May 6, 1880] 



NATURE 



15 



of total discomfiture in reaching the bottom was freely 

 talked of, our most energetic foreman announced, after 

 cutting through a large flat trunk 14 inches thick, that 

 underneath this he could find no trace of further wood- 

 work. The substance removed from below the lowest 

 logs consisted of a few twigs of hazel brushwood, im- 

 bedded in a dark, firm, but friable, and somewhat peaty 

 soil, which we concluded to be the silt of the lake depo- 

 sited before the foundations of the crannog were laid. 

 The depth of this solid mass of woodwork, measuring 

 from the surface of the log pavement, was g feet 10 inches, 

 or about 16 feet from the surface of the field. Amongst 

 the very last spadefuls pitched from this depth was found 

 nearly one-half of a well-formed and polished ring made 

 out of shale, the external and internal diameters of 

 which were si and 2 inches respectively. 



In all the trenches made at the margin and beyond the 

 crannog the stuff dug up w^as of the same character and 

 composition. First or uppermost there was a bed of fine 

 clay rather more than 2 feet thick, and then a soft, dark 

 substance formed of decomposed veget.able matters. The 

 source of the latter was evident from the occurrence in its 

 upper stratum of large quantities of leaves, stems, branches, 

 and the roots of stunted trees apparently in situ. This 

 uniformity in the composition of the silt forming the bed 

 of the lake points to the fact that for centuries the increase 

 was due principally to the decomposition of vegetable 

 matters, while latterly it was caused more by a deposi- 

 tion of fine clay. A change so marked in the sediment 

 can only be accounted for by a corresponding change in 

 the surrounding scenery, and no explanation is more likely 

 than that the primsval forests had given place to the 

 inroads of agriculture, when some of the upturned virgin 

 soil would be washed down, as it still is, by every trickling 

 rill that finds its way into this lake basin. 



The remains of human industry found during the e.Kca- 

 vationsof the Lochlee Crannog, calculated to throw light 

 on the civilisation and social economy of its occupiers, 

 are very abundant. They comprise a large variety of 

 objects, such as warlike weapons, industrial implements, 

 and personal ornaments, made of stone, bone, horn, 

 wood, metal, &c. In the following description of them I 

 have adopted the principle of classification suggested by 

 the materials of which they are composed : — 

 I. — Objects made of Stone 



Hammer Stones. — A great many water-worn pebbles, of 

 a similar character to those observed in the surrounding 

 glacial drift and river courses, which were used as 



(Scale «). 



hammers, pounders, or rubbers, were found in the debris 

 all over the crannog, but more abundantly in the deeper 

 layers of a small circular area surrounding the hearths. 

 As typical specimens of such implements I have collected 

 no less than nineteen. Of these fourteen are of a some- 

 what elongated oval shape, and were used at one or both 

 ends (Fig. i). They vary considerably in size, the major 



diameter of the largest measuring 6 inches, and the rest 

 graduating downwards to about the half of this. Two 

 are flat and circular, and show friction markings all round, 

 while other three were used on their flat surfaces only. 

 One of these is divided into two portions, each of which 

 was picked up separately, about a yard asunder, and found 

 to fit exactly. It would thus appear that it was broken 

 while being used on the crannog, and then pitched aside 

 as useless. 



Heating-Stones and Sling-Stones.— K\z.x%^ number of 

 round stones, varying in size from half an inch to three 

 inches in diameter, some having their surfaces roughened 

 and cracked as if by fire, but others presenting no marks 

 whatever, were met with. The former might have been 

 used as heating-stones for boiling water in wooden 

 vessels — ths only ones found on the crannog — the latter 

 as sling-stones or missiles. 



Anvil. — .A.bout a foot belov%' the surface, and a few feet 

 to the north of the upper fireplace, a beautiful quartz 

 pebble was found, which has the appearance of having 

 been used as an anvil. It is of a circular shape, flat 



Fig. 2.-Stone Cell l3:.';k- ;). 



below, somewhat rounded above, and measures 27 inches 

 in circumference. 



Shoj-penino-Stones or Whetstones.— Yw& whetstones 

 were collected from various parts of the island. They are 

 made of a hard, smooth claystone, one only being made 

 of a fine-grained sandstone, and vary in length from 5 to 

 7 inches. , , r j 



Polished Celt.— Only one polished stone celt was found. 

 It is a wedge-shaped instrument 5| inches long and 2 

 broad along its cutting edge, which bears the evidence of 

 having been well used, and tapers gently towards the other 

 end, which is round and blunt. It is made ot a hard 

 mottled greenstone (Fig. 2.). 1 1 „, 



Ouerns.— Five upper, and portions of several lower 

 quern stones were disinterred at difterent periods all of 

 which, however, with the exception of a pair found over 

 the log pavement, and an upper stone observed towards 

 the west margin of the crannog, were imbedded m the 

 ^.■-^•/.f not far from the site of the fireplaces. Some are 

 made of granite, while others are of schist or hard whin- 



^^°Cnfi-mar/:ed Stones.— Tv/o portions of red sandstone, 

 havinc' cup-shaped cavities about i inch deep and 3 inches 

 in diameter, were found amongst the debns. One of 

 them was Iving underneath, and as if supporting one of 

 the horizontal raised beams at the north side of the 



