January 13, 1898] 



NATURE 



257 



EARL y MAN IN SCOTLAND.^ 



II. 



/^NE may now inquire into the reason why cinerary urns, with 

 ^-^ their contained ashes, and short cists, enclosing bodies 

 which had been buried in a bent or stooping attitude, should be 

 associated with the men of the Bronze Age. The first and mo'^t 

 important is the presence of objects made of bronze. In the 

 144 localities under analysis in which interments ascribed to the 

 Bronze Age have been examined bronze articles were found in 

 thirty- four directly associated with the interments. In four of 

 these the bronze was along with objects made of gold. In 

 seven other interments of the same character gold ornaments 

 without bronze were present. The men of this period were, 

 therefore, workers in gold also ; and as it has been, and indeed 

 still can be, mined in Scotland, it is not unlikely that the 

 ornaments had been wrought from native metal. Additional 

 proof that the burials in short cists, and after cremation in cinerary 

 urns, both belonged to the same period, and were practised by 

 the same people, is furnished by the presence of articles of bronze 

 and gold in both groups of interment. 



But, in addition to metallic objects, the graves sometimes 

 contained other implements and ornaments. In many localities 

 articles made of flint, stone, or bone, and jet beads were asso- 

 ciated with bronze. In others flints in the form of chips, knives, 

 arrow-heads, and spear-heads ; stone implements in the form of 

 whetstones and hammers ; bone and jet ornaments and bone 

 pins have been found in short cists, and some of these articles 

 also in cremation interments, unaccompanied by bronze. 



Attention has been called by Dr. Joseph Anderson to the 

 character of the l)ronze objects usually associated with these 

 burials (" Scotland in Pagan Times") For the most part they 

 have been thin blades, leaf-like or triangular in form, and 

 either with or without a tang for the attachment of a handle. 

 From their shape they might have been used as spearheads, 

 daggers, or knives. Not unfrequently the surfaces of the blade 

 were ornamented with a punctated or incised pattern. Some- 

 times bronze pins, rings and bracelets have been obtained from 

 these interments. It should, however, be stated that the bronze 

 articles and ornaments of gold found in association with the 

 burials are of a more simple character, and present less variety 

 in form, purpose and decoration than those which have been got 

 in hoards, in various parts of Scotland. It would seem, there- 

 fore, as if the people of this period, even if they were in posses- 

 sion of such finished and beautifully decorated swords, bucklers, 

 axes and bronze vessels as have been got in the hoards just re- 

 ferred to, did not deposit them in the graves of their deceased 

 friends and relatives. It may be, however, that the simpler 

 articles found in the interments represent a period in the Bronze 

 Age earlier than that in which the art of making the more 

 elaborate articles had been acquired, when perhaps the custom 

 of depositing grave goods had been more or less departed from. 



Cinerary urns are not the only utensils formed of baked clay to 

 which the term urn has been applied, and archaeologists recog- 

 nise by the names of "incense cups," "food vessels" and 

 "drinking cups," three other varieties. 



The examples of so-called Incense cups are not numerous in 

 Scotland ; they were associated with cremation interments, and 

 have usually been contained in cinerary urns ; they are the 

 smallest of all the varieties of um, and are, as a rule, from 

 2 to 3 inches high and about 3 inches wide. In one specimen 

 from Genoch, Ayrshire, the cup possessed a movable lid. Not 

 unfrequently the outer surface was patterned with horizontal, 

 vertical, and zig-zag arrangements of lines. In a few cases the 

 sides were perforated, as if to allow the escape of fumes ; and it 

 is probably from this character, as well as from their small size, 

 which fitted them for being easily carried in the hand, that they 

 have been termed incense cups. The burning of incense would, 

 however, imply, on the part of the people of the Bronze Age, 

 the possession of fragrant gums and resins such as are not in- 

 digenous to Britain, and which the ancient Caledonians were not 

 at all likely to be in a position to procure. In most instances 

 the content? of these cups were not preserved by the finders. An 

 example which was discovered in 1857 at Craig Dhu, North 

 Queensferry, covered by a larger urn, and about the size of a 

 teacup, was filled with calcined human bones ; the specimen from 

 Genoch, found a number of years ago by Dr. James Macdonald, 

 of Ayr, contained the burned bones and ashes of a child in its 



1 A discourse delivered at the Royal Institution, London, by Sir William 

 Turner, F.R.S. (Continued from page 237.) 



NO. 1472. VOL. 57] 



fifth or sixth year. Of the conflicting theories as to the purpose to 

 which these cups were applied, the view that, like the large urns 

 with which they were associated, they were cinerary, and were 

 intended for the reception of the ashes of an infant or young 

 child, seems the most probable. 



Numerous examples of the variety of urn termed "food 

 vessel" have been found in Scotland, and "drinking cups" 

 although not quite so numerous, are fairly represented. In the 

 144 localities under analysis, the bowl-shaped food urns were 

 found in thirty-one, drinking cups in twenty-five, and in seven 

 instances the size and form of the urn is not stated with sufficient 

 precision. With a few exceptions, in which the character of 

 the burial had not been fully described, the urns were contained 

 in short cists, in which also the skeleton of an unburnt body in 

 the bent or contracted position was lying. In several instances 

 it is stated that the urn, either food or drinking vessel, contained 

 black dust, or earth, or greasy matter, but burnt bones are 

 never said to constitute their contents. Not unfrequently, al- 

 though this is not an invariable rule, the urn was placed in 

 proximity to the head and raised hands of the skeleton. 



These varieties of urn are by no means invariably present in 

 short cists. In twenty-five localities where this kind of grave 

 was seen, there is no record of either form of urn being present. 

 It is obvious therefore that, though associated with so many 

 inhumation interments, they were not regarded as necessary 

 accompaniments, and they obviously discharged in the minds 

 of the people of the time a different function from that of 

 cinerary urns. The term food-urns applied to the bowl-shaped 

 variety is probably appropriate, as indicating that edible sub- 

 stances were placed in them, in the belief that food should be 

 provided for the use of the corpse. It is questionable, however, 

 if the taller variety were drinking cups, as the unglazed clay 

 would not fit them for the retention of liquids for any length 

 of time. The presence of food urns in cists, along with, in some 

 instances, implements and weapons, would point to the belief, 

 in the minds of those practising this form of interment, in a 

 resurrection of the body, and a restoration to the wants and 

 habits of the previous life. It may be that placing the body 

 in the crouching position, lying on one side, was regarded as 

 the attitude best fitted, when the proper time came, to enable 

 it to spring into the erect position and assume an active state 

 of existence. The practice of cremation, however, to an almost 

 equal extent as inhumation, by people of the same period, 

 shows that they may not all have shared in the belief in a 

 corporeal resurrection. But it should not be forgotten that, 

 even in many cremation interments, blades and other objects 

 made of bronze have been found along with the burnt bones and 

 cinerary urns, as if for use in a future life. 



The association of bronze objects, both with short cists and 

 cinerary urns, establishes these forms of interment as practised 

 at a time when bronze was the characteristic metal used in 

 many purposes of life. The crouching attitude of the dead 

 body, the contracted grave, and the varieties of urns already 

 described, are therefore to be regarded as equally characteristic 

 of this period, even if bronze is not found in a particular in- 

 stance associated with the interment, and this view is generally 

 held by archaeologists in Scotland. 



In a preceding paragraph implements and weapons made of 

 stone, flint and bone were referred to as having been sometimes 

 associated with bronze, and also of similar objects having been 

 found in graves, in which, though obviously of the same class 

 and period, no article made of metal was observed. Such an 

 association proves that there was no sharp line of demarcation 

 between the employment of the more simple substances used 

 by Neolithic man in the manufacture of implements and weapons, 

 and the use of bronze for similar purposes. The two periods 

 undoubtedly overlapped. It has been customary to regard this 

 overlapping as if bronze-using man had continued for a period 

 to employ the same substances in making useful articles as did 

 his Neolithic predecessors ; that time was required before the 

 more costly bronze, imported from foreign sources, replaced the 

 native material, and that consequently both groups of objects 

 became associated in the same grave. 



Additional light is thrown on the mixture in the same inter- 

 ment of objects representing different stages of culture by a 

 collection of goods from the grave of an aboriginal Australian, 

 buried about fifty years ago, recently brought under my notice 

 by Dr. R. Broom. Along with the skeleton were found a clay 

 pipe, an iron spoon, the remains of a rusted pannikin, the 

 handle of a pocket-knife, and a large piece of flint. The handle 



