TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION It. 1221 
6. The Archceological Importance of ancient British Lake-dwellings and their 
relation to analogous remains in Europe.’ By R. Munro, M.A., M.D. 
Dr. Munro commences by giving a short introductory notice of the discovery 
and investigation of the crannogs of Ireland and the lake-dwellings of Central 
Europe. He then gives a réswmé of the more recent explorations made among the 
crannogs of Scotland and the remarkable objects recovered from them. From a 
comparative examination of these relics with other collateral antiquities of the Celts, 
he arrives at the conclusion that the lake-dwellings of Scotland were essentially the 
roduct of Celtic genius, that they were constructed for defensive purposes, and 
that those in the south-west parts of the country attained their greatest develop- 
ment in post-Roman times, after Roman protection was withdrawn from the pro- 
vincial inhabitants, and they were left single-handed to contend against the Angles 
on the east and the Picts and Scots on the north. Having established the Celtic 
origin of the crannogs of Ireland and Scotland, Dr. Munro proceeds to inquire if 
there is any ancestral relationship between them and the lake-dwellings of Central 
Europe. Taking into account the recent discovery of lacustrine abodes in the 
Holderness, and the few previous records of their existence in Wales and other 
parts of England, together with the statement of Cesar that the Britons were in 
the habit of making use of wooden piles and marshes in their defensive works, he 
thinks that such indications are not merely solitary instances, but the outliers of a 
widely distributed custom which prevailed in the southern parts of Britain at an 
earlier date than that assigned to the crannogs of Scotland. Hence he suggests 
the theory that the British Celts were an offshoot of the founders of the Swiss 
lake-dwellings, who emigrated into Britain when these lacustrine abodes were in 
full vogue, and so retained a knowledge of the custom long after it had fallen into 
desuetude in Europe. On this hypothesis it would follow that subsequent immi- 
grants into Britain, such as the Belge, Angles, &c., being no longer acquainted 
with the subject, would cultivate new and perhaps improyed methods of defensive 
warfare ; whilst the first Celtic invaders, still retaining their primary notions of 
civilisation, when obliged to act on the defensive would naturally have recourse to 
their inherited system of protection. 
. In support of this hypothesis the author points out that the geographical dis- 
tribution of lake-dwellings, so far as they are known in Europe, closely corresponds 
with the area formerly occupied by the Celts; that no lake-dwellings have been 
yet found either in the northern or southern parts of Europe, though the topo- 
graphical and hydrographical conditions of these regions are not unfavourable for 
such structures; that the fascine dwellings in Europe were identical in structure 
with the crannogs; and that, though the pile-dwellings were not largely used in 
the British Isles, the principles on which they were built were not unknown, 
their disuse being due to topographical and other considerations. Finally, he 
argues that the wideness in the chronological gap which is supposed to separate the 
erannogs from the lake-dwellings of Europe is more apparent than real, as the 
latter existed during the Roman occupation of Gaul, and in one instance at least 
the custom survived to about the tenth century. 
7. The Stone Circles in Aberdeenshire, with special reference to those in the 
more Lowland parts of the County, their Extent and Arrangement, singly 
or in groups, with General Observations. By the Rey. JAMES PETER, 
F.S.A. Scot. 
The main object in this paper is to draw attention to and put on record the 
existence of so many interesting remains of a remote antiquity in this part of 
Scotland, and chronicle any information which may be deemed important as 
throwing light on a subject admittedly dark and obscure. 
1 See by the author, Ancient Scottish Lake Divellings (or Crannogs), with a supple- 
mentary chapter on Lake Dwellings in England; Edinburgh, David Douglas. Also 
Journal of Anthropological Institute for 1886. 
