SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 



127 



flat stone set on edge with the ends of two smaller stones projecting 

 inwards for three or four inches over its upper border. Each of the 

 east and west sides of the cist is made by two large flat stones set on 

 edge, but these stop short of the roof and over their upper borders 

 projects a series of smaller stones. These smaller stones project 

 inwards and in this way narrow the cist towards its roof for the 

 better support of the single large flat roofing stone. 



Contents of the Cist. The cist contains many pieces of broken 

 bones, the remains of the skeleton of a young child and small pieces 

 of charcoal. 



The pieces of bone lie in a small heap 

 in the north-east corner of the cist. A 

 large proportion of these pieces of bone 

 have a splintered appearance and show 

 evidence of having been calcined. Some 

 of the pieces of bone can be identified as 

 human, e.g., the lower end of a femur, a 

 piece of the lower jaw and a part of a 

 temporal bone. 



To one side of this heap of broken 

 pieces of bone lie the remains of the 

 skeleton of a young child. Of this skele- 

 ton are fairly well preserved the left 

 frontal, parietal and temporal bones, a 

 part of the lower jaw with milk teeth, also 

 the neural arches of twelve vertebrae. These arches had not united 

 with the bodies of their vertebrae, a fact which shows that the 

 skeleton is that of a child about five or six years of age. There 

 are also a number of incomplete ribs and the diaphysis of a left 

 humerus. The bones of this skeleton show no evidence of having 

 been calcined. 



In the south-west corner of the cist is blackened humus, among 

 which are scattered small pieces of charcoal. The cist thus con- 

 tains : 



inches. 



Fig. 1. Short cist at Auchlin, Aher- 

 dour. C., pieces of charcoal. 



