420 Cup-Marked Stones. [Sess. 



opposite side of the Tay, between the village of Weem 

 and the very interesting village of Dull, where there had 

 been an ecclesiastical college previous to the foundation of 

 that of St Andrews. 



Having given descriptions of the stones and one solid 

 rock with cup-marks which have come under my personal 

 observation, I shall now refer to a very valuable and com- 

 prehensive paper on these mysterious markings furnished to 

 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for their Session 

 of 1864-65, by Professor, afterwards Sir James Y. Simpson. 

 At the beginning of his paper Sir James points to the 

 different varieties of the sculpturings, and the first type which 

 he mentions, as being the simplest and the most common, 

 are described as shallow hollowed-out depressions or cups 

 varying in diameter from 1 inch to 3 inches, and generally 

 scattered irregularly over the surface of the stone, but 

 occasionally placed in small groups. The cup-marks on the 

 stones I have visited are exclusively of this type. The second 

 type has the cup surrounded by a ring cutting, the ring being 

 usually shallower than the cup. Sir 'James then describes 

 five other types, which have several rings round the cup, 

 but which possess varieties of the rings being broken, either 

 by a line drawn radially from the cup to the outer ring, or 

 by a wider space being left between the breaks in the rings. 

 Sir James shows examples of them all in a set of plates 

 accompanying his paper, from which it appears that ring 

 cuttings and cups are often found together on the same 

 stone, and rings are found where there are no cups. 



There is an interesting classification given by Sir James 

 of the localities in which the cup- and ring-marked stones 

 have been found — namely: (1) On stones in megalithic, or 

 so-called Druid, circles, and in similar avenues of stones ; 

 (2) on the capstones of cromlechs ; (3) on stones in 

 sepulchral tumuli ; (4) on the covers of stone coffins or 

 of urns; (5) in underground houses; (6) in fortified build- 

 ings and in ancient towns or camps ; (7) on isolated stones. 



Classified thus, particulars are given in this comprehensive 

 paper, largely from personal inspection by Sir James himself, 

 or from special reports obtained by him, of fifty-eight marked 

 stones in Scotland and eleven in England, and he has em- 



