150 ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE CLYDE VALLEY. 



More extensive explorations of these Arran graves were made last year by 

 the writer in conjunction with Dr. Thomas Bryce of Glasgow. In an adjoin- 

 ing compartment of the same tumulus more human bones were unearthed 

 and associated with them a chipped flint implement and some fragments of 

 rude undecorated pottery which fixed the age of the graves in the neolithic 

 period. 



Another tumulus in the same vicinity yielded even more interesting 

 results. The graves were chambered graves built in series under a cairn of 

 stones. A number of complete skulls were obtained associated with rude 

 undecorated fragments of pottery and polished stone implements. One com- 

 plete clay bowl was found near the bottom of the grave which was decorated 

 with a geometrical pattern ; it did not contain any human remains. No trace 

 of cremated remains and no bronze articles were discovered. The objects 

 found under this cairn fixed its age in the later neolithic period. The bones 

 were carefully examined by Dr. Bryce who reported as follows : "All the 

 skulls were dolicho-cephalic two exaggeratedly so. In other respects the 

 skeletons showed primitive characters especially in the case of the shin- 

 bones which in the majority were platyeuemic. 



"Thus in later neolithic times the inhabitants of the Clyde valley were 

 still of the Iberian race, characterised by long head, short stature, and pro- 

 bably dark complexion, mingled with the earliest Celtic immigrants. They 

 had not begun to use bronze. They still burned their dead, and were already 

 skilful in the manufacture of pottery. These earlier inhabitants may well 

 have been driven over to the outlying islands by the pressure from the 

 east, and it is probable that in these outlying inaccessible regions the stage 

 of neolithic culture may have overlapped the succeeding bronze culture 

 established on the mainland." 



The Celts are supposed to have arrived in Britain about 1200 B.C. 

 Skeletons having Brachy-cephalic crania and all the other osseous charac- 

 teristics of the Celt have been found in various parts of the Clyde district, 

 in short cists, stone coffins, and, as cremated fragments, in cinerary urns. In 

 their first interments their osseous remains have been associated with 

 polished stone implements, marking the date of their first appearance in 

 the neolithic age. At a later period of the archaeological record bronze 

 weapons were found in these graves, and as we approach the historical 

 period, articles of gold and of iron. 



In the Clyde district a skull of this Celtic type was found in Kilsyth Moss, 

 and was afterwards figured in the Crania Britannica. Another specimen 

 was found by the late Dr. James Bryce at Tormore, Arran. It was as- 

 sociated with stone implements and with a bronze pin. This latter skull 

 was examined and measured by the late Dr. Allen Thomson, and is now 

 to be seen in the Museuni of the Scottish Antiquarian Society. Unfor- 

 tunately most of the Celtic graves which have been opened in the Clyde 

 district have been examined by persons who placed no value on the 

 osteological remains they contained. Stone and bronze weapons, imple- 

 ments, and ornaments have been carefully gathered, described, and pre- 

 served, but unfortunately for the anthropologist, the bones have generally 

 been thrown aside as of no value. 



HISTORICAL. 



In the first historical accounts of the races found in the Clyde valley, 

 Strathclyde was said to be in the possession of a powerful Celtic tribe 

 called the Damnii, who spoke the Cornish dialect and who are supposed 

 to have come from the same stock as the Celts of Cornwall. Archaeological 

 investigation proves that long before the historical period the Celts had 

 almost entirely displaced the aboriginal Iberian race from the Clyde valley 



