroverted 
 direction of the head of the bone ; but the plane of the 
 condylar articular surfaces was not thereby affected, so that 
 the backward direction of the head exercised no adverse 
 influence on the assumption of the erect attitude." 
 
 An opinion to the effect that two similar races existed in 
 Ireland, apparently simultaneously, was promulgated by Sir 
 W. Wilde in 1844, and republished in iSsi. 1 Though not 
 then based on definite anatomical data, this opinion has since 
 been more or less confirmed by various writers, among them 
 being the authors of ' Crania Britannica ' and Professor 
 Huxley. The latter, after placing on record the specific 
 points of some Irish skulls which he saw in the Museum of 
 the Royal Irish Academy and in the collection of Trinity 
 College, Dublin, thus sums up his remarks : " Sir W. Wilde 
 speaks of long-headed, dark, Irish (Firbolgs) west of the 
 Shannon, and of a more globular-headed, light-haired stock 
 north-east of that river. But I imagine that by ' globular- 
 headed ' Sir W. Wilde means only that the people in question 
 1 Beauties of the Boyne, second edition.
 
 IRISH CRANIA. 457 
 
 have broader heads than the others not that there was any 
 really brachycephalic stock in Ireland. At any rate, Sir 
 William claims the Uley Barrow skull as that of a ' fellow- 
 countryman,' and the cephalic index of this skull is only 71. 
 And, according to Dr J. B. Davis, the mean cephalic index of 
 fourteen male skulls from the old Abbeys of Mayo, Galway, 
 Avonmore, and Kerry, is 75 ; that of thirty-two living men in 
 Kerry being 77.6." 1 
 
 " As the evidence stands at present, I am fully disposed to 
 identify the ancient population of Ireland with the ' long- 
 barrow ' and ' river - bed ' elements of the population of 
 England, and with the long-headed, or ' kumbecephalic ' 
 inhabitants of Scotland ; and to believe that the ' round- 
 barrow,' or Belgic, element of the Britannic people never 
 colonised Ireland in sufficient numbers to make its presence 
 ethnically felt." 2 
 
 Subsequent writers, though in perfect accordance on the 
 main problem, have slightly diverged in their nomenclature. 
 Professor Rolleston thus defines his position : " It will be 
 convenient to begin by saying that I should speak of the 
 crania of the long-barrow period, not as belonging to the 
 ' Iberian,' as it is becoming the fashion to style them, but 
 as belonging to the ' Silurian ' type ; and the brachycephalic 
 crania of the round barrow I should similarly speak of, not 
 as belonging to a ' Ligurian ' but to the ' Cimbric ' type." 3 
 On the other hand, Professor Boyd-Dawkins adopts the term 
 ' Iberian ' as applicable to the dolichocephalic skulls of the 
 Neolithic tombs of Britain, and regards their owners as a 
 branch of the ancient Iberians, of which the existing Basques 
 are a remnant. 4 
 
 1 Crania Brit. , Decade vi. 
 
 2 Prehistoric Remains in Caithness, p. 127. 
 
 3 British Barrows, p. 630. * Early Man in Britain, p. 315.
 
 458 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Many anthropologists have directed attention to the sur- 
 vival of these two primary types of crania among the inhabi- 
 tants of the British Isles, although mongrels, hybrids, and 
 intermediate skull-forms have largely increased owing to inter- 
 marriages, a better supply of food, and other modifying in- 
 fluences. Dr Beddoe has shown l that there is still a black- 
 haired race in the west of England which, in their physical 
 characteristics, corresponds with the description given by 
 Tacitus of the Silures, and that they are shorter in stature 
 and feebler in development than the fair races, while their 
 skull-forms remain dolichocephalic. 
 
 Turning now to the prehistoric remains of Western Europe, 
 we find the same duality of long and short skull-forms re- 
 corded by the most competent anthropologists. The cele- 
 brated Swedish anatomist Professor Retzius, finding that 
 modern Scandinavians were a long-headed people, and that 
 one or two skulls, found in graves of the Stone Age, were 
 brachycephalic, propounded the theory that the original in- 
 habitants of Scandinavia (autochthones) were a brachy- 
 cephalic race, and that the dolichocephalic element was 
 introduced into these lands by the I n do - Europeans or 
 Aryans. This was the view to which Sir Daniel Wilson 
 objected, as already mentioned, when advocated by Professor 
 Nilsson. A vigorous effort was made at the time to apply 
 this theory to the whole of Western Europe, but soon objec- 
 tions to it appeared from all quarters. At last, in 1865, 
 Professor von Diiben announced a discovery in Sweden which 
 gave the final coup de grcue to Retzius's views, and brought 
 the Scandinavian peninsula into line with the rest of Western 
 Europe. This discovery was due to the investigation of a 
 dolmen at Lutra, near Falkoping, which contained 145 
 interments associated with grave-goods unmistakably of the 
 1 Mem. Anth. Soc., vol. ii. p. 350.
 
 SCANDINAVIAN SKULLS. 459 
 
 Stone Age. Among the osseous remains in this dolmen 
 there were thirteen entire skulls, and seven sufficiently per- 
 fect to furnish data for ascertaining the cephalic index. Of 
 these twenty crania all but one were dolichocephalic, with an 
 average cephalic index of 74. 14. 1 Subsequently Von Diiben 
 announced at the International Congress of Archaeology in 
 1874 that out of a hundred crania, found in graves of the 
 Stone Age in Denmark and Sweden, examined by him, there 
 were only twelve brachycephalic (five being from Denmark) 
 showing a cephalic index of 84.2. In their anatomical char- 
 acters they greatly resembled the present skull-forms of the 
 Laplanders, but he hesitated to identify the prehistoric race 
 with that people. 
 
 According to Professor Huxley, 2 the ancient inhabitants of 
 Switzerland, North Germany, and Scandinavia were almost 
 wholly dolichocephalic, but the south-west Germans were less 
 so. At the present time, 75 per cent of the modern Swiss 
 and 85 per cent of the south-west Germans are brachy- 
 cephalic, while among the Scandinavians few of the latter 
 type are now to be met with. Hence it would appear that 
 since the dawn of modern European civilisation, dolicho- 
 cephaly has increased and brachycephaly has diminished 
 with the latitude. 
 
 The earliest inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula were also 
 dolichocephalic. The crania discovered in the prehistoric 
 caves at Gibraltar, without reckoning one of the Canstatt 
 type, supposed to be palaeolithic, have been shown by Mr 
 Busk to be not only of this character, but identical with 
 those of the Basques, and similar to a series of crania taken 
 from various caverns and dolmens in Andalusia. 3 Opinions 
 
 1 Congres Internal., Paris, 1867, p. 380. 
 
 2 Loc. fit., p. 112. 
 
 3 International Congress, Norwich, p. 164.
 
 460 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 tending in the same direction had already been expressed by 
 other British anthropologists, as may be seen from the follow- 
 ing remarks by Professor Huxley : l 
 
 " But, if it be true, as I believe it is, that close craniological 
 affinities unite the Hiberno-British long-heads on the one 
 hand with the Scandinavians, is it not equally true that as 
 close affinities connect the dolichocephali of our islands with 
 a southern type? On this point I must again quote Dr 
 Thurnam : ' During the last summer I had the advantage of 
 examining the series of sixty Basque skulls, lately added to the 
 collection of the Anthropological Society of Paris. I was at 
 once struck with their great resemblance to the dolichocephalic 
 skulls from the long barrows of this country, and this impres- 
 sion was much confirmed by the perusal of the two memoirs 
 on these skulls by M. P. Broca, so rich in details necessary 
 for the comparison before us.' 
 
 " And Dr Thurnam is evidently inclined to carry on this 
 line of affinity to the ancient Iberians and Phoenicians. I am 
 by no means disposed to stop even here. The same form of 
 skull appears in the ' type grossier ' of the ancient Egyptian : 
 I suspect it will be found in the inhabitants of Southern 
 Hindustan ; and it is finally traceable to Australia, the natives 
 of which country, as I have already pointed out, in the largely 
 developed probole, the wall - sidedness, pentagonal norma 
 occipitalis, prognathism, and strong brow-ridges, and even in 
 the remarkable vertical depression exhibited by some extreme 
 forms of their skulls, come nearest to the ancient long skulls 
 of Europe." 
 
 The Kjokkenmoddings near the villages of Salvaterra and 
 
 Mugem, in the valley of the Tagus, Portugal, were described 
 
 by MM. C. Ribeiro and F. de Paula e Oliveira at the Lisbon 
 
 meeting of the International Congress of Anthropology and 
 
 1 Loc. dt., p. 130.
 
 IBERIAN SKULLS. 461 
 
 Prehistoric Archaeology in 1880. It had been ascertained, in 
 the course of some extensive excavations, that the people 
 who amassed these shell-heaps lived in the earliest Neolithic 
 period ; but the most interesting feature of the investigations 
 was the discovery of upwards of a hundred interments at 
 various depths in the ddbris. It does not appear that any 
 grave-goods had been associated with them, and the relics 
 collected were of a very rude and primitive character. The 
 osseous remains were much decayed, and the skulls distorted, 
 probably by the pressure of the debris ; enough, however, 
 remained to show that they represented two races one 
 dolichocephalic and the other brachycephalic. Some of the 
 crania were at once recognised by M. de Quatrefages, and 
 other anthropologists present at the Congress, as belonging to 
 the types of Cromagnon and Furfooz. Of the latter, only two 
 specimens were in the series, all the others being dolicho- 
 cephalic. One of the former showed a very high cephalic 
 index (86.90), and the latter varied from 71.11 to 75.56. 
 From the slender character of the bones in general, these 
 primitive fishermen of Mugem were judged to have been of 
 small stature. 
 
 On examining a series of skulls found in sepulchral caverns, 
 dolmens, and other burial-places of the Neolithic Age, the 
 same duality of type was observed as in those from the 
 kitchen-middens of Mugem, in all of which dolichocephaly 
 still retained its predominance. Characteristic specimens of 
 both long and short skulls were also recognised in a collection 
 from the dolmen of Licea, the caverns of Casa da Moura, 
 Monte Junto, and Carvalhal. Only one series of skulls viz., 
 those from the caverns of Cascaes were exclusively dolicho- 
 cephalic, with an average cephalic index of 74. 
 
 It is, however, in France and Belgium that craniological 
 deductions bearing on the Neolithic races of Western Europe 
 
 2 I
 
 462 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 have attained their highest significance; and hence it be- 
 comes necessary to review the anthropological materials 
 within this area more in detail than those already commented 
 upon. 
 
 In 1868 the skeletons of three men, a woman, and a child 
 were discovered in the rock-shelter of Cromagnon, in the valley 
 of the Vezere, Dordogne. These skulls were all dolicho- 
 cephalic, but one of them, known as that of the " old man 
 of Cromagnon," was remarkable for its size and fine propor- 
 tions, having, according to Broca, a capacity of 1590 c.c. 
 (96.99 inches), and a cephalic index of 73.6. This rock- 
 shelter had for a long time been a rendezvous for reindeer- 
 hunters, who left evidence of their visits in a mass of 
 accumulated dtbris. It seems, however, that these human 
 remains were not embedded in this debris, but lay on the 
 surface in a recess under the overhanging rock, and that, at 
 the time of their deposition, this recess had been concealed 
 by heaping up a portion of the palaeolithic rubbish which 
 had previously accumulated on the site. It would thus 
 appear to have been an interment which, possibly, had been 
 made long after the reindeer-hunters ceased their visits to the 
 locality. Hence there is a diversity of opinion as to the 
 chronological horizon of the Cromagnon skull, some regarding 
 it as Palaeolithic and others as Neolithic. Similar mistakes 
 have often occurred, more especially in the earlier stages 
 of anthropological research. One well - known instance is 
 the Grotte d'Aurignac, which, though long accepted as a 
 sepulchral cavern of the Palaeolithic period, is now regarded 
 as Neolithic. Skulls of the Cromagnon type found on the 
 great station of Solutre have also been described by MM. 
 Ferry and Arcelin, 1 and the authors of ' Crania Ethnica,' as 
 relics of the Quaternary period, but now the larger portion of 
 1 International Congress, &c., Norwich, p. 319.
 
 NEOLITHIC CRANIA IN FRANCE. 463 
 
 them are shown to be Neolithic. 1 Among eighteen crania from 
 this station the cephalic index ranges from 68.3 to 88.3, and 
 of these, thirteen are below 80 and five above it. I cannot 
 help thinking, therefore, that Solutre, like Mas-d'Azil, the 
 Grotte de Reilhac, the hut habitations at Campigny, the rock- 
 shelter of Schweizersbild, as well as many others, belongs to 
 a transition period which connected the Palaeolithic and 
 Neolithic civilisations ; so that we can hardly doubt that there 
 has been a direct continuance of human life in Europe from 
 the first appearance of Palaeolithic man up to the present 
 day. 
 
 One of the most useful of recent contributions to pre- 
 historic craniology is a statistical list drawn up by M. Philippe 
 Salmon 2 of the Neolithic crania of Gaul, recorded up to 1895, 
 giving the localities and circumstances in which they were 
 found, the names of the anthropologists who measured and 
 described them, and the sources of their publication. The 
 cephalic indices are arranged under three columns according 
 as they are dolichocephalic (76 or under), mesaticephalic (76 
 to 80), or brachycephalic (80 and upwards). The number 
 of stations thus tabulated is 140, consisting of sepulchral 
 caverns (41), dolmens, tumuli, &c., together with a few 
 sporadic finds in the soil. The total number of skulls 
 measured is 688, being 397 long, 145 medium, and 146 
 short, or 57.7, 21.1, and 21.2 per cent for the three different 
 grades into which they were classified. In looking carefully 
 into the various details of these crania some striking results 
 are brought out, the importance of which can hardly be over- 
 rated. Thus there are some large stations, especially among 
 the sepulchral caverns, which contained only dolichocephalic 
 crania, while others seemed to have been restricted to brachy- 
 cephalic types. A large majority of them, however, included 
 1 Revue Mensuelle, 1894, p. 113. 2 Ibid., 1895, p. 155.
 
 464 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 long, intermediate, and short types of skulls in various pro- 
 portions. The two most remarkable stations which contained 
 only long skulls are the caverns of l'Homme Mort and 
 Baumes-Chaudes, both situated in the department of Lozere. 
 The details of their exploration and osseous contents have 
 been recorded by Drs Broca and Prunieres. 
 
 In the cavern of l'Homme Mort there were nineteen 
 skulls sufficiently well preserved to furnish the necessary 
 measurements. Of these the cephalic indices of seventeen 
 varied from 68.2 up to 76.7, and the other two were 78.5 and 
 78.8. There were, therefore, no brachycephalic skulls at all 
 in this sepulchre, so that the race appeared to have been 
 comparatively pure. It may also be mentioned that some of 
 the crania had been trepanned a feature which, though at 
 first overlooked, subsequently became the subject of much 
 interest to anthropologists. The animal remains were those 
 of the Neolithic epoch, but among them were none of the 
 reindeer, horse, ox, or stag. Among the relics were a lance- 
 head and a portion of a polished stone axe. Drs Broca 
 and Prunieres were of opinion that the individuals whose 
 remains had been consigned to this ossuary belonged to 
 an intermediate race, who flourished in the transition period 
 between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic civilisations, and thus 
 became connecting links between the people of the reindeer 
 caves and the dolmens. 
 
 The crania recorded from the station known as Baumes- 
 Chaudes were found in two natural caverns distinct from 
 each other, but opening on a common terrace. They con- 
 tained a vast collection of human bones, representing some 
 300 individuals ; but both were regarded by the investigators 
 as the continuation of the same family burying-place, which, 
 indeed, had not been altogether abandoned till the beginning 
 of the Bronze Age, as one of the skeletons in the upper
 
 NEOLITHIC RACES. 465 
 
 deposits had beside it a bronze dagger. In one of these 
 caverns only chipped flints, rude implements of horn, &c., 
 were discovered ; but in the other there were a few arrow- 
 points, a bead, some roundlets of deer-horn, &c., which sug- 
 gested some progress in culture. The crania measured and 
 classified in M. Salmon's list from the Baumes-Chaudes ossuary 
 amount to thirty-five, and all of them are dolichocephalic, 
 the indices varying from 64.3 to 76.1. The average height 
 of this race was calculated to be 1.6 i m - or about 5 feet 3^ 
 inches. As examples of further sepulchres of this unmixed 
 race the following may be mentioned : the cavern of Avigny 
 (Seine-et-Marne), the Baousse-Rousse caves at Mentone, the 
 cavern of Cravanche (Haut-Rhin), the dolmen of " la Justice " 
 (Seine-et-Oise), &c. 
 
 On the other hand, in the cavern of Tertre-Guerin (Seine- 
 et-Marne) only two skulls were found, and they were of a 
 highly brachycephalic type, with cephalic indices of 86.6 and 
 91. In striking contrast to the preceding caves, the archaeo- 
 logical remains in this sepulchre comprised polished stone 
 celts, with and without horn-casings, together with various 
 other relics indicating an advanced Neolithic civilisation. The 
 people here represented would appear, from the characters 
 of the bones, to have been strong and muscular. Only a 
 few of the leg-bones were platycnemic, the olecranon fossa 
 of the humerus was pierced in the proportion of 24 per 
 cent, and the face was prognathous. They also practised 
 trepanning, as a portion of an aged man's skull contained 
 a round, highly bevelled aperture which bore evidence of 
 having been made while the individual was in life. 
 
 As examples of sepulchral caverns in which brachycephalic 
 crania formed the majority, a series of caverns at Hastiere 
 in Belgium may be mentioned. Of thirty-three skulls from 
 this locality measured by Professor Houze, six were dolicho-
 
 466 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 cephalic (71*6 to 76.9), eleven mesaticephalic, and sixteen 
 brachycephalic (80 to 88.4). 
 
 Artificial caves used for sepulchral purposes have also been 
 discovered in several departments of France more especially 
 those with chalky formations, as the Marne district. Here, 
 upwards of a dozen stations, each containing a number of 
 artificial caves excavated in the flanks of low hillocks, have 
 been most successfully explored by Baron de Baye. Among 
 some hundreds of interments, over 120 crania, including 
 various trepanned specimens and cranial amulets, have been 
 collected, and are now preserved in the Chateau de Baye. 
 Associated with them were a number of implements, weapons, 
 and ornaments of Neolithic types such as stone axes and 
 their handles, arrow-points (some chisel-shaped), flint knives, 
 bone pointers, polishers, beads and pendants of amber, bone, 
 stone (one of callai's, like those in the tumuli of Brittany), 
 fossil shells, teeth, &c. Of the crania, forty-four were sub- 
 mitted to Dr Broca for examination, and are thus classified : 
 dolichocephalic (71.6 to 76.7) fifteen, mesaticephalic seven- 
 teen, and brachycephalic (80 to 85.7) twelve. Dr Broca 
 recognised in these human remains the products of the 
 union of two races analogous to those of Furfooz and 
 Cromagnon the latter having already been identified by 
 him as of the same type as the dolichocephalic people of 
 I'Homme Mort and Baumes-Chaudes. 
 
 I may observe that the interesting caves of Petit-Morin l 
 are supposed to have been constructed in imitation of the 
 dolmens, as they were preceded by an entrance passage 
 and occasionally a vestibule, from which a low door, closed 
 with a stone slab, led to the sepulchral chamber. Baron 
 de Baye thinks that some of them had been used as habi- 
 tations for the living, before being appropriated to the dead, 
 1 L'Archeologie prehistoiique, par le Baron de Baye, 1888.
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF NEOLITHIC RACES. 467 
 
 as they had sometimes niches and shelves cut out of the 
 solid chalk walls, on which various industrial relics had 
 been deposited. A rudely executed human figure with a bird- 
 like nose, two eyes, a necklet and breasts, together with the 
 form of a stone axe in its handle, were sculptured in relief on 
 the wall of the vestibule of one of the larger caves. This 
 cave appeared to have been much frequented, as the threshold 
 was greatly trodden down by the feet of visitors. M. Cartailhac 
 explains this peculiarity by supposing that it was a place for 
 temporarily depositing the dead before being transferred to 
 their final resting-place. All these caves contained abundance 
 of relics characteristic of an advanced Neolithic civilisation 
 without any trace of metals, and the surrounding neighbour- 
 hood is rich in flint objects of that period. 
 
 From a careful study of the geographical distribution of the 
 140 Neolithic stations annotated by M. Salmon some interest- 
 ing deductions have been drawn, among which the following 
 may be noted : l 
 
 1. The departments to the south-west of a line drawn from 
 Normandy to the sources of the Garonne are those least 
 affected by the brachycephali ; and it is remarkable that the 
 area thus circumscribed virtually coincides with that of the 
 dolmens and megalithic monuments of France. 
 
 2. To the north-east of this line the brachycephali and 
 mesaticephali are in greatest abundance at two points, thus 
 indicating that they entered the country by two routes viz., 
 one vid Belgium, and the other vict Savoy, the Alps, and the 
 Danube. 
 
 3. The steady increase in the numbers of mesaticephalic 
 crania found in the later Neolithic stations up to the Bronze 
 Age, when, of course, the innovation of cremation puts a stop 
 
 1 See articles by M. Georges Herve, Revue Mensuelle, 1894, pp. 105, 
 393-
 
 468 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 to all such craniological researches, is accounted for on the 
 hypothesis that a brachycephalic race, or races, hailing from 
 Eastern regions, socially amalgamated with the indigenous 
 population of Western Europe. 
 
 Dr Verneau, who has spent some years investigating the 
 anthropology of the Canary Islands, has traced the Cromagnon 
 race through Spain, Algiers, and Morocco to the Guanches of 
 these Atlantic islands. He finds that this people retained 
 their racial purity, amidst a Stone-Age civilisation, up to the 
 fourteenth century, when, in the course of their struggle for 
 freedom against the Spanish and Portuguese, they became 
 extinct as a separate race. Sir William Dawson, in a paper 
 on "The Physical Characteristics and Affinities of the 
 Guanches," associates the Guanches with the Neolithic people 
 of Western Europe, " the men of the Polished Stone and early 
 Bronze Ages, of the long barrows and cromlechs, and of the 
 Swiss lake habitations, as well as with the Iberian races of 
 France and Spain and the Berbers of North Africa. The 
 crania of those races, as tabulated by Quatrefages, are those 
 which most nearly approach to our specimens from the 
 Canaries, and their arts and habits and state of civilisation 
 in early times are also those which afford the best terms of 
 comparison." Of ten skulls of this race from the island of 
 Teneriffe, in the Redpath Museum, Montreal, the average 
 cephalic index was 76.4, and that of one specimen from the 
 Canaries 75.8 figures which show a considerable amount of 
 intercrossing since the Reindeer period in France. 
 
 At the dawn of the Neolithic period there were thus 
 two well-defined races dolichocephali and brachycephali 
 inhabiting Western Europe, not, however, isolated, but mixed 
 in different proportions in different localities. The former 
 were well built, but somewhat short in stature compared with 
 modern Europeans generally. They occupied the westprn
 
 DOLICHOCEPHALI AND BRACHYCEPHALI. 469 
 
 shores of the Mediterranean, from which they radiated to 
 the Canaries, the British Isles, Sweden, North Germany, 
 and Central Europe. Eastwards, on the south of the 
 Mediterranean, they embraced the ancient Lybians and 
 probably the Neolithic Egyptians (the New Race of Dr 
 Flinders Petrie). According to Professor Sergi, 1 these 
 dolichocephali occupied Italy prior to the incoming of the 
 Celts and Etruscans. Also Professor Bogdanow, in a paper 
 contributed to the International Congress of Archaeology 
 held at Moscow in 1892, maintains that the most ancient 
 race in Central Russia was dolichocephalic. The results 
 of a series of careful measurements of crania collected from 
 the Kourganes (tumuli) showed that long, short, and inter- 
 mediate were in the proportions of 47, 14, and 39 per cent. 
 
 These dolichocephali in France varied considerably in size. 
 The mean height of the men of the cavern of l'Homme Mort 
 was 5 feet 3^ inches, that of the old man of Cromagnon 
 5 feet 1 1 Y?, inches, and that of one of the skeletons from the 
 Baousse-Rousse caverns at Mentone a little over 6 feet. Of 
 course these measurements are only approximations, and other 
 anthropologists give them at a little less. 2 They had the 
 following general characters : the skull dolichocephalic ; large, 
 well-developed forehead, and somewhat prominent eyebrows ; 
 the limb-bones indicated great strength, being thick and solid, 
 with strongly marked muscular impressions ; the tibia was 
 generally platycnemic, the fibula grooved, and the femur 
 showed a prominent linea aspera. 
 
 The brachycephali were also short, some of the typical 
 specimens of the " race of Furfooz " being little over 5 feet. 
 The skull was broad and the face long, with well-marked 
 prognathism. The flattening of the tibia (platycnemism) was 
 
 1 Monist, vol. viii. p. 161. 
 
 2 Formation de la Nation Fran9aise, p. 319.
 
 470 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 less pronounced than in the long-headed race, but the ole- 
 cranon fossa was frequently pierced. Towards the end of 
 the Neolithic period these anatomical characters (which are 
 regarded as indicating a low type) became less frequent. 
 Thus out of twenty tibiae, or shin-bones, from the artificial 
 caverns of Petit-Morin only four were platycnemic, of sixteen 
 fibulae only six retained the special groove, and of twenty 
 femora only five had a well-marked linea aspera. 
 
 How many different races occupied European lands at the 
 commencement of the Neolithic period it is difficult to deter- 
 mine. According to Professor Kollmann there were at least 
 four types to start with, a number which he arrives at by 
 dividing the dolichocephali and brachycephali each into two 
 varieties of long-faced and short-faced 1 types which he 
 recognises among the population of Europe at the present 
 time. In order therefore to follow with some degree of in- 
 telligence the development of civilisation which followed 
 the amalgamation of these primary Neolithic races, we have 
 to consider various collateral sources of information. 
 
 The contact of these different races was, in the first place, 
 by land routes, and the first important result was to spread 
 a knowledge of agriculture and of a few domestic animals 
 among the autochthones of Western Europe, who, owing to 
 a change of climate, had now lost the reindeer and other big 
 game on which their livelihood depended. 
 
 2. General Anthropological Data. 
 
 But craniology, though a most suggestive and valuable 
 guide in racial investigation, is not alone sufficient to deter- 
 mine the ethnical problems which now crowd the Neolithic 
 horizon. Skeletons do not reveal to us anything of the 
 1 Congres Internal., 1892, p. 253.
 
 PHILOLOGY. 4/1 
 
 colour of the skin, hair, or eyes of the individuals who owned 
 them ; nor of the language they spoke, nor of the religious 
 ceremonies they enacted, nor of the implements, weapons, 
 ornaments, and clothing, by means of which they fulfilled 
 their destinies in the organic world. Yet, on all these prob- 
 lems, important information has been gathered. Through 
 successive generations these Neolithic races have transmitted 
 their physical characteristics to the inhabitants of the present 
 day, probably with little change as regards the colour of the 
 hair and eyes. But the puzzling fact is that we find fair 
 and dark dolichocephali, as well as fair and dark brachy- 
 cephali. If, as has sometimes been assumed, the Troglo- 
 dytes of the Reindeer period of France are correctly repre- 
 sented by the Esquimaux of the present day, who are small 
 and dark, it may be fairly inferred that the former were also 
 small and dark ; but among the early dolichocephali of Cen- 
 tral Europe there have been found skeletons of men over six 
 feet in height. Had we positive evidence that these excep- 
 tionally tall men were fair-haired, many of the anthropo- 
 logical difficulties now surrounding the prehistoric ethnology 
 of Europe would be entirely removed, as the more modern 
 Gauls, with their great stature and blond appearance, could 
 be thus readily accounted for. 
 
 Of the marvellous results of linguistic research, which 
 carries us back through the flotsam and jetsam of a common 
 Aryan language to a remote past, I cannot here give even 
 a meagre sketch. Since the days when the common belief 
 was that the dispersion of mankind was due to the confusion 
 of language at the tower of Babel many theories as to the 
 origin of the Aryans, their primitive home, religion, and 
 civilisation, have been propounded and abandoned. Professor 
 Max Miiller, discrediting the Mount Ararat hypothesis of 
 Blumenbach and Cuvier, has traced this mythical people to
 
 472 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 "the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes, the highest eleva- 
 tion of Central Asia." Subsequently, after some lively con- 
 troversies, based on the phonetic laws of speech and the 
 detection of loan words, Professor Penka and other philol- 
 ogists have transferred the origin of the Aryan languages 
 into Europe, fixing on the Scandinavian peninsula as the 
 exact locality of their primary development. Canon Isaac 
 Taylor maintains, both on anthropological and linguistic 
 grounds, that the Aryans were " an improved race of Finns," 
 and so he places their primitive home somewhere in Lithu- 
 ania. Their social condition he thus describes : " It appears, 
 therefore, that prior to the separation of the Aryan and 
 Finnic races they were acquainted with copper and probably 
 with gold, but their tools were chiefly of horn or stone. 
 They sheltered themselves in huts, and were clad in skins, 
 but there is no evidence that they possessed the art of 
 weaving. They knew how to kindle fire ; they could count 
 up to ten, possibly up to a hundred. They had personal 
 names, while family relationship and marriage were fully 
 recognised. They were acquainted with the sea, and may 
 have been able to cross lakes or rivers in canoes made 
 of hollow trees. They caught salmon and used salt, and 
 gathered bitter herbs for food, or more probably for con- 
 diment. It does not appear certain that they grew grain or 
 were acquainted with the rudiments of agriculture, the name 
 of the Finnic plough, kar, the crooked branch of a tree, 
 being only doubtfully connected with the Aryan plough. 
 They collected honey, from which they produced an intoxi- 
 cating drink, and made a sort of soft cheese, like curds. 
 They possessed herds of domesticated animals, which were 
 tended by herdsmen, and were kept in fenced enclosures. 
 These animals were probably goats, swine, reindeer, and geese, 
 and possibly oxen ; but the dog, the sheep, and the horse
 
 RELIGIOSITY. 473 
 
 seem to have been as yet untamed." l As the starting-point 
 of Neolithic civilisation this is surely primitive enough, but 
 yet it is quite in accordance with archaeological evidence. 
 
 That philologists have established some kind of radical 
 connection between the Indo-European languages, mythology, 
 and religion is undoubted ; but how this bond of brother- 
 hood has been acquired, whether by migratory races, or 
 successive waves of civilisation emanating from one or more 
 common centres, seems to me to be still sub judice. How- 
 ever this may be, the social and intellectual influences which 
 were introduced or developed in Central Europe ultimately 
 led to extensive migrations towards the less inhabited por- 
 tions of Europe, and these carried with them the rudiments 
 of progressive civilisations. Besides the primary land routes, 
 the discovery of the means of intercourse by distant sea 
 voyages soon disseminated the germs of the earlier civilisa- 
 tions of the eastern seaboard lands of the Mediterranean to 
 various points on the European coast. Even then, and for 
 many centuries later, the British Isles and the entire Atlantic 
 coast of Europe were terra incognita, yet we are certain that 
 the Celtic language, which was then spreading over these 
 regions, emanated from the same fountain-head as Greek and 
 Latin. 
 
 But, among the collateral materials bearing on the life- 
 history of prehistoric man, those which directly or indirectly 
 spring from his religious beliefs are the most important. A 
 vague fear of the potency of the unseen powers of nature led 
 to the belief in spirits and in a future life, in which the dis- 
 embodied spirit after death continued its existence. These 
 ideas naturally engendered great reverence for the dead, and 
 the earliest evidence of religiosity shows itself in the inhuma- 
 tion of the dead body, accompanied by such objects as were 
 1 Journ. Anth. Institute, vol. xvii. p. 269.
 
 474 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 supposed to be useful on the journey to the unseen world. 
 The evolutionary stages from simple inhumation to inciner- 
 ation involved, however, a considerable interval of time, 
 during which there is evidence to show that funereal rites of 
 various kinds were performed in Western Europe which 
 disclose a progressiveness in religious ideas. The culmina- 
 tion of these rites was the process of cremating the body, 
 so as to liberate the spirit more quickly from its earthly 
 abode. The practice of depositing the dead body in a 
 mortuary till the flesh was decomposed, and then burying the 
 bones, seems to have been by no means uncommon in France. 
 This is evident from the disconnected manner in which the 
 bones were placed in their final resting-place, but yet they 
 were often systematically arranged in layers one above the 
 other, and separated by beds of ashes or flat stones. For 
 these and other curious customs in the cult of the dead, as 
 well as for various methods of hastening the natural process of 
 removing the flesh from the bones, I refer my readers to M. 
 Cartailhac's excellent work, ' La France Prehistorique.' That 
 cremation was at first merely used as an adjunct in the later 
 stages of natural decomposition is highly probable ; and hence 
 it may be argued that it had its development on French 
 territory. It is, however, generally regarded by archaeologists 
 as the product of a religious custom which emanated from 
 Eastern lands. But where it originated is involved in as 
 much mystery as the Aryan question itself. During the 
 Stone Age inhumation appears to have been practised all 
 over Europe, with the exception of a few localities, mainly 
 in France, which show traces of cremation. In Petit-Morin 
 several of the sepulchral chambers contained bodies that had 
 been cremated, and among the pottery there were two vases 
 with calcined human bones. More singular still, there were a 
 few human skulls stuffed with the bones of apparently young
 
 CREMATION AND INHUMATION. 475 
 
 children. 1 Besides the sculptured goddesses, trepanned 
 skulls, and cranial amulets, it appears that the stone axe was 
 an object of worship in these caves. During the Bronze Age 
 cremation was more common than inhumation in the east of 
 Europe, and this ascendancy was kept up in the early Iron 
 Age ; but in the West, inhumation, with a few local exceptions, 
 was always the predominant custom. In the early Roman 
 period cremation was the rule, both at Rome and in the 
 Roman provinces, but later inhumation was restored. The 
 introduction of Christianity into Western Europe caused 
 cremation to disappear, but it lingered among the Saxons, 
 Slavs, North Germans, and Scandinavians till the early Middle 
 Ages. (For prehistoric trepanning see ' Preh. Problems,' c. v.) 
 In Scandinavia, according to Montelius, 2 Worsaae, and 
 others, cremation came into use only in the second Bronze 
 Age. M. Worsaae thus refers to the introduction of the 
 custom : " The mere influence of culture from the south or 
 the east, without any accompanying influx of population, 
 would hardly have induced the warlike occupants of the 
 North to change their funeral customs in every respect, and 
 to such an extent. Naturally the old-fashioned interment of 
 the unburnt body must have continued simultaneously with 
 the more modern cremation. But that the latter custom at 
 last generally prevailed is evident from the fact that in the 
 grave-mounds smaller graves with burnt bodies are commonly 
 deposited in the upper part of the mound, while the larger 
 graves with unburnt bodies are found below. Independent 
 graves with burnt bodies are, moreover, found throughout the 
 North in great numbers. Comparatively speaking, the graves 
 from the later Bronze Age are far more numerous in the 
 Baltic lands and in Denmark than in the rest of Europe." 8 
 
 1 Archeologie prhistorique, p. 1 20. 
 2 La Su&de prehistorique, p. 41. 3 Danish Arts, p. 79.
 
 476 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 According to Professor Boyd-Dawkins, cremation was in- 
 troduced into Britain simultaneously with a knowledge of 
 bronze. " The invasion of Britain by the bronze-using Celtic 
 tribes," he writes, " is marked by a striking change in the 
 customs of burial, which probably is the sign of the intro- 
 duction of a new faith. In the Neolithic age the dead were 
 interred surrounded by the implements, weapons, and orna- 
 ments for use in the future life. In the Bronze age the dead 
 were burned, were purified by being passed through the fire, 
 along with their possessions. Cremation, however, did not 
 altogether abolish the older practice of inhumation. It is 
 evident that both were carried on simultaneously, from the 
 researches of Thurnam in the south of England, Bateman in 
 Derbyshire, and Greenwell in the northern counties. The 
 one may have been connected, as Dr Fred. Wiberg suggests, 
 with the worship of fire, and the other may have been em- 
 ployed by the descendants of the Neolithic Britons from the 
 force of habit, and from its cheapness by the poorer classes." l 
 
 The following remarks by Canon Greenwell on the relative 
 frequency with which these different modes of interment were 
 practised by the Yorkshire barrow - builders are the most 
 authoritative records we have on the subject : " As marking 
 the relative general proportion of burnt to unburnt bodies in 
 the barrows I have opened on the wolds, it may suffice to 
 mention that out of 379 burials, only 78 were after crema- 
 tion, whilst 301 were by inhumation, which gives nearly 21 
 per cent for burials of burnt bodies. And to show that in 
 the wold -barrows bronze is by no means more commonly 
 found with burnt bodies than with unburnt, out of fourteen 
 instances where I have discovered bronze articles associated 
 with an interment, it was only in two that the body had been 
 burnt. The proportion, therefore, is that about 4 per cent 
 1 Early Man in Britain, p. 366.
 
 ANALYSIS OF BRONZE AGE BURIALS. 477 
 
 of unburnt bodies, and about 2^ per cent of burnt bodies, 
 had articles of bronze accompanying them. This question 
 partly resolves itself into another, whether, in the main, the 
 round barrows of the wolds belong to a time before the in- 
 troduction of bronze. As the subject will be considered more 
 at length in the sequel, it is sufficient to remark here that I 
 see nothing to imply that they are the burial-places of a people 
 unacquainted with bronze, and my own impression is that, as 
 a rule, they date from a time after its introduction." l 
 
 But, according to the same authority, these burial customs 
 varied in different localities. For example, the extensive in- 
 vestigations of Mr Atkinson in Cleveland, and a series of 
 barrows near Castle Howard, yielded nothing but burnt 
 bodies. " In Derbyshire the proportion is slightly in favour 
 of unburnt bodies ; in Wiltshire burnt bodies are as three 
 to one unburnt ; in Dorsetshire as four to one ; and in 
 Cornwall cremation appears to have been by far the most 
 common usage. In the counties of Denbigh, Merioneth, and 
 Caernarvon, cremation seems to have been almost universal. 
 In Northumberland I have disinterred 71 bodies, and of 
 these 45 were after cremation and 26 by inhumation." 2 
 
 As regards Bronze Age burials in Scotland, Sir W. Turner, 
 in his lecture at the Royal Institution, writes as follows : 
 "From an analysis of 144 localities in Scotland of burials 
 which may be associated with the Bronze Age, and which 
 included about 400 distinct interments, it would appear that 
 in 51 of these localities the bodies had all been cremated ; 
 in 60 they had been buried in stone cists ; in 1 5 the same 
 mound or cemetery furnished examples of both kinds of 
 sepulchre; and in the rest the kind of interment was not 
 precisely recorded." 
 
 That cremation was a foreign importation into the British 
 1 British Barrows, p. 19. a Ibid., p. 21. 
 
 2 K
 
 478 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Isles cannot be gainsaid. When once introduced it seems to 
 have spread among their entire habitable portions with wonder- 
 ful celerity a fact which suggests its religious character. If 
 the date of this remarkable movement could be definitely 
 ascertained, it would present the nearest approach to a chrono- 
 logical datum line that can be found among the different 
 elements which the successive waves of Continental civilisa- 
 tion have washed to our shores. Its progress from Central 
 Europe westwards was so rapid that it overtook, and passed 
 by the way, many of the slower influences which were 
 travelling in the same direction. Thus when the people of 
 the round barrows of Yorkshire lived, both cremation and 
 the bronze industry had already extended to that part of 
 Britain, for, as we have just seen, Canon Greenwell regarded 
 the round barrows, whether they included burials after in- 
 humation or cremation, or with or without bronze objects, as 
 of the same age. Indeed, so far as available evidence has 
 been adduced, it would appear that the only sepulchral 
 remains, proved to have been older than the custom of 
 cremation, are the chambered cairns in the south-west of 
 England. When, however, the analogous cairns of Argyll- 
 shire, Caithness, and the Orkney Islands were constructed, 
 the religious wave had already enveloped North Britain. 
 Hence, though generally destitute of bronze relics, these 
 structures were really contemporary with the Bronze Age 
 burials elsewhere in Britain. The same thing has occurred 
 in several localities in France. Thus M. du Chatellier has 
 shown that, out of 145 tombs of the Stone Age in Brittany, 
 20 contained inhumed and 72 cremated bodies, while 31 
 were associated with charcoal, and 22 were of an indefinite 
 character. Finistere alone yielded 58 burnt out of 69 inter- 
 ments. 1 The explanation of these and other similar instances 
 1 La France prehistorique, p. 272.
 
 RETROSPECT. 479 
 
 is that in out-of-the-way localities, such as the western shores 
 of Brittany and the Highlands of Scotland, the Stone-Age 
 civilisation lingered longer than in those situated on the 
 main routes of commercial intercourse. It was about the 
 middle of the Bronze Age (some five or six centuries B.C.) 
 that cremation was adopted in Sweden, but as the route by 
 which bronze entered that part of Europe was by the Danube, 
 and therefore different from that by which it reached Britain, 
 there can be no chronological comparison between these 
 events in the two countries. 
 
 3. General Conclusions. 
 
 Such is a brief statement, for it is too meagre to be called 
 a review, of the different aspects and channels through which 
 the early ethnology of the British Isles has to be investigated. 
 The latest researches in anthropology, archaeology, religios- 
 ity, and linguistic science are requisitioned to throw their 
 flash-light on the ways and means by which our prehistoric 
 forefathers foregathered in various contingents of different 
 degrees of civilisation on our primeval shores. But notwith- 
 standing the abundance of materials which has accumulated 
 around these diversified standpoints, and the conspicuous talent 
 of many of the investigators who have entered on this fascinat- 
 ing field of research, the conclusions hitherto formulated on 
 the subject are still far from being satisfactory. When, how- 
 ever, we find distinct currents, though only discernible through 
 mere waifs and strays, all tending in the same direction, we 
 are encouraged to feel some degree of confidence that in 
 following them we are not led by an ignis fatuus. 
 
 It may therefore serve some useful purpose to state more 
 precisely and categorically how the general results at which 
 we have arrived in regard to Western Europe become appli-
 
 480 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 cable to the prehistoric inhabitants of the British Isles, so 
 far as they are known to us at the time of the Roman 
 occupation. 
 
 In early Neolithic times the southern parts of Britain and 
 Ireland were peopled by immigrants from the adjacent Con- 
 tinent, commencing probably when there was a direct land 
 communication between the latter and Britain. The phys- 
 ical characteristics of these invaders were short stature, 
 strong muscular frames, dark hair and eyes, and dolicho- 
 cephalic heads. They were a religious people, as even then 
 they buried their dead, the chiefs and persons of social dis- 
 tinction being consigned to great chambered cairns and dol- 
 mens, which formed family burying-places for several gener- 
 ations. The subsequent incomers would carry with them 
 further elements of progressive civilisation, as well as what- 
 ever changes in their personal physique became developed 
 through the crossing of the different races. 
 
 The next great landmark in the peopling of these islands 
 of which we have evidence was the appearance of a brachy- 
 cephalic and somewhat taller race, who brought with them a 
 knowledge of bronze. This metal was, however, only spar- 
 ingly used, the objects known in the earliest period being 
 confined to small hand-daggers, pins, and a few trinkets. 
 Almost coincident with this great event in the progress of 
 British civilisation came the remarkable religious movement 
 which manifested itself in the sepulchral rite of cremation. 
 There can be no doubt that theSe innovations were due to 
 the stream of immigrants to our shores, but from what par- 
 ticular localities we are unable to say. They appear to have 
 been cross-breeds which had sprung up somewhere in Cen- 
 tral Europe, and formed the van of the so-called Aryans, gen- 
 erally known to us under the name of Celts. The physical 
 characteristics, especially the complexion, of these early
 
 ARYANS. 481 
 
 Celts have been long a matter of controversy some regard- 
 ing them as dark and others as fair. So far as I can judge 
 they belonged to the fair stock, and had more or less red or 
 yellow hair. Having conquered the previous inhabitants, 
 they amalgamated with them and ultimately spread over 
 Ireland and Scotland, where their characteristic sepulchral 
 remains are largely to be found. Meantime, the chambered 
 cairns had been gradually discontinued, and inhumation in 
 short cists or urn burials, with or without mounds and other 
 external indications, had taken their place. In Ireland, how- 
 ever, it would appear that these sepulchral innovations had 
 made slower progress than in Britain, for when the inhabi- 
 tants of the north of this island began to cross over into Scot- 
 land to the adjacent shores of Argyll, they still adhered to the 
 system of burial by chambered cairns, notwithstanding that 
 cremation was then a common practice over the larger 
 portion of Scotland. 
 
 The third wave of westward civilisation, which carried with 
 it new elements of culture and industry, was that known in 
 this country as " Late Celtic," corresponding to the " Mar- 
 nian," or " La Tene," period of Continental antiquaries. 
 Chronologically, this period is roundly denned by the three, 
 or perhaps four, centuries immediately preceding the Christian 
 era. The main body of immigrants of this movement were 
 not the same as those of the Bronze Age, as they belonged 
 to the "Galli," or Gauls of classical authors, and probably 
 the Belgae of Caesar. They do not appear to have extended 
 their authority over the whole of Britain, as the north and 
 west of Scotland, as well as parts of Wales and Cornwall, 
 were unaffected by them ; nor did they occupy Ireland. But 
 the art and industrial elements which they introduced found 
 much favour among the inhabitants, and spread to Ireland 
 and Scotland, where they took deep and permanent root. As
 
 482 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 special memorials of their presence in Britain we have a 
 number of cemeteries (Aylesford urn burials, a cairn at Mold, 
 Flintshire, the Yorkshire tumuli, &c.), the Hunsbury Camp, 
 and the lake -village of Glastonbury. The special charac- 
 teristics of this art have already been described, and need not 
 be further referred to here ; but for the physical character of 
 these invaders we are on the terra firma of history, as both 
 Germans and Gauls are depicted by ancient writers as being 
 tall and fair-skinned, with large limbs, blue eyes, and reddish- 
 yellow hair. Strabo (v. 2), in referring to the Britons, says 
 that they were "taller than the Kelts, with hair less yellow, 
 and slighter in their persons." Caesar (v. 12) states that the 
 maritime portion of Britain was inhabited by those who had 
 passed over from the country of the Belgae for the purpose 
 of plunder and making war (see p. 5). The farthest north 
 of the Late Celtic tumuli hitherto discovered in Britain were 
 in Yorkshire, so that these Belgic immigrants will scarcely 
 account for the existence of the red-haired Caledonians, who, 
 in the judgment of Tacitus, were more like the Germans than 
 the southern fair people. Hence the Caledonians of that 
 historian must have belonged to the earlier Celts, or have 
 entered the country as a colony from German lands. One 
 of the Late Celtic skulls found in a tumulus at Arras in York- 
 shire, described and figured by Dr Thurnam, has a cephalic 
 index of 73.7. As this is regarded as a typical specimen, 
 we have to note the remarkable fact that, while the early Celts 
 were brachycephalic, the late Celts were dolichocephalic. 
 
 Looking at these general deductions from the linguistic 
 point of view, we find that at the time of the Roman conquest 
 there were two main dialects spoken in the British Isles viz., 
 Gaelic and Cymric both being branches of a common Celtic 
 language which had its home in Central Europe. The former 
 survives in the modern Gaelic of the Highlands of Scot-
 
 LINGUISTIC DIALECTS. 483 
 
 land, the Manx in the Isle of Man, and the Irish, which still 
 lingers in some of the western counties of Ireland. The 
 latter is represented by modern Welsh, the ancient Cornish 
 (now extinct), and the Breton, still spoken in parts of Brittany. 
 Gaelic was introduced into Britain about the same time as 
 bronze, whence it spread, along with the Celtic invaders, into 
 Ireland. It was followed, in the course of some centuries, 
 by the Cymric, a branch of the same speech, and then the 
 language of the Gauls of history, but greatly modified by the 
 intermixture of races and the wandering tendencies of the 
 Celtic tribes on the Continent. The immigrants of this 
 second invasion called themselves Brythons, and as we have 
 seen that they were the introducers of the Late Celtic art, 
 they may be associated with the development of the early 
 Iron Age in Britain. Professor Rhys, taking advantage of the 
 accident in Celtic phonology which led them to substitute a/ 
 in words in which their predecessors used a ^, characterises the 
 two, in accordance with this shibboleth, as Q Celts (Goidels) 
 and P Celts (Brythons). 
 
 As to the speech of the indigenous, or Iberian, inhabitants 
 with whom the first Celtic invaders (Goidels) came into direct 
 contact there is little known. Professor Rhys and other 
 philologists profess to see its fossil remains in a few non- 
 Aryan words. 1 That a non - Celtic language was prevalent 
 among the common people in the vicinity of Inverness, in 
 the sixth century A.D., has often been suggested by the fact 
 recorded by Adamnan viz., that Columba, while on his 
 mission to Brude, King of the Picts, addressed the natives 
 by means of an interpreter. The Picts are also included by 
 Bede among the five British nations (Angles, Brythons, Scotti, 
 Picts, and Latins) in whose languages Christianity was taught 
 in his time. I do not, however, think that on such evidence 
 1 See Proc. Soc. A. Scot., vol. xxxii. pp. 324-398.
 
 484 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 we can regard the Pictish language as the lineal descendant 
 of the pre-Celtic, or Euskarian, which, in the time of Caesar, 
 was spoken in Aquitaine and Spain, and is still represented 
 by the modern Basque. That the Pictish language had been 
 considerably modified by the pre-Celtic speech there can be 
 little doubt. But the difference between the Celtic speech 
 of Columba and that of the northern Picts may be only 
 dialectical the mere accumulated accretions and modifica- 
 tions of one common speech acquired while moving in dif- 
 ferent paths and different environments. Columba's mother- 
 tongue reached him by a circuitous route through Ireland, 
 while the Pictish came direct through Britain, so that after 
 such a long separation, representing many centuries, we need 
 not wonder that the two languages were not interchangeable 
 when they met in the Highlands of Scotland, though at the 
 starting-point they may have been the same. 
 
 When North Britain was invaded during the first century 
 of the Christian era by the Roman legions the country was 
 inhabited by a mixed population, among whom the Cale- 
 donians attracted attention on account of their tall stature 
 and reddish appearance. Brythons were pushing northwards, 
 Norsemen had probably even then found a permanent footing 
 on its eastern shores, and Goidelic immigrants from Ireland 
 had for centuries kept up intercourse with its western islands 
 and mainland. Thus the dawn of our history reveals the fact 
 that three different streams of immigrants had then reached 
 the shores of North Britain. It took some time, however, 
 for these peoples and their various culture elements to make 
 much progress northwards ; and as each succeeding wave 
 travelled faster than its predecessor, it is probable that 
 the duration of the pre-Roman periods in these out-of-the- 
 way regions was considerably shorter than in the southern 
 parts of the island. This view partly accounts for the inter-
 
 FAIR WHITES AND DARK WHITES. 485 
 
 mingling of relics usually regarded as characteristic of the 
 three ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron, which is so frequently 
 to be met with in the north of Scotland and in Ireland. If 
 Tacitus is correct in his assertion that at the battle of Mons 
 Graupius the Caledonians were provided with long swords, 
 short targets, and armed chariots, it is quite clear that they 
 were then in the early Iron Age, and that Gaulish influence 
 had already reached them through the Brythons. Although 
 metallurgy and all its appurtenances had been an exotic 
 growth, it is proved, from the frequency with which moulds 
 and casting materials have turned up, that the bronze industry 
 was carried on throughout various parts of the country. 
 
 To describe the influence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon 
 civilisation in moulding the subsequent destinies of the 
 Scottish people lies within the sphere of the historian : I 
 shall not, therefore, encroach on materials which will be, 
 more or less, utilised by other writers of the series to which 
 this volume may be regarded as an introduction. For the 
 same reason, antiquities referred to in the Scottish annals 
 have not been discussed in these prehistoric sketches, with 
 the exception of works of defence and lake-dwellings, which, 
 in their general aspects and associations, are more allied to 
 the prehistoric than to the historic materials. 
 
 Ireland seems to have been peopled by the same races 
 as Britain, as, from the earliest period of which we have 
 any knowledge, it contained a dark and a fair stock. Its 
 language was that of the Goidels the first Celtic invaders 
 and it continued unaffected by the Cymric and all sub- 
 sequent linguistic elements till superseded in comparatively 
 recent times by the Teutonic tongue. 
 
 On comparing the present population of Western Europe 
 with the earlier races, notwithstanding the extensive changes 
 due to the spread of civilisation, the greater intercourse
 
 486 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 between nations, the intrusion of the Teutons into Britain, 
 and political dislocations, the dark and fair people still 
 retain relatively the same geographical distribution as in 
 proto-historic times. The fair folk cluster around the Ger- 
 man Ocean and eastwards along the shores of the Baltic 
 to Asia, while the dark occupy a more southern zone on 
 both sides of the Mediterranean. All statistics go to prove 
 that the tendency has been to increase the number of people 
 with intermediate skull-forms (mesaticephali), a fact which 
 may be partly explained by the intercrossing of the original 
 brachycephali and partly by the steady advancement of 
 brain-matter. 
 
 The greatest difficulty in all these anthropological re- 
 searches is to account for the origin of the blond element 
 among the earlier races. According to Professor Huxley, 
 the fair whites (Xanthochroi) and dark whites (Melanochroi) 
 of Britain are distributed now very much the same as they 
 were in the time of Tacitus. From these and other facts 
 he formulated the following conclusions: "(i) That the 
 Melanochroi and Xanthochroi are two separate races in the 
 biological sense of the word race; (2) that they have had 
 the same general distribution as at present from the earliest 
 times of which any record exists on the continent of 
 Europe; (3) that the population of the British Islands is 
 derived from them, and from them only." 1 
 
 There is one feature of the ethnological question which, 
 being of a practical character, cannot fail to interest those 
 who think they can distinguish, through the gossamer of 
 language and tradition, the blood and civilisation of the 
 various races who have, from time to time, found a per- 
 manent home within the British Isles. Perhaps few anthro- 
 pologists have ever seriously considered the slender grounds 
 \ Collected Essays, vol. vii. p. 262.
 
 CELTIC BLOOD. 487 
 
 on which the term "Celtic" is applied in modern times to 
 sections of the population of these islands. If the linguistic 
 fragments still extant are to be taken as evidence of the 
 distribution of Celtic influence, they would restrict the latter 
 to the very same geographical areas which the racial evidence 
 marks out as non-Aryan or pre-Celtic. No greater contrast 
 between existing races is to be found than between the 
 present inhabitants of the Aran Isles, in Galway Bay, and 
 those of County Kerry, in Ireland. They are probably the 
 purest breeds of the Xanthochroi and Melanochroi to be 
 found in Western Europe, but yet they are both within 
 the modern "Celtic Fringe." The truth is, that between 
 language and race there is no permanent alliance. Many of 
 the most sentimental and patriotic Scotsmen of the present 
 day are Teutons by blood, while still more have pre-Celtic 
 blood coursing in their veins ; and the same may be said 
 of Irishmen. And what a picture of mistaken identity do 
 so many Englishmen present when, with the physical quali- 
 ties of low stature, long heads, and dark eyes, they boast 
 of their Teutonic origin ! To console readers who may 
 not find themselves labelled by nature among any of the 
 original types which enter into our common nationality 
 neither dark nor fair, long nor short, dolichocephalic 
 nor brachycephalic but among the larger category of well- 
 developed mongrels, let me assure them that no special 
 combination of racial characters has ever yet been proved 
 to have a monopoly of intellectuality and virtue.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abercromby, the Hon. John, on bronze 
 
 dagger from Crawford Priory, 193. 
 Aberdeenshire, fabricators found in, 
 
 J 52- 
 Abernethy, fort on Castle Law Hill, 
 
 371 remains found at, 372. 
 Aboyne, bronze armlets found near, 
 
 257- 
 Adams, Mr A. Leith, on Irish elk, 
 
 102. 
 
 Adzes of the Stone Age, 157. 
 ^Esica, fibulae of Late Celtic Period 
 
 found on site of, 266. 
 Agricola, invasion of Scotland, 7 et 
 
 seq. battle of Mons Graupius, 9 
 
 withdraws south of Firths of Forth 
 
 and Clyde, n recalled to Rome, ib. 
 Agriculture the mainstay of prehistoric 
 
 peoples, 359. 
 Airleywight, Perthshire, head and 
 
 horns of the elk found at, 94 et seq. 
 Airlie, Forfarshire, earth -houses at, 
 
 35i- 
 
 Aiton, Mr, quotation from 'Treatise 
 on the Origin, Qualities, and Culti- 
 vation of Moss Earth ' by, 31. 
 
 Allen, Mr J. Romilly, on cup-marked 
 stones, 224 fn. 
 
 Alloa, two gold armlets found at, 
 207. 
 
 Alvah, Banffshire, bronze armlet found 
 in, 256. 
 
 Alvey, Inverness-shire, earth-house at, 
 
 35i- 
 
 Amber, its use in the Stone Age, 144. 
 
 Anderson, Dr Joseph, his discussion of 
 the MacArthur Cave, 52 account 
 of the investigations at Caisteal-nan- 
 Gillean, 56 animal remains in 
 broch at Yarhouse, 89 remains 
 of large ox found at Keiss by, 
 115 stone anvils described by, 
 
 150 his conclusions regarding 
 brochs, 402 references to ' Scot- 
 land in Pagan Times' by, 89 fn., 
 171 et seq., 196, 291, 294 et seq., 
 324 et seq., 394, 397. 
 
 Anvils, stone, finds of, 150. 
 
 Arborescent Age, 22 et seq. arbores- 
 cent growths, 27 et seq. 
 
 Arbroaih, dagger-blade of Bronze Age 
 found near, 193. 
 
 Ardmore, " submarine crannog " at, 
 
 437- 
 
 Ardoch, camp of, suggested as Agric- 
 ola's headquarters, 9. 
 
 Ardrossan, forts near, 375 rock- 
 shelter at, 81. 
 
 Argyllshire, remains of circular dwell- 
 ing-house on crannog in, 334. 
 
 Armlets of Bronze Age, 205 et seq. 
 penannular ring with cup-shaped 
 ends, 207. 
 
 Arras, Yorkshire, chariot-wheels, &c., 
 found in cist at, 247. 
 
 Arrow-heads of the Bronze Age, 203 
 arrow -points of Stone Age, 167 el 
 seq. 
 
 Art of the Bronze Age, 216 et seq. 
 
 Ashgrove Loch, stone crannog in, 
 420 relics found in, ib. et seq. 
 
 Ashkirk, Roxburghshire, stag's head 
 found at, 108 horns of urus found 
 on Synton estate, in. 
 
 Ass, approximate date of introduction 
 into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Assynt, Ross-shire, jet necklace of 
 Bronze Age found at, 213. 
 
 Athol, skull of urus found near, 113. 
 
 Auchendolly, Kirkcudbrightshire, en- 
 amelled harness mounting found at, 
 249. 
 
 Auk, Great, in prehistoric times, 125- 
 128.
 
 490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Auquhorthies, near Inveniry, stone 
 
 circle of, 318. 
 Axes, of the Stone Age, 155 ft seq. 
 
 unperforated axe, 156 et seq. 
 
 method of hafting, 160 of the 
 
 Bronze Age, 183 et seq. 
 Aylesford, Kent, relics of Late Celtic 
 
 Period discovered at, 268. 
 Ayrshire, remains of beaver found in, 
 
 122 bronze sword - sheath found 
 
 near Bargany House, 243. 
 
 Badger in prehistoric times, 129. 
 Balblair, Sutherlandshire, bronze razor 
 
 found at, 190. 
 Balcalk, Tealing, jet necklace of 
 
 Bronze Age found at, 213. 
 Bald, Mr Robert, on skeleton of whale 
 
 found at Airthrey, 60. 
 Balgay, near Dundee, jet necklace 
 
 of Bronze Age found at, 213. 
 Ballymenach, stone circle at, 290. 
 Ballynamintra, Co. Waterford, bones 
 
 of Irish elk found in the cave of, 
 
 102. 
 Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire, find 
 
 of Late Celtic Period at, 263. 
 Baousse'-Rousse' caverns at Men tone, 
 
 469. 
 
 Barhullion, Wigtownshire, snake- 
 headed armlet found at, 259. 
 Barmekyne of Echt, Aberdeenshire, 
 
 hill-fort on the, 369. 
 Barnwell, Rev. E. L., on Late Celtic 
 
 ornaments, 261. 
 Barri, Giraldus de, reference to beaver 
 
 in ' Itinerarium Cambriae' by, 122. 
 Barry, Sir F. T., M.P., discovery at 
 
 Keiss of reindeer horn, 91 part of 
 
 antler of elk, 99 of bear's tooth, 
 
 128 reference to excavation of 
 
 brochs at Keiss, 403. 
 Bateman, Mr, reference to 'Vestiges' 
 
 by, 1 19 references to ' Ten Years' 
 
 Diggings' by, 119, 124 fn., 129, 
 
 448.' 
 Beach, 25-feet raised, theory of Sir 
 
 Archibald Geikie and others, 37 
 
 suggested cause of, 45. 
 Beads of glass, amber, and jet of the 
 
 Bronze Age, 211. 
 Bear, brown, in prehistoric times, 128 
 
 et seq. approximate date of extinc- 
 tion in Scotland of, 130. 
 Beattie, Mr W., on cave at North 
 
 Esk, 79. 
 
 Beauly Firth, the Black Cairn in, 437. 
 Beaver, in prehistoric times, 120-123 
 
 approximate date of extinction in 
 
 Scotland of, 130. 
 Beddoe, Dr, on Silures, 458. 
 Beehive huts, 336 et seq. on Skellig 
 
 Michael, 341 at Eilean-na-Noimh, 
 
 342. 
 Beith, Ayrshire, bronze shield found 
 
 at Lugtonridge, 200. 
 Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, remains of 
 
 urns found at, 115 torque found 
 
 at, 210 bronze armlet found in, 
 
 257- 
 
 Bellenden, reference to beavers in his 
 ' Croniklis of Scotland,' 123. 
 
 Bennachie, Aberdeenshire, bronze arm- 
 lets and celts found near, 206 East 
 Fort on, 369. 
 
 Bertrand and Reinach, MM., refer- 
 ences to ' Les Celtes dans les Vallees 
 du P6 et du Danube ' by, 233, 246. 
 
 Beveridge, Henry, Esq., on burials at 
 Pitreavie, 314. 
 
 Birdlip, near Bristol, bowl - shaped 
 bronze dishes found at, 260. 
 
 Birrenswark, bridle-bit found at, 249. 
 
 Birsay, Orkney, clothing of female 
 skeleton found in peat-bog at, 174. 
 
 Blair Drummond Moss, 37 remains 
 of Celtic shorthorn found in, 119. 
 
 Boar, wild, in prehistoric times, 123- 
 125 approximate date of extinction 
 in Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Boethius, reference to beavers in his 
 'Scot. Hist.,' 123. 
 
 Bone used for making implements in 
 Stone Age, 159. 
 
 Borer or drill used by Stone Age 
 people, 153. 
 
 Borgue, Kirkcudbright, bronze armlet 
 found in, 253. 
 
 Borness Cave in Kirkcudbrightshire, 
 79 Celtic shorthorn found in, 118. 
 
 Bower, heads of urus found in bog in 
 the parish of, 116. 
 
 Bowl-shaped bronze dishes of the Late 
 Celtic Period, 260. 
 
 Boyd-Dawkins, Professor, quoted, 90 
 on the urus, 109 on the Celtic 
 shorthorn, 116 et seq. references 
 to 'Cave-Hunting' by, 129 fns., 130 
 reference to ' Early Man in Brit- 
 ain' by, 457, 476. 
 
 Boynton, Mr Thomas, on lake-dwell- 
 ings in the Holderness, 422. 
 
 Bracelets of Bronze Age, 206. 
 
 Brechin, part of horn of an elk found 
 in Trinity Muir, 93. 
 
 Breckigo, Loch of, remains of urus, 
 &c., found in, 115. 
 
 Bridgewater, Devon, Celtic shorthorn 
 found in peat near, 1 19. 
 
 Bridle-bits of Late Celtic Period, 249 
 et seq. 
 
 Britain, becomes known to the Greeks, 
 2 visit of Pytheas establishes the 
 overland trade - route, 3 Roman
 
 INDEX. 
 
 491 
 
 invasion, ib. et seq. Caesar's ac- 
 count of the country and people, 
 4 et seq. Strabo's account of man- 
 ners and customs of Britons, 5 et 
 seq, reference by Diodorus Siculus, 
 6 religion of the Britons, 12 
 population prior to the Roman 
 invasion, 14 account of the in- 
 habitants and country by Roman 
 writers, 42 et seq. 
 
 Broadsword traced to pre Roman 
 times, 10. 
 
 Broca on Neolithic skulls, 462 et seq. 
 
 Brochs, only found in Scotland, 389 
 Mousa, ib. et seq. Ousdale, 391 
 et seq. their structure and design, 
 394 et seq. relics found on sites of, 
 398 et seq. their builders and in- 
 habitants, 401 et seq. 
 
 Brodie, Rev. J., on horns of elk found 
 at Marlee, 94. 
 
 Brogar, Ring of, 297. 
 
 Bronze Age, sea-level in, 40 cemetery 
 of, at Magdalen Bridge, ib. find in 
 Duddingston Loch, 93 progress in 
 culture and civilisation during the, 
 177 et seq. art of, 216 et seq. 
 
 Bryce, Dr James, on stone circles in 
 Arran, 316. 
 
 Bryson, Mr A., on cave at North Esk, 
 
 79- 
 Buchanan, Mr John, on the Clyde 
 
 canoes, 70. 
 Bugthorpe, iron sword, &c., found at, 
 
 2 45- 
 
 Bunrannoch, Perthshire, armlets found 
 at, 255. 
 
 Burghead, remains of Celtic short- 
 horn, &c., found at, 118 Dr Mac- 
 donald's account of the wall of 
 fort at, 374 further details by 
 Mr Hugh W. Young, ib. 
 
 Burial customs of prehistoric man, 
 279 et seq. cairns and barrows, 
 281. 
 
 Burraness, broch of, 398. 
 
 Burray, broch of, 400. 
 
 Butmir, Bosnia, remains of ox, urus, 
 &c., found at, 119 stone objects at, 
 
 358. 
 
 Buttons, of Bronze Age, 205 of the 
 Stone Age, 172 et seq. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, invades Britain, 3 et 
 seq. account of the trees found 
 in Britain, 43 on the uri of the 
 Hercynian forest, 109 describes 
 the Gaulish method of construct- 
 ing ramparts by stones and beams, 
 
 374- 
 
 Caher-Fada-an-Doruis, 340. 
 Cairn of Achnacree, 283 at Largie, 
 
 285 at Kilchoan, 288 at Kil- 
 martin, ib. horned cairns of Caith- 
 ness, 291 et seq. Maeshowe, 298 et 
 seq. at Unstan, 302 at Quanter- 
 ness, 304 at Wideford, 305 at 
 Papa Westray and Quoyness, 306 
 et seq. at Clava, 310 at Collessie, 
 312 at Gilchorn, 313 general re- 
 marks, 326 et seq. 
 
 Cairn Conan, near Arbroath, Forfar- 
 shire, eaith-house at, 349. 
 
 Caisteal-nan-Gillean, exploration of, 
 56. 
 
 Caithness, horned cairns in, 291 et 
 seq. 
 
 Caldron, bronze, description of one 
 found in Kincardine Moss, 37 ft 
 seq. one found in West of Scot- 
 land, 38 one found at Cardross, 
 ib, one found in Carlingwark Loch, 
 274. 
 
 Caledonians, the, 14 described by 
 Tacitus, 443. 
 
 Caledonii, 12. 
 
 Callernish, stone circle of, 308 et seq. 
 
 Cambridgeshire Fen, remains of brown 
 bear found in, 129. 
 
 Campbeltown, discovery of urns and 
 flint instruments in, 73 et seq. 
 
 Campigny, hut dwellings at, 332. 
 
 Cannibalism in the Neolithic Age, 82. 
 
 Canoes, finding of, in Carse-lands, 66 
 et seq. in the basin of the Clyde, 70 
 et seq. used by prehistoric people in 
 Scotland, 359. 
 
 Capercailzie, the, in Denmark and 
 Scotland, 127 et seq. 
 
 Carham, bronze sword-sheath found 
 in the Tweed at, 245. 
 
 Carlingwark Loch, Kirkcudbright- 
 shire, relics of Iron Age found 
 at, 274 et seq. 
 
 Carmichael, Lanarkshire, three pen- 
 annular gold armlets found in 
 parish of, 208. 
 
 Carnban, near Crinan Canal, slab 
 with concentric lozenge - shaped 
 sculptures found at, 221. 
 
 Carn-liath, broch of, 396, 399. 
 
 Carnwath, Lanarkshire, ornamented 
 cover-stone of cist, &c., found at, 
 221. 
 
 Carradale, vitrified fort at, 386. 
 
 Carse of Stirling, 36 implements 
 associated with the skeletons of 
 whales in, 57 et seq. other relics 
 of man found in, 65 et seq. per- 
 forated deer-horn chisels and picks 
 found in, 169. 
 
 Cartailhac, M., references to 'La 
 France Prehistorique ' by, 474, 
 478.
 
 492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Carthaginians, trading expeditions of, 
 i. 
 
 Cassiterides, or Tin Islands, location 
 of, i et seq. 
 
 Castle- Newe, Aberdeenshire, bronze 
 armlets found at, 256, 258. 
 
 Cat, approximate date of introduction 
 into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Caterthuns, the, Forfarshire, 369. 
 
 Cattle, modern, origin of, 131. 
 
 Caves, Borness, in Kirkcudbrightshire, 
 79 near the mouth of the North 
 Esk, ib. 
 
 " Celtic Fringe," the, 487. 
 
 Celtic Period in Britain, Late, 234 et seq. 
 
 Celtic shorthorn in prehistoric times, 
 116-120. 
 
 Celts, bronze, found at the ' ' Maidens," 
 77 the celt or unperforated axe, 156 
 et seq. method of hafting, 160. 
 
 Chambers, Mr Robert, quotation from 
 ' Ancient Sea-Margins ' by, 72. 
 
 Chisels, of the Stone Age, 159 method 
 of hafting unperforated chisels, 160 
 of the Bronze Age, 186. 
 
 Christison, Dr David, reference to 
 ' Early Fortifications of Scotland ' by, 
 366. 
 
 Cill-Trblla Broch, pieces of reindeer 
 horns found in, 87 Celtic short- 
 horn found in broch of, 118. 
 
 Clava, cairn and stone circles of, 310 
 et seq. 
 
 Cleaven Dyke suggested as Agricola's 
 headquarters, 9. 
 
 Clerk, Sir John, quotation from ' Reli- 
 quiae Galeanas ' by, 31, 66. 
 
 Clikamin, Lenvick, broch of, 398. 
 
 Climatic features of prehistoric Scot- 
 land, 20 et seq. change from an 
 arctic to a temperate climate, 25 
 climatic conditions at the period of 
 the Roman occupation, 36, 42 et seq. 
 
 Cloonfinlough, horns of Irish elk found 
 in the crannog of, 102. 
 
 Close-y-Garey, Isle of Man, skeleton 
 of Irish elk found at, 104 et seq. 
 
 Clothing of the Stone Age, 172 et seq. 
 
 Clouston, Mr R. S., on cairn of Un- 
 stan, 302. 
 
 Clyde, canoes found in basin of, 70 et 
 seq. reindeer horns found on north 
 bank, 89 remains of urus found on 
 north bank, 112. 
 
 Coal-bog, wooden hut in, 335. 
 
 Coffey, Mr G., reference to 'Origins 
 of Prehistoric Ornament ' by, 145 
 on decoration of the Bronze Age 
 in Ireland, 219 et seq. 
 
 Coilsrield, Ayrshire, spiral decoration 
 on cover -stone of a cist, found at, 
 
 221. 
 
 Colchester, remains of brown 'bear 
 found at, 129. 
 
 Coldingham, Berwickshire, palmated 
 horn found at, 96. 
 
 Coldstream, flint knife found near, 
 162. 
 
 Cole's Castle, near Brora, Sutherland- 
 shire, 398. 
 
 Collessie, Fife, sepulchral cairn at, 
 312. 
 
 Coracle, description of, 359 et seq. 
 
 Cornwall, earth-houses and other re- 
 mains in, 353 et seq. 
 
 Cowden Burn, remains of urus found 
 in, 112. 
 
 Cowlam, Yorkshire, remains of Late 
 Celtic Period found at, 267. 
 
 Craigton, Linlithgowshire, reindeer 
 horns found in marl-pit near, 89. 
 
 Cramond, skeleton of elk found on the 
 farm of Greycrook, 93. 
 
 Crannogs, evidence of kind of dwell- 
 ings in early Iron Age, 334 Irish 
 crannogs, 406 Scottish crannogs, 
 408 et seq. relics found in, 412 et 
 seq. construction of, 430 et seq. 
 
 Crawford Moor, Lanarkshire, jet but- 
 ton found on, 173 bronze armlets 
 found at, 207. 
 
 Cree, the, trees found in, 42 ancient 
 forest of, 69 et seq. 
 
 Cremation, spread of, in Britain to- 
 wards close of Stone Age, 280 in- 
 humation and, 474-481. 
 
 Crichie, Aberdeenshire, axe-hammer 
 found in stone circle of, 156 stone 
 circle at, 316. 
 
 Croftamie, Dumbartonshire, portion 
 of reindeer horn found at, 90. 
 
 Crofthead, Renfrewshire, remains of 
 Irish elk, urus, &c., found near, 104, 
 112. 
 
 Cromagnon, prehistoric skulls at, 462. 
 
 Cromdale, Inverness-shire, gold armlet 
 found at, 207. 
 
 Croy, oaks and firs found in a moss 
 at, 30. 
 
 Culbin Sands, borer found on, 153 
 flint saws from, 164 bronze armlet 
 found on the, 258. 
 
 Culrain, Ross-shire, fragments of cloth 
 and leather shoe found at, 174. 
 
 Culzean hoard, 40 discovery of bronze 
 celts near, 77. 
 
 Curie, Mr James, on broch of Tor- 
 woodlee, 400. 
 
 Cvrrach. See Coracle. 
 
 Daggers, of Bronze Age, 191 et seq. 
 of the Late Celtic Period, 246 et seq. 
 
 Dalrymple, Mr C. E., reference to 
 Appendix to Stuart's ' Sculptured
 
 INDEX. 
 
 493 
 
 Stones of Scotland' by, 316 stone 
 circle at Crichie, ib. 
 
 Darwin, Mr, reference to ' Origin of 
 Species 'by, 135. 
 
 Dawson, Sir W., on Guanches, 468. 
 
 Deskford, Banffshire, fragment of 
 bronze helmet found at, 238. 
 
 Dick, Sir Alexander, of Prestonfield, 
 his find of Bronze Age, in Dudding- 
 ston Loch, 93. 
 
 Dio Cassius, description of the Cale- 
 donians, 43. 
 
 Dog, the, in prehistoric times, 134 et 
 seg. 
 
 Dolmens rarely met with in Scotland, 
 328 distribution of, ib. 
 
 Domestic animals in prehistoric times, 
 130-136. 
 
 Dowalton, Loch of, Wigtownshire, 
 remains of Celtic shorthorn, &c., 
 found in crannogs in, 117 orna- 
 ment found in, 249 account of the 
 crannogs, 409 et seq. relics found 
 at, 410 et seg. 
 
 Drem, skull of Celtic shorthorn found 
 at Balgone, 119. 
 
 Drill or borer used by Stone Age 
 people, 153. 
 
 Drinking-cups found in graves, 321. 
 
 Druids, 12 et seg. 
 
 Druimvargie, rock-shelter of, 54 et seg. 
 
 Drumcrief, finding of oaks in moss at, 
 
 3i- 
 
 Drumkilin Bog, wooden hut in, 335. 
 Drummond, Mr H. H., on whale 
 
 remains, 61. 
 Dryden, Sir Henry, on Hunsbury 
 
 Camp, 241, 269 et seg. 
 Diiben, Prof, von, on skulls in Sweden, 
 
 458- 
 
 Duddingston Loch, remains of Bronze 
 Age found in, 93. 
 
 Dumbuck, crannog at, 437 et seg. 
 relics found at, 440 et seg. 
 
 Dumfries, finding of animal remains 
 on the Shaw property, 90. 
 
 Dumfriesshire, remains of urus, bear, 
 and reindeer found in, 90, in 
 skull of brown bear found in, 128. 
 
 Dunagoil, vitrified fort at, 385 et seg. 
 
 Dunbar, bronze razor found at Bower- 
 houses, near, 190. 
 
 Dunbeath, broch of, 400. 
 
 Dunbuie Fort, 379 relics found at, 
 440. 
 
 Duncombe, Hon. Cecil, on lacustrine 
 remains on the banks of the Costa, 
 
 423- 
 Dundee, jet button found on Law Hill, 
 
 172. 
 Dunfermline, cemeteries found on Pit- 
 
 reavie estate, 314 et seg. 
 
 Dun Mac Uisneachan, enamelled 
 
 bronze disc found on vitrified fort 
 
 of, 251. 
 
 Dun Skeig, vitrified fort of, 387. 
 Dupont, M., reference to ' L'Homme 
 
 pendant les Ages de la Pierre ' by, 
 
 131 fn. 
 
 Earrings, gold, found at Orton, near 
 Fochabers, 214. 
 
 Eddertoun, Ross-shire, blue glass bead 
 of Bronze Age found at, 211. 
 
 Edenshall, Cockburn Law, 398. 
 
 Edinburgh, stag's head found in the 
 Meadows, 108 sword -blades, &c., 
 of Bronze Age found at Grosvenor 
 Crescent, 196, 204, 205 the Cat 
 Stone, near, 318. 
 
 Edrom, skeleton of beaver found in 
 Middlestot's Bog, 122. 
 
 Eilean Buidhe, vitrified fort on, 385. 
 
 Eilean - na - Noimh, Garveloch Isles, 
 beehive cells on, 342. 
 
 Eirde houses, 343 et seg. 
 
 Elk, the, in prehistoric times, 91-99. 
 
 Embsay, near Skipton, Yorkshire, 
 bronze torque found at, 252. 
 
 Enamelled ornaments found in Scot- 
 land, 249-251. 
 
 Engelhardt, Mr, quotation from ' Den 
 mark in the Early Iron Age' by, 
 230. 
 
 England, remains of elk found in, 99 
 remains of Celtic shorthorn found 
 in eastern counties, 116. 
 
 Eriska, mound at, 436. 
 
 Ethnology, 442 et seg. description of 
 ancient Britons by Tacitus, 443 
 dolichocephalic and brachycephalic 
 crania, 444 modern research in 
 craniology, 445 et seg. dual type of 
 skull found in Portugal, 460 et seg. 
 French research in prehistoric 
 craniology, 461 et seg. dolichoce- 
 phali and brachycephali, 468 et seg. 
 general anthropological data, 470 
 et seg. linguistic research and the 
 Aryans, 471 et seg. religiosity and 
 funereal rites, 473 et seg. cremation 
 and the Bronze Age in Britain, 476 
 et seg. general conclusions, 479 et 
 seg. inhabitants of Britain in Neo- 
 lithic times, 480 the Celts, /*. im- 
 migration of the Gauls bringing late 
 Celtic art, 481 et seg. the Caledoni- 
 ans, 482 two dialects spoken at the 
 time of the Roman conquest, ib. 
 the speech of the Iberians, 483 
 Prof. Huxley on dark whites and fair 
 whites, 486. 
 
 Evans, Sir John, reference to ' Ancient 
 Stone Implements' by, 146 et seg.; 
 
 2 L
 
 494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 169 reference to ' Bronze Imple- 
 ments ' by, 186-188, 200, 205, 217. 
 Evans, Mr A. J., reference to ' On a 
 Late Celtic Urn-Field at Aylesford ' 
 by, 269 fibulae at ^Esica, 266 gold 
 ornaments in Ireland, 267. 
 
 Fabricators or flaking tools, descrip- 
 tion of, 152. 
 
 Fahan, ancient city of, 340. 
 
 Falkirk, canoe found in Carse of, 66 
 canoe found near, 67 bronze fibulae 
 found near, 260. 
 
 Fallow-deer, approximate date of in- 
 troduction into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Farrer, Mr, on Maeshowe, 298 
 chamber at Quoyness, 306. 
 
 Fauna, of the post-glacial period, 21, 
 25 of prehistoric times, 84 et seq. 
 reindeer, 86-91 elk, 91-99 gigantic 
 Irish deer, 100-105 red-deer and 
 roe-deer, 105-108 urus, 108-116 
 Celtic shorthorn, 116-120 beaver, 
 120-123 w 'ld boar, 123-125 Great 
 Auk, 125-128 general remarks, 128- 
 130 domestic animals, 130-136. 
 
 Fergusson, Dr, reference to ' Rude 
 Stone Monuments ' by, 301, 328 
 reference to 'The Brochs and the 
 Rude Stone Monuments of the 
 Orkney Islands ' by, 401. 
 
 Fibulas of the Late Celtic Period, 259 
 et seq. 
 
 Fife, dagger of Bronze Age found on 
 Crawford Priory estate, 193. 
 
 File of Bronze Age, 189. 
 
 Fir found in peat-bogs up to 3000 feet 
 above sea-level, 36. 
 
 Flaking tools or fabricators, 152. 
 
 Flanders Moss, bronze caldron found 
 in, 38. 
 
 Fleming, Dr, reference to ' History of 
 British Mammals' by, 112. 
 
 Flint implements found at Millknowe, 
 74 et seq, use of flint in the Stone 
 Age, 140 flint factories discovered 
 near Mons, Belgium, 331 similar 
 discoveries in England, id. remains 
 of factories in Scotland, 357. 
 
 Flora of post-glacial period, 21. 
 
 Food vessels found in graves, 321. 
 
 Forests, disappearance of the, since pre- 
 historic times, 42 Romans charged 
 with their destruction, 43 south of 
 Scotland well wooded after the Saxon 
 language replaced the Celtic, 44 
 scarcity of wood in medieval 
 times, ib. 
 
 Forfarshire, head and horns of an elk 
 found in a marl-pit, 94. 
 
 Forgandenny, fort at, 372. 
 
 Forts, classification and distribution of, 
 
 364 earth-works and stone-works, 
 366 et seq. motes, 367 et seq. hill- 
 forts, 369 et seq. analogous forts in 
 Europe, 380 vitrified forts, ib. et 
 seq. suggested means of vitrifica- 
 tion, 382 et seq. vitrified forts out- 
 side Scotland, 388 et seq. 
 
 Fowl, domestic, approximate date of 
 introduction into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Fox in prehistoric times, 129. 
 
 Franks, Sir A. Wollaston, quotations 
 from ' Horas Ferales ' edited by, 
 124, 234 et seq. 
 
 Fraser, Mr James, on circles of Clava, 
 309 et seq. 
 
 Friarton, Perth, canoe found at, 67. 
 
 Furfooz, brachycephalic race of, 469. 
 
 Fyrish, Evanton, Ross-shire, bracer 
 found at, 169. 
 
 Fyvie, arrow-head found at, 161. 
 
 Galloway, skull of urus found in, in. 
 
 Galloway, Mr William, his explora- 
 tion of Caisteal-nan-Gillean, 56 
 other excavations in Oronsay, 57 
 description of fortified camp on Mid- 
 hill Head, 370. 
 
 Galston, Ayrshire, borer found in 
 parish of, 154. 
 
 Garioch, the Newton Stone in, 318. 
 
 Garson, Dr, on Yorkshire barrows, 
 
 45 1 - 
 
 Geikie, Sir Archibald, his theory of the 
 25-feet raised beach, 37. 
 
 Geikie, Prof. James, references to 
 'Great Ice Age' by, 23, 42 his 
 ' Prehistoric Europe ' quoted, 24 
 his description of a canoe found at 
 Friarton, Perth, 67 account of re- 
 mains of urus found in Cowden 
 Burn, 112. 
 
 "Ghegan Rock," near Seacliff, East 
 Lothian, and account of early habi- 
 tation on, 79 et seq. relics found 
 there, 80 Celtic shorthorn found in 
 kitchen-midden on, 118. 
 
 Gilchorn, near Arbroath, cairn at, 313. 
 
 Glacial period, 20 et seq. parallelism 
 between glacial epochs and land- 
 submergences, 45. 
 
 Gladstone. Dr, quotation from paper 
 on " The Transition from pure Cop- 
 per to Bronze made with Tin " by, 
 178. 
 
 Glasgow, remains of urus found in, 
 112. 
 
 Glastonbury Lake village, remains of 
 beaver, &c., found on, 121 account 
 of, 424 et seq. relics found at, 425 
 et seq. 
 
 Glenelg, Inverness - shire, broch at, 
 396.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 Glenluce, flint saws from, 164 jet 
 button found at Mid-Torrs, 173. 
 
 Golspie, flint saws found at, 164. 
 
 Gouges of the Bronze Age, 186. 
 
 Grange of Conan, near Arbroath, 
 bronze spiral armlet found at, 258. 
 
 Graves, contents of prehistoric, 320 et 
 seq. 
 
 Gray, Mr Alexander, on raised beach 
 at Campbeltown, 73. 
 
 Gray, Rev. George, on Irish elk in 
 Ayrshire, 103. 
 
 Greeks, their discovery of Britain, 2. 
 
 Greenwell, Canon, references to ' Brit- 
 ish Barrows' by, 119, 121, 124 fn., 
 Z 33> I4S. X S9. !62, 173, 174, 215, 
 267, 476 et seq. on cairns and stone 
 circles in Argyllshire, 285 et seq. 
 
 Grieve, Mr Symington, his exploration 
 of Caisteal-nan-Gillean, 56 remains 
 of the Great Auk found in Oronsay, 
 126 references to 'The Great Auk 
 or Garefowl ' by, 56, 126 fn. 
 
 Grime's Graves, flint-mining at, 332. 
 
 Grimthorpe, iron sword, &c., found in 
 a barrow at, 245. 
 
 Gundestrup vase, 238. 
 
 Hadrian's wall, n. 
 
 Hagbourn Hill, Berkshire, bronze 
 
 bridle-bits, &c., found at, 247. 
 Hamden Hill, Somersetshire, tyres of 
 
 wheels, &c., found at, 248. 
 Hamilton, Dr E., on vitrified forts, 
 
 3 8 4. 
 Hamilton, Mr George, on sculptured 
 
 rock-surfaces at High Banks, 225. 
 Hammers, stone, description of, 151 et 
 
 seq., 156 of the Bronze Age, 186. 
 Hardy, Mr James, on elk remains, 
 
 96. 
 Harray, Orkney, amber and glass 
 
 beads, with objects of Iron Age, 
 
 found at, 211 broch in, 400. 
 Hatfield Moss, 32 et seq. 
 Hebrides, Outer, existence of bogwood 
 
 in 35- 
 Helmets of Late Celtic Period, 237 et 
 
 seq. 
 Herodian, account of the Caledonians 
 
 by. 43- 
 Hewison, Rev. Mr, on vitrified forts, 
 
 385- 
 
 Hibbert, Dr, on reindeer in Caithness, 
 86. 
 
 High Banks, Kirkcudbrightshire, cup- 
 marked rock surfaces at, 225. 
 
 Hildebrand, Dr Hans, reference to 
 ' Scandinavian Arts ' by, 182. 
 
 Hilgay, Norfolk, bones of beaver, &c., 
 found at, 121. 
 
 Himilco, the voyage of, 2. 
 
 Hoare, Sir R. Colt, reference to ' An- 
 cient Wilts' by, 119. 
 
 Hoerness, Dr, reference to ' Urges- 
 chichte der Bildenden Kunst in 
 Europa' by, 233. 
 
 Holderness, Yorkshire, remains of 
 beaver found at, 121 crannog dis- 
 covered in, 422. 
 
 Honeyman, Mr John, observations on 
 vitrified forts by, 384. 
 
 Horn, use of, in making implements 
 in Stone Age, 159. 
 
 Horse, the, in prehistoric times, 131- 
 134 horse-trappings, &c., of Late 
 Celtic Period, 247 et seq. 
 
 Howden, Dr, on cave at North Esk, 
 
 79- 
 
 Howe Hill Barrow, Yorkshire, 451. 
 Hunsbury, or Dane's Camp, near 
 
 Northampton, relics of Late Celtic 
 
 Period found at, 241 et seq., 269 et 
 
 seq. 
 Huntiscarth, Orkney, amber necklaces 
 
 found at, 213. 
 Hutcheson, Mr A., on dagger-blades, 
 
 192 on the cairns of Gilchorn and 
 
 Collessie, 313. 
 Huts of prehistoric date discovered on 
 
 the Continent, 331 et seq. Stone 
 
 Age settlement of Schussenried, 333 
 
 et seq. dwellings of early Iron Age, 
 
 334 et seq. discoveries in Ireland, 
 
 335 et seq. beehive huts, 336 et 
 seq. 
 
 Huxley, Prof., on prehistoric skulls, 
 456, 459, 460 fair whites and dark 
 whites, 486. 
 
 Hyndford crannog, near Lanark, 416 
 et seq. relics found at, 418 et seq. 
 
 Ice Age, 20 et seq. 
 
 Implements of bone and horn, found 
 in MacArthur's Cave, 48 et seq. 
 in rock-shelter at Oban, 55 at 
 Caisteal-nan-Gillean, 56 of deer- 
 horn in the Carse of Stirling, 57 
 et seq. of the Stone Age, 155 et 
 seq. process of polishing, 159 et 
 seq. found in graves, 324. 
 
 Industrial life of prehistoric people, 
 357 et seq. 
 
 Innermessan, Wigtownshire, bronze 
 trumpet found at, 201. 
 
 Innes, Cosmo, his 'Sketches of Early 
 Scottish History' quoted, 44 on 
 Clava circles, 311. 
 
 Inveravon, finding of sea-shells at, 65 
 et seq. 
 
 Inverness, stone circles near, 309. 
 
 Ireland, remains of elk found in, 99 
 remains of Celtic shorthorn found 
 in, 116, 119 flint saws found in,
 
 496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 165 remains of wooden huts found 
 in, 335 et seq. beehive huts in, 339 
 et seq. earth-houses in, 352. 
 
 Irish deer, gigantic, in prehistoric 
 times, 100-105. 
 
 Iron Age, 226 et seq. 
 
 Jade, its use in the Stone Age, 140 
 et seq. 
 
 Jamieson, Dr John, on fortifications 
 on the Laws, 377. 
 
 Jardine, Sir W., on animal remains 
 from a peat-bog, 90. 
 
 Jedburgh, skull of urus found near, 
 in. 
 
 Jervise, Mr Andrew, on " Picts' house" 
 at Tealing, 349. 
 
 Jet, its use in the Stone Age in Scot- 
 land, 143 et seq. 
 
 Jewitt, Mr Llewellynn, reference to 
 'Grave-Mounds' by, 240. 
 
 Joass, Dr, on animal remains near 
 Tain, 86 at Kintradwell, 115 on 
 glass beads, 211 reference to 'Ar- 
 chaeologia Scotica ' by, 396. 
 
 Jolly, Mr W., on bronze armlet found 
 at Poolewe, 207. 
 
 Keiss, Caithness, portion of reindeer 
 horns found at, 88, 91 part of 
 antler of elk found at, 99 remains 
 of large ox found at, 115 Celtic 
 shorthorn found at, 118 bones of 
 the Great Auk found in the Har- 
 bour Mound, 125 bear's tooth 
 found in broch at, 128 excava- 
 tion of eight brochs by Sir F. T. 
 Barry, 402 relics found, 403. 
 
 Keith Marischal, East Lothian, jet 
 button found at, 172. 
 
 Keller, Dr, his experiments in cutting 
 and boring stones, 147. 
 
 Kelton, Kirkcudbrightshire, bronze 
 with horns found in, 238. 
 
 Kemble's ' Horas Ferales ' quoted, 
 234 et seq. 
 
 Kettleburn, Celtic shorthorn found 
 at, 118 broch at, 396, 400. 
 
 Kilbarchan, description of a moss 
 at, 31. 
 
 Kilchoan, cairn at, 288. 
 
 Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, " Picts' 
 houses " at, 348. 
 
 Killin, bronze bracelet and rings, &c., 
 found near, 206. 
 
 Kilmartin, cairn on glebe-lands of, 
 288. 
 
 Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, reindeer horns 
 found at, 90. 
 
 Kinahan, Mr G. H., on Irish elk, 
 1 02. 
 
 Kincardine Moss, bronze caldron 
 
 found in, 37. 
 Kincardineshire, finds of fabricators 
 
 in, 152 bronze armlets found near 
 
 the Castle of Kinneff, 207. 
 Kinleith, near Edinburgh, bones of ox 
 
 and dog, &c., found at, 118 et seq. 
 
 bronze blade found at, 191. 
 Kintradwell, find of animal remains 
 
 at, 115 broch of, 396. 
 Kirkcudbrightshire, skull of urus 
 
 found in, in. 
 
 Kirkpark, near Musselburgh, ceme- 
 tery with and without urns at, 313. 
 Kirkurd, horns of elk found in, 99. 
 Kitchen-middens, at Inveravon, 66 
 
 in Denmark, 134 at Salvaterra, 
 
 Portugal, 460. 
 Klebs, Richard, reference to ' Der 
 
 Bernstein schmuck der Steinzeit" 
 
 by, 145 fn. 
 Knives, flint, 161 et seq. of the 
 
 Bronze Age, 187. 
 Knock Farril, vitrified fort at, 381, 
 
 387- 
 Knockmany, Co. Tyrone, sculptured 
 
 stone found in cairn, 224. 
 Knowles, Mr W. J., on Great Auk, 
 
 127 on flint saws, 165. 
 Kollmann, Prof., on primitive races, 
 
 470. 
 Kourganes, Neolithic remains in, 469. 
 
 Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, Ireland, 
 lake-dwelling at, 405 et seq. 
 
 Laibach, in Carniola, remains of 
 beaver found at, 121. 
 
 Laidlay, MrJ. W., description of early 
 habitation on the " Ghegan Rock," 
 
 79- 
 
 Laing, Mr Samuel, on harbour mound 
 at Keiss, 88 urus, 116 great auk, 
 125 reference to ' Prehistoric Re- 
 mains of Caithness' by, ib. et seq., 
 
 403. 457- 
 
 Lake-deposits, stratigraphical succes- 
 sion of, 26. 
 
 Lake-dwellings, 404 et seq. sketch of 
 lacustrine research, 405 et seq. La- 
 gore, 405 Ober-Meilen, 406 et seq. 
 other discoveries in Europe, 408 
 Loch of Dowalton, 409 et seq. 
 crannogs in Ayr and Wigtown, 411 
 lake - dwellings in England, 421 
 et seq. structure of lake-dwellings, 
 426 et seq. pile-structures, 427 et 
 seq. crannogs, 430 et seq. tern- 
 mare, 434 et seq. marine dwell- 
 ings, 435 et seq. modern pile- 
 dwellings, 441. 
 
 Lamberton Moor, Berwickshire, grind- 
 ing-stone found on, 160.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 497 
 
 Lanark, skeleton of urus found in the 
 parish of, 112 beaded torque found 
 near, 252. 
 
 Lanarkshire, ornamental bronze ball 
 found in, 276. 
 
 Lanfine, Ayrshire, arrow-point from, 
 167. 
 
 Largie Farm, Argyllshire, cairn at, 
 285 et seq. 
 
 Largo, Lower, Fifeshire, four gold 
 bracelets found at, 208 torque 
 found at, 210. 
 
 Late Celtic Period in Britain, 234 et 
 seq. 
 
 Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, reference 
 to ' Moray Floods ' by, 310. 
 
 Laws, the, Forfarshire, fortifications 
 on, 377 et seq. relics found at, 379. 
 
 'Leges Wallicae,' reference to beaver 
 in, 122. 
 
 Lenormant, reference to ' Les Pre- 
 mieres Civilisations' by, 133 fn. 
 
 Leswalt, Wigtownshire, ornamented 
 socketed celt found in, 185, 217. 
 
 Lewis, stone circles on, 308. 
 
 Lilliesleaf, skulls of uri seen near, in. 
 
 Lingrow, broch of, 400. 
 
 Linguistic research and Aryan lan- 
 guage, 471. 
 
 Linlithgowshire, enamelled bronze 
 cup or patere found in, 251. 
 
 Linton Loch, Roxburghshire, remains 
 of urus, &c., found in, in. 
 
 Lisnacroghera, relics of Late Celtic 
 Period found at, 274. 
 
 Llangorse, Lake of, Wales, crannog 
 at, 422. 
 
 Lochan Dughaill, crannog at, 334, 
 415 relics found at, 416. 
 
 Lochar Moss, 36 beaded torque found 
 in, 40, 252 description of, 67 Rev. 
 James Laurie's account of, 68. 
 
 Loch Etive, exploration of cairn near, 
 283 et seq. 
 
 Lochlee crannog, fragments of rein- 
 deer horns found in, 90 remains of 
 Celtic shorthorn, &c. , found in, 117 
 evidence of kind of dwelling at, 
 334 discovery of, 411 construc- 
 tion of, 431. 
 
 Lochspouts, Ayrshire, scraper from 
 crannog of, 166. 
 
 London, remains of brown bear found 
 in, 129 remains of pile-buildings 
 found near London Wall and South- 
 wark, 422. 
 
 Loughrea, head of Irish elk found in, 
 102. 
 
 Low, George, quotation from ' Tour 
 thro' Orkney and Shetland ' by, 35. 
 
 Lowe, Rev. George, on cemetery at 
 Kirkpark, 313. 
 
 Lowson, Mr W., on Bronze- Age ceme- 
 tery, 40. 
 
 Lunan Head, Forfar, jet necklace of 
 Bronze Age found at, 213. 
 
 Lyell, Sir Charles, on marl-deposits, 
 26 ' Antiquity of Man ' referred to, 
 28 fn. 
 
 Macalister, Mr Stewart, on ruins of 
 Fahan, 341. 
 
 MacArthur Cave, Oban, discovery of, 
 46 contents of the cave, 47 et seq. 
 description of bone and horn imple- 
 ments, tfietseq. animal remains, 49 
 et seq. discussion of the cave, 52 et 
 seq. Celtic shorthorn found in, 118. 
 
 M 'Call, Mr, reference to ' History 
 and Antiquities of the Parish of 
 Mid-Calder,' 187. 
 
 M'Culloch, Dr, reference to 'High- 
 lands and Western Isles of Scot- 
 land ' by, 383. 
 
 Macdonald, Dr, reference to " Burg- 
 head as the site of an Early Christian 
 Church " by, 375. 
 
 Macdonald, Mr James, excavations on 
 Tap o' Noth, 385. 
 
 Mackay, Mr James, on broch of Ous- 
 dale, 391. 
 
 Maclagan, Miss C., reference to 'The 
 Hill Forts and Stone Circles of Scot- 
 land ' by, 366. 
 
 Afezatee, 12. 
 
 Maeshowe, tumulus of, 298 et seq. 
 
 Magdalen Bridge, near Musselburgh, 
 cemetery at, 314. 
 
 " Maidens," the, discovery of bronze 
 celts at, 77. 
 
 Mapleton, Rev. R. J., on cairns in 
 Argyllshire, 288. 
 
 Marine dwellings in Holland, 435 
 analogous remains in Scotland, 436 
 et seq. 
 
 Marlee, Loch of, Perthshire, animal 
 remains found in, 89 a pair of 
 elk's horns found at, 94 remains of 
 beaver found in, 122. 
 
 Mauchrie Moor, Arran, stone circles 
 on, 316 et seq. 
 
 Maxwell, Sir Herbert, reference to 
 ' Dumfries and Galloway ' by, 7 on 
 miniature bronze axe, 186 war- 
 trumpets, 201. 
 
 Maxwell, W. H., reference to 'Hill- 
 side and Border Sketches ' by, 96. 
 
 Maybole, remains of Irish elk found 
 in the parish of, 103 skull of urus 
 found in, 112. 
 
 Melfort, Argyllshire, bronze armlet, 
 &c., found at, 206. 
 
 Mid-Calder,bronze knife-blade found in 
 parish of, 187.
 
 498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Middlesby, Annandale, bridle - bits, 
 &c. ? found at, 250. 
 
 Midhill Head, Mid-Lothian, fortified 
 camp on, 370. 
 
 Millknowe, flint implements found in 
 beach shingle at, 74 et seq. 
 
 Millport, fossil Trochus lineatus found 
 in raised beach strata of, 81. 
 
 Mitchell, Sir Arthur, his 'The Past in 
 the Present' referred to, 6, 338 his 
 observations on the forest of Cree, 
 42, 69. 
 
 Molyneux, Dr, on Irish elk, too. 
 
 Montelius, Dr, reference to ' Findet 
 man in Schweden Ueberreste von 
 einem Kupferalter ' by, 179. 
 
 Monzie Castle, Perthshire, sculptured 
 stone found at, 224. 
 
 Moosseedorfsee, settlement of, 25. 
 
 Moothills, 367. 
 
 Morayshire, bronze objects found at 
 Wester Achtertyre, 206. 
 
 Morbhaich Afor, Tain, find of animal 
 remains at, 86, 119. 
 
 Morris, Mr David B., on whale re- 
 mains near Stirling, 62 et seq. 
 
 Mortillet, M. G. de, reference to ' For- 
 mation de la Nation Franqaise ' by, 
 227. 
 
 Mortimer, Mr J. R., on Howe Hill 
 barrow, 451. 
 
 Mosses, finding of trees in, 30 et seq. 
 
 Motes, 367 et seq. 
 
 Moulin, Perthshire, skull of urus found 
 near, 114. 
 
 Mount Batten, Late Celtic ornaments 
 at, 264. 
 
 Mountstuart, Bute, necklace of Bronze 
 Age, and other remains, found at, 
 212. 
 
 Mousa, Shetland, broch of, 389 et seq. 
 
 Munro, Robert, references to ' Ancient 
 Scottish Lake - Dwellings ' by, 90, 
 108, 414, 441 references to ' Lake- 
 Dwellings of Europe ' by, 39, 121, 
 125, 128, 142, 143 fn., 148 fn., 175, 
 187, 210 fn., 232 fn., 237 fn., 347 
 fn., 414, 437 references to 'Pre- 
 historic Problems' by, 55 fn., 165, 
 180, ,\i\i\ fn. references to ' Rambles 
 and Studies in Bosnia' by, 119, 121, 
 175 fn., 237 fn., 261 fn., 358 fn., 366 
 fn. 
 
 Murthly, Perthshire, bone button 
 found at, 173. 
 
 Musselburgh, cemetery of Bronze Age 
 at, 40 bronze blade found at Mag- 
 dalen Bridge, near, 190. 
 
 Muthil, remains of uri found near 
 Drummond Castle, 115. 
 
 Muthill, Perthshire, two bronze arm- 
 lets found near, 253. 
 
 Necklaces of Bronze Age, 212. 
 Needles of bone and bronze, 205. 
 Neish, Mr James, on fortifications on 
 
 the Laws, 378 et seq. 
 Neolithic man, first appearance of, in 
 
 Britain, 83 domestic animals of, 84. 
 Newburgh, Fifeshire, skull of urus 
 
 found at, 112. 
 Newbury, Berkshire, bones of beaver, 
 
 &c., found at, 121. 
 Newry, Co. Down, Ireland, bronze 
 
 armlet found near, 256. 
 Newstead, Roxburghshire, remains of 
 
 Celtic shorthorn found at Roman 
 
 station at, 118. 
 Niederwyl, huts at, 336. 
 Nilsson, Professor, quotation from 
 
 ' Primitive Inhabitants of Scandi- 
 navia ' by, 447. 
 Northamptonshire, Late Celtic bronze 
 
 ornament found in, 261. 
 North Esk, cave near mouth of, 79. 
 Norton, Suffolk, enamelled ornament 
 
 for harness found at, 249. 
 
 Oakwood, Selkirkshire, skull and horns 
 of elk found at , 97. 
 
 Oban, MacArthur Cave at, 46-54 
 discovery of rock-shelter at, 54 et 
 seq. contents of the shell-heap at, 
 55 barbed harpoons found at, 169. 
 
 Obsidian, use of, in the Stone Age, 142 
 et seq. 
 
 Okstrow, broch of, 400. 
 
 Old Luce, javelin - head found at 
 Machermore, 170. 
 
 'Orkneyinga Saga," reference to, 86. 
 
 Orkney Islands, decayed timber found 
 in peat-bogs, 34 et seq. 
 
 Ornaments, of the Stone Age, 172 et 
 seq. of Bronze Age, 204 et seq. 
 found in graves, 323. 
 
 Oronsay, finding of bone harpoons and 
 implements of bone and stone at 
 Caisteal-nan-Gillean, 56. 
 
 Orphir, Orkney, portions of woollen 
 cloth found in cist at Greenigoe, 174. 
 
 Orton, near Fochabers, gold earrings 
 found at, 214. 
 
 Otter in prehistoric times, 129. 
 
 Ousdale, Caithness, broch at, 391 et 
 seq. 
 
 Owen, Sir Richard, references to ' Brit- 
 ish Fossil Mammals' by, 89 fn., 
 101, 106, 109, 113, 116, 119 et seq., 
 124, 129 fn., 132. 
 
 Ox, domestic, of urus type, approxi- 
 mate date of introduction into Scot- 
 land of, 130. 
 
 Papa Westray, Orkney, sepulchral 
 cairn at, 306, 307 et seq.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 499 
 
 Paton, Sir Noel, on gold earrings, 
 
 214. 
 Paulinus, attack of, on Isle of Mona, 
 
 13- 
 
 Peach, Mr B. N., on kitchen-middens' 
 at Inveravon, 66. 
 
 Peat-bogs, 29 et seq. 
 
 Peeblesshire, bronze armlet found near 
 Stobo Castle, 207 bronze armlet, 
 &c., found on farm of Stanhope, 
 257. 
 
 Pennant's ' Tour ' quoted, 68 ' His- 
 tory of Quadrupeds ' referred to, 
 89 on broch at Glenelg, 394. 
 
 Pentland Hills, mammalian bones 
 found at Green Craig, 90 bronze 
 sword-sheath found near, 244. 
 
 Perdeswell, near Worcester, bronze 
 torque found at, 252. 
 
 Perrot et Chipiez, reference to 'His- 
 toire de 1'Art dans 1'Antiquite' ' by, 
 143 fn. 
 
 Personal ornaments of the Late Celtic 
 Period, 251 et seq, 
 
 Petit-Morin, Neolithic remains at, 466. 
 
 Petrie, Mr George, on sepulchral 
 cairns, 305, 307. 
 
 Pheasant, approximate date of intro- 
 duction into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Phoczeans found Massilia, 2. 
 
 Phoenicians, colonies of, i did not 
 trade for tin with Britain, 2. 
 
 Physical features of Scotland in pre- 
 historic times, 19. 
 
 Pickering, Yorkshire, indications of 
 lake-dwellings found on the banks 
 of the Costa, near, 423 et seq. 
 
 Picts, their first appearance in history, 
 
 12. 
 
 Picts' houses, 343 et seq. 
 
 Piette, M., on the rock-shelter of Mas- 
 
 d'Azil, 55. 
 
 Pins of the Bronze Age, 204. 
 Pitalpin, near Dundee, bronze armlet 
 
 found near, 258. 
 Pitkelloney armlets, 254 et seq. 
 Pitt-Rivers, General, on pile-dwellings 
 
 at London Wall, 422. 
 Pliny's ' Natural History' referred to, 
 
 108, 435 on wild oxen, 108. 
 Plymouth, find of Late Celtic Period 
 
 at Mount Batten, near, 264. 
 Polden Hill, near Bridgewater, bosses 
 
 of shields, bridle-bits, &c., found at, 
 
 247. 
 Polishing stone implements, process 
 
 of, 159 et seq. 
 Poolewe, Ross-shire, penannular ring 
 
 found at, 207. 
 Prsetorius, Mr J. C., on bronze 
 
 trumpets, 203. 
 Pytheas, the voyage of, 3. 
 
 Quanterness, near Kirkwall, cham- 
 bered cairn at, 304. 
 
 Queensferry, cover-stone of cist, with 
 spiral decoration, found near, 221. 
 
 Quoyness, sepulchral chamber at, 306. 
 
 Raesgill, Lanarkshire, fragment of rein- 
 deer horn found at, 89. 
 
 Rampini, Sheriff, reference to ' His- 
 tory of Moray and Nairn ' by, 375. 
 
 Rannoch, Moor of, torque found at, 
 210. 
 
 Rat, common, approximate date of 
 introduction into Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Rau, Charles, reference to ' Contri- 
 butions to N. American Ethnology ' 
 by, 218. 
 
 Razors of the Bronze Age, 190. 
 
 Read, Mr C. H., on sword-sheath 
 from Hunsbury, 241. 
 
 Red - deer in prehistoric times, 105- 
 108. 
 
 Reindeer, remains of, found in Scot- 
 land, 86-91 remains rarely found 
 in Denmark in peat, 128 approxi- 
 mate date of extinction of, 130. 
 
 Relative level of land and sea, 22 et 
 seq. 
 
 Religion of the Britons, 12 et seq. 
 
 Retzius, Prof., on Scandinavian skulls, 
 458. 
 
 Rhys, Prof., on pre-Celtic people of 
 Britain, 483. 
 
 Robenhausen, remains of urus found 
 at, 109 civilisation of lake-dwellers 
 at, 361. 
 
 Rochdale, Lancashire, bronze torque 
 found in, 251. 
 
 Rock-shelter at Ardrossan, 81. 
 
 Roe-deer in prehistoric times, 105-108. 
 
 Rogartj Sutherlandshire, bronze razor 
 found at, 190. 
 
 Rolleston, Professor, quotation from 
 article "On the Iron, Bronze, and 
 Stone Ages," 10 reference to ' Brit- 
 ish Barrows ' by, 133, 134, 448 et 
 seq., 457 on the oxidation theory 
 as accounting for the disappearance 
 of iron relics, 229. 
 
 Romans, their invasion of Scotland, 7 
 et seq. battle of Mons Graupius, 9 
 Hadrian's wall, n march of the 
 Emperor Severus through Scotland, 
 ib. et seq. destruction of British 
 forests by, 43. 
 
 Ross-shire, reindeer horn found in the 
 peat-bogs of, 90. 
 
 Rousay, reindeer horn found in, 90. 
 
 Roxburghshire, fabricator found in, 
 153 -borer found in, ib. 
 
 Roy, General, on the position of Agric- 
 ola's headquarters, 9 reference to
 
 5oo 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 1 Military Antiquities of the Romans 
 in North Britain ' by, 375. 
 Riitimeyer, Professor, on the wild 
 swine possessed by Swiss lake- 
 dwellers of the Stone Age, 125 on 
 the dogs of the Swiss lake-dwellings, 
 135- 
 
 Saham Toney, Norfolk, rings, &c., of 
 Late Celtic Period found at, 248. 
 
 St Andrews, Orkney, complete woollen 
 hood found in a moss in parish of, 
 
 174- 
 St Keverne, Cornwall, objects of Late 
 
 Celtic Period found at, 265. 
 Salmon, M. Philippe, on Neolithic 
 
 crania of Gaul, 463 general con- 
 clusions on, 467. 
 Saws, flint, 163 et seq. of the Bronze 
 
 Age, 189. 
 Schliemann, reference to ' Ilios ' by, 
 
 140, 143, 231 reference to ' Mycenae 
 
 and Tiryns ' by, 143 fn. 
 Schussenried, dwelling of Stone Age 
 
 at, 333. 
 Schweizersbild, rock-shelter at, 83, 
 
 463- 
 
 Scotland, Agricola's invasion of, 7 et 
 seq. battle of Mons Graupius, 9 
 physical features in prehistoric times, 
 16 climatic and topographical feat- 
 ures, 20 et seq first appearance of 
 Scots in history, 12. 
 
 Scraper or "thumb flint," 166. 
 
 Seafield Tower, Fife, bronze armlets 
 found near, 255. 
 
 Seal, remains of, found in brochs, 
 &c., 129. 
 
 Sea-level, in Bronze Age, 40 in Roman 
 times, 41 alterations in relative level 
 of sea and land since appearance of 
 man in Scotland, 45 et seq. argu- 
 ment from finding of canoes in Clyde 
 basin, 71 evidence from sand- 
 dunes, raised beaches, &c., 73 et 
 seq. 
 
 Seamill, Ayrshire, fort at, 376 relics 
 found at, ib. et seq. 
 
 Selkirkshire, remains of urus, stag, 
 &c., found in, 97 et seq. head of 
 urus found in, no. 
 
 Sergi, Prof., on dolichocephalic races 
 prior to Celts and Etruscans, 469. 
 
 Severus, Emperor, march of, to Moray 
 Firth, n. 
 
 Shan well, Kinross-shire, bronze blade 
 found at, 190. 
 
 Sheep, domestic, origin of, 131. 
 
 Shetland Islands, decayed timbers 
 found in peat-bogs, 34 et seq. 
 
 Shewalton Moor, evidence of encamp- 
 ment at, 76. 
 
 Shields of Bronze Age, 200 of Late 
 Celtic Period, 236 et seq. 
 
 Sickles of the Bronze Age, 189. 
 
 Silures, the, 14 description of, by 
 Tacitus, 443. 
 
 Simpson, Mr James, on animal re- 
 mains in Oban Cave, 49 at Green 
 Craig, 90. 
 
 Simpson, Sir James, reference to 
 ' Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and 
 Concentric Rings, &c.,' by, 218, 221, 
 225. 
 
 Sinclair, Mr T., on broch of Dun- 
 beath, 400. 
 
 Singapore, pile-dwellings at, 441. 
 
 Skaill, underground house of, Orkney, 
 horns of large ox found in, 116. 
 
 Skelmuir, Aberdeenshire, stone anvils 
 found at, 150, 151 hoard of flints 
 found at, 357. 
 
 Skene, Dr, on the position of Agricola's 
 headquarters, 9. 
 
 Skerrabrae, Orkney, ' ' Picts' houses " 
 at, 344 et seq. 
 
 Skye, bronze pin found in, 204. 
 
 Slains, Aberdeenshire, celt found at 
 Ferney Brae, 158. 
 
 Slateford, Mid -Lothian, coiled gold 
 bracelet found at, 208. 
 
 Sling-stones, 170. 
 
 Smith, Dr Angus, on Dun Mac 
 Uisneachan, 251 on cairn of Ach- 
 nacree, 283. 
 
 Smith, Dr J. Alexander, on the rein- 
 deer, 86 elk, 91 et seq. red-deer, 
 108 et seq. urus, in stone balls, 
 171 et seq. bronze helmets, 238 et 
 seq. bronze armlets, 254 et seq. 
 
 Smith, Rev. Fred., on palaeolithic re- 
 mains in Scotland, 20. 
 
 Smith, Mr John, reference to ' Pre- 
 historic Man in Ayrshire' by, 420 
 fn. on rock-shelter at Ardrossan, 
 81 on beaver, 122. 
 
 Smith's ' Newer Pliocene Geology ' re- 
 ferred to, 70. 
 
 Snaburgh, broch of, 398. 
 
 Sobunar, near Sarajevo in Bosnia, re- 
 mains of beaver found at, 121. 
 
 Social life of prehistoric inhabitants of 
 Britain, 329 et seq. 
 
 Solutre 1 , remains of horse, &c., on pre- 
 historic camping -ground at, 132, 
 462. 
 
 Solway Moss, stone axe from, 161. 
 
 Spear-heads, of Stone Age, 169 et seq. 
 of Bronze Age, 193 et seq. 
 
 Spiennes, pit-dwellings and flint-fac- 
 tories at, 331. 
 
 Spindle-whorl, 173. 
 
 Spoon-like objects of Late Celtic 
 Period, 261.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 501 
 
 Standing stones, 318. 
 
 Stan wick, Yorkshire, bridle-bits, &c., 
 
 found at, 247. 
 
 Staub, F., reference to 'Die Pfahl- 
 bauten in den Schweizer - Seen ' 
 by, 407 fn. 
 
 Steenstrup, Prof., on domestication of 
 the dog, 134. 
 
 Stewart, Mr Charles, on bronze hoard 
 at Killin, 206. 
 
 Stitchel, Roxburghshire, bronze collar 
 found near, 253. 
 
 Stone Age : the raw materials used by 
 the people, 140-146 their workshop 
 and its tools, 146-154 method of 
 chipping, 146 et seq. method of 
 boring, 147 ef seq. tools used in the 
 manufacture of flint instruments, 
 150 et seq. implements, weapons, 
 and ornaments, 154-176 process 
 of polishing stone implements, 159 
 et seq. 
 
 Stone balls, 170 et seq. 
 
 Stone circle, at Ballymenach, 290 
 Ring of Brogar, 297 in Kincardine 
 and Aberdeen, 316 at Mauchrie 
 Moor, Arran, ib. Auquhorthies, 
 318. 
 
 Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, whetstone 
 and stone axe found in, 160. 
 
 Stoppani, A., reference to ' L'Ambra 
 nella Storia e nella Geologia' by, 
 145 fn. 
 
 Strath Halladale, horns of elk and 
 red -deer found in, 95 et seq. 
 
 Strathnairn, stone circles of, 309. 
 
 Strathspey, fabricator found at, 152. 
 
 Strobel, Prof., on swine in the Terre- 
 mare, 125. 
 
 Stuart, Or, on earth-houses, 351 on 
 the fortifications on the Laws, 378 
 on crannogs in Loch Dowalton, 
 410. 
 
 Sword-sheaths, Hunsbury, 241 Ayr- 
 shire, 243 Lisnacroghera, 244 
 Pentland Hills, ib. river Tweed, 
 and elsewhere, 245. 
 
 Swords, of Bronze Age, 194 et seq. 
 rapier-shaped blade, 197 scythe- 
 shaped, 193 of the Late Celtic 
 Period, 241 et seq. 
 
 Switzerland, lake-dwellings in, 428. 
 
 Tacitus, his ' Life of Agricola ' quoted, 
 8 reference to Druids quoted from 
 'Annals,' 13 on underground 
 dwellings, 356. 
 
 Tap o' Noth, vitrified fort on, 385. 
 
 Tarbolton, Ayrshire, stone axe found 
 at, 158 bronze horn found at, 201. 
 
 Tarves, Aberdeenshire, bronze pins 
 found at, 204. 
 
 Tate, George, reference to ' Sculp- 
 tured Rocks of Northumberland' 
 by, 218. 
 
 Tealing, Forfarshire, " Pict's house " 
 
 at, 349. 
 Terpen, structure of, 435 described 
 
 by Pliny, ib. 
 Terremare, structure of, 434. 
 
 Thames, antiquities found in, 236, 
 246. 
 
 Thomas, Captain, on beehive huts, 
 338. 
 
 Thurnam and Davis, reference to 
 ' Crania Britannia ' by, 448, 457. 
 
 Tillicouhry, sculptured cover - stone 
 of cist found at, 223. 
 
 Tools used by people of Stone Age, 
 146-154. 
 
 Topographical features of prehistoric 
 Scotland, 22 et seq. main outlines 
 remain unaltered, 26. 
 
 Torque, beaded, found in Lochar 
 Moss, 40 torque or twisted neck- 
 ring of the Bronze Age, 209 torques 
 of Late Celtic Period, 251 in Hynd- 
 ford crannog, 253. 
 
 Torrs, Old Luce, Wigtownshire, borer 
 found at, 154 flint knives from, 162 
 scraper found at, 166 arrow- 
 points from, 167, 168 bracer found 
 at, 169. 
 
 Torwoodlee, Selkirkshire, enamelled 
 ornament, &c., found at, 249 
 broch at, 400. 
 
 Towie, Aberdeenshire, stone ball 
 found at, 171. 
 
 Trenoweth, Cornwall, fragment of 
 bronze collar found at, 252. 
 
 Trepanned skull from grave at Mount- 
 stuart, Bute, 213. 
 
 Trumpets of Bronze Age, 201 et seq. 
 
 Tuack, stone circle at, 316. 
 
 Tumulus of Maeshowe, 298 et seq. 
 
 Turn bull, Mr John, on Edenshall, 
 398. 
 
 Turner, Sir William, his report on the 
 human remains in the MacArthur 
 Cave, 47 his discussion of the 
 implements associated with the 
 skeletons of whales in Carse of 
 Stirling, 57 et seq. summary of 
 his observations on the prehistoric 
 craniology of Scotland, 454 et seq. 
 
 Uhlmann, Dr, on shell-marl, 25. 
 Uist, North, roots of trees found in 
 
 peat -bogs in, 29. 
 Uist, South, remains of beehive huts 
 
 found in, 338 et seq. 
 Underground dwellings, 343 at Sker- 
 
 rabrae, 344 in Aberdeenshire, 348 
 
 in Forfarshire, 349 not found in
 
 502 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Galloway, 351 in Ireland, 352 in 
 
 Cornwall, 353 in Germany, 356. 
 Undset, Dr, reference to ' Erstes 
 
 Auftreten des Eisens in Nord- 
 
 Europa* by, 233. 
 Unstan, Orkney, fabricator found at, 
 
 152 chambered cairn at, 302 et 
 
 seq. 
 
 Urns, cinerary, found in graves, 320. 
 Urquhart, near Elgin, torque found 
 
 at, 210. 
 
 Urus, in prehistoric times, 108-116. 
 Ussher, Mr R. J., on Irish elk, 102 
 
 great auk, 126 on a submarine 
 
 crannog, 437. 
 
 Verneau, Dr, on the Gaunches, 468. 
 Victoria Cave, Yorkshire, harpoon 
 
 found in, 57. 
 Vitrified forts, 380 et seq. 
 
 Wales, North, remains of brown bear 
 
 found in, 129. 
 Walston, ornamented bronze ball 
 
 found at, 277. 
 Warne, Mr, reference to ' Celtic 
 
 Tumuli of Dorset' by, 119. 
 Wauwyl, remains of urus found at, 
 
 109. 
 
 Way, Mr Albert, on Late Celtic orna- 
 ments, 261. 
 Weapons, of the Stone Age, 166 et seq. 
 
 of Bronze Age, 191 et seq. found 
 
 in graves, 324. 
 Weems, 343 et seq. 
 Westhall, near Halesworth, Suffolk, 
 
 rings and bronze lamp found at, 
 
 248. 
 Whales, remains of, found in brochs, 
 
 &c., 129 stranded in Carse of 
 
 Stirling, 26, 57-65. 
 Whitburn, harpoon found at, 57. 
 
 Whitehaugh Moss, Ayrshire, dagger 
 of Bronze Age found in, 193. 
 
 Whitmuirliall, discovery of five skulls 
 of uri at, no. 
 
 Whitrig Bog, Berwickshire, account 
 of skull and horns of elk found 
 in, 91 et seq. portion of skull of 
 urus found in, in. 
 
 Wideford Hill, " Pict's house" at, 
 305- 
 
 Wigtownshire, horns of elk found in, 
 99. 
 
 Wilde, Sir W. , reference to ' Beauties 
 of the Boyne ' by, 174, 456 on war- 
 trumpets, 202 on early races in 
 Ireland, 456. 
 
 Williams, Mr John, reference to 
 ' An Account of some Remarkable 
 Ancient Ruins, &c.' by, 380. 
 
 Willie Struther's Loch, Roxburgh- 
 shire, skull of elk found at, 97. 
 
 Wilson, Sir Daniel, his ' Prehistoric 
 Annals of Scotland ' referred to, 
 67, 71, 174, 187, 189, 207, 221, 
 250, 252, 305 fn., 445 et seq. 
 
 Witham, daggers of Late Celtic 
 Period found in, 246. 
 
 Wolf, in prehistoric times. 129 ap- 
 proximate date of extinction in 
 Scotland of, 130. 
 
 Wraxal, Somersetshire, bronze torque 
 found at, 252. 
 
 Yarhouse, tynes found at, 89 Celtic 
 shorthorn found at, 118 broch of, 
 
 397- 
 Yarrow, remains of urus and deer 
 
 found in, 98. 
 Yetholm, bronze shield found near, 
 
 200. 
 Yorkshire, remains of beaver found 
 
 in, 121. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
 
 RECENTLY PUBLISHED. 
 
 PREHISTORIC PROBLEMS. 
 
 Demy 8vo, pp. xix-371, profusely illustrated, price 10s. net. 
 
 CONTENTS. 1. Rise and Progress of Anthropology. 2. On the 
 relation between the Erect Posture and the Physical and Intellectual 
 Development of Man. 3. Notes on " Fossil Man." 4. On Intermediary 
 Links between Man and the Lower Animals. 5. Prehistoric Tre- 
 panning and Cranial Amulets. 6. Otter and Beaver Traps. 7. Bone 
 Skates. 8. Prehistoric Saws and Sickles. 
 
 "One of the most interesting essays in this book is that dealing with the im- 
 portance of the assumption of the erect posture as a factor in the physical and 
 intellectual development of man. Dr Munro is a strong advocate of the enormous 
 advantage which man derived from the attainment of the erect posture, and the 
 consequent differentiation of the limbs into hands and feet ; in other words, the 
 releasing of the fore-limbs from locomotive duties, so that they might become the 
 .servants of the brain in other directions, and thus assist the development of 
 mental qualities." Natural Science. 
 
 " Not merely is the above theory important, by rendering the process of 
 physical evolution as applied to the human body and brain more conceivable 
 than it otherwise would be, but it is still further valuable as furnishing an 
 entirely new standard, by means of which 'transition forms,' should remains of 
 such appear, may be classified. It thus vindicates, with no uncertain sound, the 
 entirely human character of the men of Neanderthal and Spy, and this in spite of 
 certain slight but distinct approaches to the simian type ; while, on the other hand, 
 it is able to point to the contrasted characters of skull and thigh bone shown by 
 the remains of the strange nondescript from Java, called by its founder, Dr 
 Dubois, Pithecanthropus Krectus, as being precisely those which a genuine ' miss- 
 ing link' might be trusted to display." The Quarterly Revieio. 
 
 " His ' Notes on Fossil Man ' are a model of careful examination of a difficult 
 
 problem We recommend to those who would see what pertinacity and 
 
 patience are needed to solve an apparently simple problem in archaeology, the 
 study of two essays on otter and beaver traps and bone skates." The Times. 
 
 "There is no need to further emphasise the fact that Dr Munro has produced a 
 book which, though designed for the general reader, contains a good deal of new 
 matter, and is a serious contribution to several important aspects of archaeology." 
 Nature. 
 
 " Dr Muuro is one of the few original investigators who possess the happy 
 
 knack of presenting the results of their inquiries in a popular form The 
 
 author has given us a learned and useful work, and withal a very readable one. 
 The different objects described are carefully illustrated." Antiquary. 
 
 " We are convinced Dr Munro's book will meet with many readers, and will 
 prove to be a new stimulant for the study of man." Internationales Archiv filr 
 l''.tli iioc/raphie. 
 
 "The prime value of Dr Munro's book lies in the fact that his object has 
 been, not to formulate any fanciful theories and speculations, but to put before 
 his readers clearly and fully all the available data. This he has done with com- 
 plete success, and there has been no such valuable contribution of recent years 
 towards the furtherance of the science of anthropology." Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 RAMBLES AND STUDIES IN BOSNIA- 
 HERZEGOVINA AND DALMATIA. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 Demy 8vo, profusely illustrated, price 12s. 6d. net. [In the Press. 
 
 This edition will include, besides some additional matter throughout 
 the text, a new chapter on the " Civilisation of Hallstatt and La Tone." 
 Notwithstanding the importance of these two landmarks in the evolu- 
 tion of the iron industry in Europe, there is no work in the English 
 language which gives a general idea of the archaeological phenomena 
 with which they are associated. This desideratum in archaeological 
 literature came forcibly before the author while writing ' Prehistoric 
 Scotland,' and hence this effort to remove, to some extent, the deficiency 
 for it is a remarkable fact that a knowledge of the subject-matter of 
 this chapter is as essential for the elucidation of the Early Iron Age of 
 the north-western regions of the Balkan peninsula as it is for that of the 
 British Isles. The archaeological part of the work contains a description 
 of the remarkable remains found on the Neolithic station of Butmir, 
 and in the cemeteries of Glasinac and Jezerine, together with an account 
 of the Proceedings of the Special Congress invited by the Government 
 to discuss the place of these remains in the prehistoric civilisation of 
 Europe. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS OF THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 " No surer guide to the archeology of this almost virgin soil could be wished for 
 than Dr Mnnro, and his patient ana lucid explanation is profusely supplemented 
 by excellent plates and cuts in the text." Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " Every page of the book has something of interest in it, and from the vivid and 
 lucid style of the author the reader may, when he closes it, almost imagine he has. 
 himself traversed the wooded glens and rugged depths so clearly depicted to him." 
 Belfast News-Letter. 
 
 "The author has produced a book which will become-a necessity to all students 
 of the history and antiquities of Bosnia - Herzegovina and Dalmatia." The 
 Graphic. 
 
 " Sketch-maps and many illustrations heighten the interest of this fascinating 
 monograph." Evening Standard. 
 
 " Dr Munro has, indeed, produced a book worthy of the subject and of his own 
 reputation, a work of unending interest to archaeologists, and one with consider- 
 able attraction as a picture of scenery and a record of travel." Notes and Queries. 
 
 " We specially commend chapters ix. and x. to all persons interested in the 
 details of a bygone civilisation, containing as they do a masterly summary of the 
 subject. The figure ornamentation of men and animals in the cemeteries com- 
 monly assigned to the Bogomiles, and representing the chase, the battlefield, the 
 dance, and other idyllic scenes, are of peculiar signification." Daily News. 
 
 "But, apart from these matters, the book is a mine of information about a 
 most interesting region, which, though now easily accessible to Western Europeans, 
 has as yet been little visited." Guardian. 
 
 " L'auteur tout en abordant avec sa haute competence les questions scientifiques, 
 dticrit d'une maniere charmante son voyage." Revue Mensuelle. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK WOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
 
 ;',i! i 1 , 1, iii iii ii ii' i ii
 
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