TRAXSACTIOXS OF SECTION H. 795 



3. Naturally Chipped Flints for Comparisoii tuiih certain Fvrms 

 of alleged Artificial Chipping. By G. Coffky. 



The autlior t'xliibited a series of flints from the Larue raised beach and other 

 beaches on the north coast of Ireland showing the manner in which chipping' is 

 eflected in the action of the waves. Some of the chipping- was quite fresh, 

 probably done by a recent gale, and admirably illustrated the chipping ou older 

 riints. He compared the chipping with that on fragments of flint from river- 

 drift gravels at Bedford and with the chipping of the ' Plateaux flints,' and 

 contended that the evidence pointed to the same or a similar cause in both cases. 



L Prehistoric Man in the Island of Arran} By Eben. Duncan, M.D., 

 a?i(^ Thomas H. Bryce, M.A., M.D. 



The island of Arran has many sepulchral memorials of its prehistoric in- 

 habitants, but save the stone circles on Manchvie Moor, explored by James Bryce, 

 LL.D., in 1861, none seems to have been examined except by the casual antiquary 

 or reclaiming agriculturist. 



In 189G Dr. Duncan explored a cairn at Torlin, and found a skull, dolicho- 

 cephalic in its proportions, and a number of bones, but no implements or pottery 

 to fix the age of the interment. Oil his invitation Dr. Bryce joined him in a more 

 exhaustive examination last summer, after he had obtained the sanction of the 

 factor, J. Auldjo Jameson, Esq., W.S. During the spring and summer of this 

 year by aid of a grant from the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Dr. Bryce 

 made a considerable series of further explorations. The comparative results of the 

 whole series of investigations may be summed up in the tabular statement annexed. 



The table shows that the mere presence of stone implements afl'ords no 

 test of the archfeological horizon, but that the pottery found in what have been 

 called ' Megalithic cists serially arranged ' clearly distinguishes these structures as 

 of earlier age than the short cists either in cairns or circles, and one may with fair 

 certainty afiirm that the interments discovered in them belong to a race still in 

 the stage of Neolithic culture. 



Only atClachaig and Torlin were human bones discovered in such preservation 

 as to permit of examination. At Sliddery and Shiskin all traces of the interment 

 had disappeared, but in spite of a large amount of wood charcoal found, the absence 

 of any trace of burnt bone makes it probable that the interments in these cists also 

 were by inhumation. 



Each large cist contained the huddled remains of six to ten individuals of both 

 sexes and all ages, from the infant to the aged person. The bones lay in chaos in 

 the corners at difl^erent levels, suggesting either that the bodies were dismembered 

 before burial, or that they were placed in a sitting attitude in the corners so that 

 when the soft parts fell away the bones collapsed in confused heaps. 



The long bones recovered were much broken. No male femur is entire, but 

 making allowance for the absent lower end one bone gives a proportionate stature 

 of o ft. 4 in. The bones taken to be female are remarkable for their .shortness and 

 slenderness. Two entire femora made the stature 4 ft. 10 in. All the male 

 femora are platymeric, and have a prominent luna aspera ; all the tibiro more or 

 less platycnemic. 



The skulls — three male, one female — and three calvaria, of doubtful sex, are of 

 the same general type. They are of large capacity, of gently curved contour, 

 with slightly marked glabella and supraciliary ridges. The form is elongated ; 

 the sides are flattened, with slightly marked parietal eminences ; the occiput is 

 round and prominent to a marked degree ; the outline in the norma occipitalis is 

 pentagonal, with elevated sagittal suture and roof fairly sharply sloping to join 

 the vertical sides. In the norma verticalis the zygomatic arches just show, and 

 the shape is either ellipsoidal or ovoid. 



' To be published in full : the archxological evidence in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. 

 the anthropometry in Jou7-n. Anthrop. Inst., xxxii. 



