70 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 
than they do in present-day inhabitants, the cheek bones fairly prominent, 
and the teeth healthy but in most cases worn down, in all probability by 
the use of coarse and gritty food. 
The bones, especially those of the limbs, showed that, while of low 
stature, the people had been active and muscular, and it is interesting to 
observe that the remains of their lower extremities presented appearances 
which are visible in the inferior races of mankind of to-day, whose lower 
limbs are shaped in order to allow of firm grasping and rapid barefooted 
movements. Some of these remains also suggest the idea that the 
individual may have assumed a squatting position when at rest, and may 
have walked with the knees somewhat bent. With the exception of a few 
traces of the effects of rheumatism in one spine, the remains of the skeletons 
in the Museum showed no signs of disease or injury. 
The origin of these people is veiled in obscurity. It is considered that 
the type migrated from Central Europe, bringing with them to Great 
Britain their beaker-shaped pottery and a knowledge of copper. ‘This 
view that the type came from Central Europe is corroborated by the 
close resemblance between it and that of the Czechs and Rumanians, as 
shown by an anthropometric comparison of their skeletal remains. 
In addition to the skeleton, short cists in most cases contained rude 
vessels of clay usually spoken of as urns. As a rule one vessel was con- 
tained in a cist, but sometimes two or, very rarely, three were present. 
From their shapes they are ordinarily described as drinking cups or 
beakers, and food vessels. They are composed of coarse clay mixed with 
sharp, sandy, gritty material, and each one exhibits the effects of the action 
of fire. They are of a brownish colour which varies in shade according 
to the clay which had been used. ‘They are ornamented by incised lines, 
cordoned and maggot-shaped designs, usually in such a way as to form 
herring-bone and other angular patterns. The ornamentation exists 
upon the outside of the vessels, rarely on the edges of the lips, and still 
more rarely upon the inner surfaces of the lips. ‘‘ Each drinking cup has 
a slightly constricted neck, an expanded mouth, and a bulging body, 
and varies from about 5 to 8 in. in height, its breadth being always less 
than its height. The food vessel is usually not so high as the drinking 
cup. It has no constricted neck or expanded mouth and is more or less 
globular in shape.”” Nothing beyond a small quantity of sand, which had 
no doubt gained admission by accident, was found in any of these vessels. 
As to their purpose it can merely be suggested that they contained food 
or other nourishment for the deceased, and this suggestion would point 
to a belief in existence after death. 
Beside the skeleton from a cist found at Clinterty, Aberdeenshire, 
displayed in the University Museum, there lay an axe in mica schist, 
five scrapers in flint, two barbed arrow-heads in flint, a crystal of topaz, 
a pointed and perforated bone implement, and an imperfect ring in bone 
which was perforated in such a way that it had probably been used as an 
amulet. A short cist at Tullochvenus, Aberdeenshire, contained in addi- 
tion to an urn and burnt bones a tanged razor blade in bronze which is now 
in the University Museum. There have been described as found in 
other cists objects such as bronze rings, horn spoon or ladle, piece of 
