TBANSACTIOXS OF SECTION 11. 789 



* kist ' for a stone codin is still used by Nortliuinbrian cottagers for their wooden 

 cliests or boxes, wiiicli are about the same shape and size. The grave-shabs have 

 often graven upon them archaic sculpturings of cup and rings — mysterious symbols 

 first found at Doddington and Old Bewick in Northumberland, in rocks near 

 Ancient British ' camps,' and since then observed on monoliths and other stone 

 monuments from Argyllshire to Cornwall. Similar rock-markings in India Mr. 

 IJivett-Carnac found associated with' JIaliadeo,' or Lingam worship. 



The bronze-using people were probably Aryans, of the first wave of migration 

 westwards, the Gadhelic branch of the Celtic stock. They were taller and fiercer- 

 looking than the Neolithic people, having high cheekbones, and were a brachy- 

 cephalic, or round-headed, race. 



The succeeding Celtic migi-ation were Brythons or Cymry, allied to the Welsh 

 and Cornish, who drove the Goidels or Gadhaels westwards into the Isle of Man 

 and Ireland, and northwards into the Highlands of Scotland. This success seems 

 owing to their possession of weapons of iron. To this Iro7i period we owe the in- 

 troduction of the greater part of the names of our mountains and hills, rivers and 

 streams; as the Tyne, from don or tan, the water. This metal we all know is so 

 perishable that it is no wonder few weapons or utensils of pre-Roman or any other 

 age remain to us. Bronze was also in use during the same period, in which we 

 Btill may be said to live, though ours is an age of steel rather than of iron. 



When did Neolithic man first appear in this district ? Far distant indeed the 

 time must be, thousands of years since ; and as to Paleolithic man, of the bone caves, 

 his existence, outside our county, we cannot but trace back to tens of thousands of 

 years. The bronze-using invaders may have lauded about B.C. 1,000, and the Iron 

 age in Northumljerland may have begun about B.C. 500 or 400. We can only 

 venture to make in this matter a reasonable conjecture. Agricola, about a.d. 80, 

 introduced among our Ancient British ancestors a new civilisation, and taught 

 them, 7nore Romano, a higher and fuller life. 



We know what manner of men these brave aborigines were, and how they 

 lived, from their defensive hill-forts and Aiilley-fastnesses, like Yevering Bell, 

 Greaves Ash near Linhope (a triple town), Gunnar Peak Camp, and innumerable 

 others. Sometimes they occupied pit-dwellings and huts, generally of circular 

 form, outside the ramparted forts, but chiefly clustered within these strongholds, 

 palisaded like Maori pahs. They were hunters of deer, wolf, bear, wihl-boar, and 

 other animals in the primeval forests, but had domestic cattle and sheep of a small 

 breed. Deep in the silt of the rivers Tyne and Derwent, canoes for travel and 

 fishing, hollowed out of oak trees, have been found. Spindle whorls denote some 

 skill in weaving. They cultivated a little corn on terraced slopes — of which many 

 fine examples exist, as at Birtley. They had great earthworks, perhaps for judicial 

 assemblies, like the Gunnarton Money-Hill, and Elsdon and Wark, where Iloman 

 altars have been discovered, showing a later occupation. One stone circle, out of 

 several destroyed in the county, remains at the Three Stone Burn, near Yevering 

 ]3ell ; the fine circle at Nunwick, described by Bishop Gibson, has long disappeared. 

 A great monolith, or standing stone, may be seen near Swinburn Castle — others 

 elsewhere. Northumberland is like Devonshire (but possessing no avenues of 

 stones, or cromlechs), and is richer in its variety of prehistoric remains than York- 

 shire, Durham, or Cumberland. The frequent barrow on the moor or by the river 

 shows us their religious feeling and reverence for their beloved dead. Modern 

 Northumbrians may perchance owe more than they think to the combination of 

 racial characteristics resulting from the continuity of life proceeding from even 

 prehistoric times down to the present day. 



3. On Implements of Stages Horn associated with Wliales' Skeletons found in 

 the Carse of Stirling. By Professor Sir William Tukner, M.B., F.li.S. 



Those who are acquainted with the valley of the Forth know that the BiTer 

 Forth winds for many miles through an extensive plain, called the Carse of 

 Stirling. This plain is a raised sea-beach, which reaches from 5 or 10 to 30 feet 



