438 Mr. Tate on Yevering Bell, &c. 



seen in the course of the diggings ; it is flat and little more 

 than one inch in thickness ; its diameter was 18 inches, and 

 it is made of a hard crystalline syenite, which I cannot 

 identify with rocks belonging to the district. 



Circle {Plate XY.Jlff. e) which is 27 feet in circumference 

 yielded at the depth of one foot the following interesting relics : 

 A portion of another oak ring, very dark and brightly polished, 

 and in excellent preservation ; it is flat on the under surface, 

 but the sides of the upper surface slope to a sharp keel ; its 

 circumference had been 11 inches, {Plate ^W. Jig. 6); a 

 round jasper ball, artificially rounded, 3 inches in circumfer- 

 ence and resembling a large marble; charred wood; and three 

 flints, not having artistic shape nor even appearing to be 

 portions of broken instruments ; they seem indeed to have 

 been the rough material out of which weapons and instru- 

 ments were manufactured, leading to the inference, that the 

 old population about Yevering fashioned their own weapons 

 and instruments out of the flints which had been brought 

 from a distance. 



The oak rings or armlets are an interesting addition to our 

 early relics. Their association with coarse pottery and flints 

 shews that they belong to an early period. A similar ring 

 was found at Logic, Forfarshire, under a barrow along with 

 four human skeletons.* 



Most of these hut circles in Yevering were a kind of pit 

 dwellings ; for they were cut out of the hill side, so that ex- 

 cepting towards the south and the east they were sunk a few 

 feet below the surface. 



FORTIFIED DWELLINGS AND HUT CIRCLES EASTWARD OF 

 YEVERING BELL. 



All around the Bell, where the inclination is not very steep 

 and craggy, fortlets and hut circles are traceable ; but there 

 are more on the eastern side, where the slope is gentle, and 

 in the high valley which lies between the Bell and White- 

 law ; and here several excavations were made. 



Fortified dwelling. On the descent of the hill, about 

 500 yards eastward of the top of the Bell, and near to an 

 ancient British road or trackway, there is a pretty large forti- 

 fied dwelling, of an oval shape, 183 feet in diameter from 

 north to south, and 120 feet from east to west, and contain- 

 ing within it hut circles and enclosures. {Plate X.Y.Jg. H.) 

 The outer wall is strong, and there are supplementary 



* Wilson's Prehis. Annals, p. 299. 



