A Pict's House. 65 



of the domestic kind, and in some cases of deer (evidences of 

 cooking), and in a good many there were, in addition, querns, 

 whorls, stone cups, coarse pottery, sometimes, but more rarely as 

 at Pitcur, a fragment of Samian ware, and in a good many cases 

 articles of bronze and fragments of iron, so corroded as hardly to 

 show the pur[)Ose for which they were used. From these indica- 

 tions Dr Anderson infers that the period to which they belong is 

 that of the iron age, and subsequent to the Roman occupation ; 

 but still in Pagan times, none of them having yielded any indica- 

 tions of the influence of Christianity. He is of opinion also that 

 they were adjuncts of houses on the surface of the ground, of 

 which there is some evidence in a few cases, although for the 

 most part these upper houses, built probably of very frail 

 materials, have entirely disappeared through the lapse of time 

 and the progress of cultivation. That they were occupied at 

 times as dwellings is apparent from the remains that have 

 been found in them, although from the lack of light and ventila- 

 tion they seem little adapted for this purpose. But it by no 

 means follows from this that they were constantly occupied, or 

 that they were the only or permanent dwellings of the people. 

 The most probable conclusion is that they were used as refuges 

 or hiding places in times of danger from the invasion of foes, or 

 from the assaults of plundering marauders in the rude and 

 troublesome times to which they belonged, or what is not less 

 likely, for the concealment and protection of their stores of pro- 

 visions or other valuables. Dr Anderson adds that they 

 occasionally occur in groups, as at Airlie, in Forfarshire, 

 where there is a group of five. And there is a still 

 more remarkable group spread over a space of a mile in 

 diameter at Kildrummie, in Aberdeenshire. These were 

 brougiit under the notice of the Society of Antiquaries in 1816 

 by Professor Stuart, of Aberdeen, wlio says that the only opening 

 to them was between two lai-ge stones placed in a sloping direction 

 at one end, and about 18 inches asunder. Through this narrow 

 opening one must slide down to the depth of 5 or 6 feet, when he 

 comes to a vault, generally about 6 feet high, 30 feet long, and 

 8 or 9 feet wide, and resembling in other respects the examples 

 of similar structures. But I mention this one in particular 

 because, as Pi-ofessor Stuart goes on to say, many of them were 

 detected by the existence close to them of a square space 10 to 

 15 paces each way, dug a foot or more deep, with the earth 



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