A Pict's House. 63 



Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in his book on Scotland in 

 Pagan times, gives it as his opinion that tliey appear on the 

 continent in associations which refer thevn to the bronze age at 

 least, which means, of course, that they may possibly be older; 

 while he says at the same time that they also occur in associations 

 which show that the custom survived to the late iron age, and 

 even in a modified form to Christian times. Old customs are 

 often very persistent, and not unfrequently are found to survive 

 long after their origin and design have been forgotten or lost 

 sight of. At all events, in our modern times we seem to have 

 been left without any clue to the purpose or significance of these 

 cup and ring markings. 



I inquired whether any relics liad been found in the Pitcur 

 gallery which would tend to show to what age or period it 

 belonged, and for what purpose or purposes it had been used. 

 But as far as I could ascertain the only relics found in it were 

 some fnigments of the red lustrous ware commonly called 

 Samian, which are frequently found on the sites of Roman 

 settlements, and the presence of which is held to indicate some 

 degree of contact with the effects of Roman occupation. It is to 

 be remembered, however, that the suKterranean building in ques- 

 tion had not been fully opened up. If this had been done it is 

 not improbable, to say the least, that it might have been found, 

 like most of the other buildings of a similar kind, to terminate 

 in a wider chamber, and that other relics of occupation might 

 have been discovered tending to throw light both on the period 

 to which it belonged and on the uses to which it was put. In 

 order, therefore, to get some fuller information on these points 

 it is necessary to refer to other examples of similar underground 

 buildings which have been fully explored, and to the relics which 

 were found in them. The area in which they are found, accord- 

 ing to Dr Anderson, of tlie Scottisli Society, extends from 

 Berwickshire to the Shetland Islands, but they are most numer- 

 ous north of the Forth and on the eastern side of the country, as 

 in Forfarshire, Aberdeenshire, Sutherland, and Caithness. Tliis 

 was the region understood to have been occupied iiy the Picts, 

 and hence they are traditionally called Picts' houses, and are so 

 named in the Ordnance Survey maps. 



The name Picts seems to have come from the Romans, and is 

 supposed to have been applied by them to the ancient inha))itants 

 of Britain generally, as descriptive of their habit of tattooing 



