98 



THE USE OF ANCIENT STONE AXES. 



been found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze 

 daggers. About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kircud- 

 brightshire, popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King 

 Aldus M'Galdus, was removed by a farmer. "When the 

 cairn had been removed, the workmen came to a stone coffin 

 of very rude workmanship, and on removing the lid, they 



FIG. 101. 



FIG. 102. 



Danish Axe. 



found the skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones 

 were in such a state of decomposition that the ribs and 

 vertebras crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them. 

 The remaining bones, being less decayed, were taken out, 

 when it was discovered that one of the arms had been almost 

 separated from the shoulder by the stroke of a stone axe, 

 and that a fragment of the axe still remained in the bone. 

 The axe was of greenstone, a material which does not 

 occur in this part of Scotland. There were also found with 

 this skeleton a ball of flint, about three inches in diameter, 



