Excavations of Lochrutton Crannog. 181 



stones slopes outwards into the water, and among' the stones are 

 numerous timbers lying without order, and apparently displaced 

 from their original position, as if the outer fringe of the Crannog- 

 were broken down. 



It has been ascertained that to a depth of five feet from the 

 floor the construction consists of layers of logs alternating with 

 thin beds of stones, and this method probably continues down- 

 wards to the bed of the loch, as was proved by Dr Munro to be 

 the case at Lochlee Crannog". It seems, as the timbers would be 

 self-carrying, the most appropriate in the present instance, con- 

 sidering the distance of the Crannog from the mainland and the 

 depth of the water to be crossed. The groups already described 

 as forming- the floor are very suggestive of rafts, which might 

 have been put together on the shore and floated thence to the 

 island and into position. 



Morticed beams such as are common in structures of the 

 kind have not been observed in situ, but detached pieces of 

 this description are found. 



The island was pi'obably stockaded, like the Lochlee Crannog^ 

 but the morticed beams have disappeared by decay and the action 

 of the waves as the structure began to sink. At a distance of 

 about four feet from the exterior margin remains of a number of 

 oak posts, three inches to six inches in diameter, project above 

 the surface of the floor, and appear to have formed part of the 

 stockading-. The posts are pointed and driven into the floor 1^ 

 feet to 21 feet, and the points have e^■idently been shaped by 

 means of a sharp axe. In the interior small oak branches similarly 

 pointed are found driven between the logs, as if intended to 

 secure them in position. 



The log floor now scarcely rises above the summer level of 

 the loch, and the winter level, as it is indicated by the wash and 

 the lime where vegetation begins, is considerably higher than the 

 floor, shewing that sinking or shrinkage has taken place. The 

 amount of the depression is probably as much as five or six feet, 

 and as the bed of the loch consists of debris of rock not likely to 

 yield much from the weight, the subsidence of the structure has, 

 it may be conjectured, arisen mainly through the compression of 

 the materials of which it is built. 



These are the general, and no ways exceptional, featui-es of 

 the structure. On it would doubtless be raised for the shelter of 



