402 Sir William Turner [March 26, 



bucklers, axes and bronze vessels as have been got in the hoards just 

 referred to, did not deposit them in the graves of their deceased 

 friends and relatives. It may be, however, that the simpler articles 

 found in the interments represent a period in the Bronze Age earlier 

 than that in which the art of making the more elaborate articles had 

 been acquired, when perhaps the custom of dejDOsiting grave goods 

 had been more or less departed from. 



Cinerary urns are not the only utensils formed of baked clay to 

 which the term urn has been applied, and archaeologists recognise by 

 the names of " incense cups, " food vessels," and " drinking cups " 

 three other varieties. 



The examples of so-called incense cups are not numerous in 

 Scotland ; they were associated with cremation interments and have 

 usually been contained in cinerary urns ; they are the smallest of all 

 the varieties of urn, and are as a rule from 2 to 3 inches high, and 

 about 3 inches wide. In one specimen from Genoch, Ayrshire, the 

 cup possessed a movable lid. Not unfrequently the outer surface was 

 patterned with horizontal, vertical, and zig-zag arrangements of lines. 

 In a few cases the sirles were perforated as if to allow the escape of 

 fumes, and it is probably from this character, as well as from their 

 small size which fitted them for being easily carried in the hand, that 

 they have been termed incense cups. The burning of incense would, 

 however, imply, on the part of the people of the Bronze Age, the 

 possession of fragrant gums and resins such as are not indigenous to 

 Britain, and which the ancient Caledonians were not at all likely to 

 be in a position to procure. In most instances the contents of these 

 cups were not preserved by the finders. An example which was dis- 

 covered in 1857 at Craig Dhu, North Queensferry, covered by a 

 larger urn, and about the size of a teacup, was filled with calcined 

 human bones ; the specimen from Genoch, found a number of years 

 ago by Dr. James Macdonald, of Ayr, contained the burned bones 

 and ashes of a child in its fifth or sixth year. Of the conflicting 

 theories as to the purpose to which these cups were applied, the 

 view that, like the large urns with which they were associated, they 

 were cinerary, and were intended for the recej)tion of the ashes of an 

 infant or young child, seems the most probable. 



Numerous examples of the variety of urn termed " food vessel " have 

 been found in Scotland, and " drinking cups," although not quite so 

 numerous, are fairly represented. In the 144 localities under analysis 

 the bowl-shaped food urns were found in 31, drinking cups in 25, 

 and in seven instances the size and form of the urn is not stated with 

 sufficient precision. With a few exceptions, in which the character 

 of the burial had not been fully described, the urns were contained in 

 short cists, in which also the skeleton of an unburnt body in the bent 

 or contracted position, was lying. In several instances it is stated 

 that the urn, either food or drinking vessel, contained black dust, or 

 earth, or greasy matter, but burnt bones are never said to constitute 

 their contents. Not unfrequently, although this is not an invariable 



