PREHISTORIC ARCH/EOLOGY IN ABERDEEN DISTRICT 75 
and the passage leads downwards in a sloping fashion to the floor of the 
chamber. ‘The latter is always more or less curved and increases in height 
and width towards the far end. There are often side chambers, or 
‘ambries,’ leading off from the main tunnel. A common length for the 
whole chamber is about 50 ft., greatest breadth about 6 to 8 ft., and 
height 5 or 6 ft., sometimes more. The floor is usually earthen, but in 
one case, at Buchaam, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, it is paved over the whole 
area and not merely at the entrance, as is sometimes found, and a well- 
built stone drain, 10 in. square, leads from it. Smoke holes in the roof 
have been observed in a few. 
An approximate date for these structures can be arrived at from a 
consideration of the contents that have been recovered from them. ‘These 
include objects in bronze, especially articles of ornament ; bronze needles ; 
objects in iron, being subject to oxidisation, have mostly disappeared, but 
the presence of such articles has been definitely ascertained in many 
cases ; rude pottery, but also some wheel-made ; querns ; bones of the 
domestic animals ; horns of deer ; staves of wood. It is evident from 
this that the earth houses were used and inhabited in the Iron Age, and 
there is direct proof that the date can be brought down as low as the early 
centuries of our era. Some of the bronze ornaments referred to above 
are particularly fine examples of late Celtic art. ‘They occurred in earth 
houses in the parish of Coull, Aberdeenshire, and at Castle Newe, Strath- 
don, in the same county. ‘The latter also yielded a coin of the Emperor 
Nerva (A.D. 96-98) which supplies an authentic date. But the question 
of how early these constructions came into use is harder to determine ; 
probably the late Bronze Age is the earliest date that could be assigned. 
It is most likely that hut habitations of a less permanent character were 
erected over or near these houses. In two cases in this district indica- 
tions of this arrangement still remain, viz. at Loch Kinnord, Aberdeen- 
shire, and at Milton of Whitehouse, four miles north of the loch. In both 
of these cases there are stone pavements close to the entrance which show 
early hearths with charcoal remains, and on which burnt bones, part of a 
quern and an angular piece of iron were found. 
Good examples of the earth houses of this district may be seen at Muirs 
of Kildrummy, near Kildrummy Castle; near Glenkindie House ; 
Buchaam, Strathdon ; at Culsh, Tarland, and at Migvie, west of Tarland— 
all in Aberdeenshire. 
Lake dwellings —Associated chronologically with the earth houses are 
the crannogs or lake dwellings of Scotland; they yield the same kind 
of relics and belong to the Iron Age. Some are shown, from the archzo- 
logical material discovered in them, to have been in occupation in the 
early centuries of our era. The method of constructing these places of 
security has been ascertained, when from drainage or other causes the 
lochs in which they were situated became dry and they could be syste- 
matically examined. ‘The procedure was as follows. On the surface of 
the water a raft was constructed composed of logs mortised together, on 
which stones and earth and branches were piled, with beams as the work 
proceeded, and thus, as the added material gradually accumulated, the 
whole mass finally grounded. The result of such a plan of building has 
