EARLY MAN IN SCOTLAND 141 



obviously exceptional instances, it may be perhaps of a 

 tribal chieftain, a small stone cist was built to enclose the 

 urn, and even a cairn of stones was piled above and around 

 to protect it and to mark the spot. 



Cremated interments not contained in urns have been 

 recorded in a few instances, and in them the surrounding 

 sand or gravel has usually been discoloured, from the 

 blackened remains and charcoal having to some extent 

 become diffused through it. 



The largest examples of cinerary urns were from I 2 to 

 1 6 inches in height, with a flat narrow bottom, and 10 to 

 i 2 inches wide at the mouth. About one-third the distance 

 below the mouth the urn swelled out to its widest diameter, 

 and was surrounded by one or two mouldings, between 

 which and the mouth the outer surface was often decorated 

 with lines which ran horizontally, or vertically, or obliquely ; 

 sometimes they intersected and formed a chevron or a 

 diamond-shaped pattern. Below the mouldings, the surface 

 was without pattern, though sometimes raised into an ad- 

 ditional simple circular moulding. 



When the inhumation of an unburnt body was decided 

 on, a rude cist or coffin, formed of undressed flattened 

 stones, was built for its reception. As a rule the sides 

 and ends of the cist were formed each of a single slab of 

 sandstone, schist, gneiss, granite, or other stones provided by 

 the rock in the neighbourhood ; but in some instances of a 

 stone of a different character from the adjoining rocks, and 

 obviously brought from a distance. The stones were set 

 on edge and supported a great slab, which being laid hori- 

 zontally formed the lid or cover of the cist, and which was 

 much thicker and heavier than the side and end stones ; 

 sometimes, as if for additional protection, a second massive 

 slab was placed on the top of the proper cover. The floor 

 of the cist was formed, when the earth was shallow, of the 

 native rock, and at other times of compacted earth, or a 

 layer of pebbles, or of flat stones. Usually the stone walls 

 and the cover of the cist were simply in apposition, but 

 sometimes they were cemented together with clay. In 

 some cists exposed a few years ago on the farm of Cousland, 

 near Dalkeith, the peculiarity was observed of the cist being 



