Excavations at Lochrutton Lake-Dwelling. 253 



levellings of stones between the layers of wood, and the use by 

 the builders of sharp-edged iron tools. 



The structure thus furnishes evidence from which to infer 

 comparatively its chronological position. Being of the common 

 t\pe, it may be conjectured to have emerged during the crannog- 

 building epoch in Scotland, which, according to Dr Munro, 

 corresponds to the age of anarchy consequent on the withdrawal 

 of the Roman soldiers from Britain. The strengthening and 

 heightening of the island with stones, as previously described, 

 was, howe\er, there is reason to conclude, work subsequently 

 o\-ertaken, and it would appear at a time when the forests had 

 given out, or the ancient art of crannog-building was lost. 



It may also be conjectured that there had been two occupa- 

 tions. The floor of the original occupation was the log pave- 

 ment; that of the later occupation was the bed of stones over- 

 lying the wood. 



The Relics 



furnish abundant evidence of the occupation of the island as 

 a place of human habitation. That vestiges distinctive of the 

 original occupation could hardly be expected to survive, con- 

 sidering the vicissitudes which seem to have attended the history 

 of the island, may well be allowed, and while the food remains 

 correspond with what is usually found on crannogs and other 

 ancient sites of habitation, I do not know that any of it can with 

 certainty be differentiated as belonging to the one settlement or 

 the other. The pottery, the remains of the shoes, the cross, and 

 the bead, are all, I am advised, characteristic of medieeval times. 

 I may now summarise in a word the leading characteristics 

 of this crannog and its products as compared with results ob- 

 tained on other investigated sites of the class. (i) The original 

 structure itself, although now deficient in the completeness of 

 some of the usual features, essentially follows the common plan ; 

 (2) the strengthening and heightening of the crannog after 

 subsidence with stones is, I think, an unusual circumstance; (3) 

 the remains of the basal portion of a superstructure are well 

 represented in this instance ; (4) the food refuse here corresponds 

 with what is found on other such sites; (5) whether arising from 

 a meagre original occupation, or the obliteration of the products 

 of it by the later works, there is in this case very little trace of 

 articles characteristic of the earlier civilisation obtained on other 



