1 908-1909.] Cup- and Ring- Marked Stones, 12/ 



J. Y. Simpson of a stone found in Forfarshire would stand 

 quite well for one of these old Clava stones, except that in 

 each of them all the cups are of the same size. This helps to 

 show the unity of idea among, and the wide geographical 

 distribution of, the ancient people who were responsible for 

 these archaic markings. At the gate of the house formerly 

 occupied by the farmer mentioned above, there is a block 

 of dark-bluish hard stone, with twenty-two quite small cups^ 

 on it, they being only about f of an inch in diameter, and 

 about \ an inch deep. I did not find out anything of its- 

 history, and it seems doubtful whether it belongs to the 

 same class as the others. 



Near Muir of Ord, in Eoss-shire, I came on a curious group 

 of circles on a slight eminence. They are quite unlike the 

 Strathnairn ones in structure, consisting of two comparatively 

 small circles side by side, and inside one of them again there 

 are two very small ones side by side. One of the latter, and the 

 chief feature of the group, is of a distinctly horse-shoe shape, 

 and consists of large upright blocks, most of the other stones 

 of the circles being now prostrate. Inside the small circle, 

 beside the horse-shoe, there is a block of sandstone lying 

 slightly sloping, with at least four distinct cup-markings. In 

 Inverness Museum there are two small rounded granite 

 boulders, only " babies " for size, but on each there are some 

 distinct though shallow cups, with bevelled edges. These are 

 from Eoss-shire. Besides those enumerated above there seem 

 to be a good many more cup-marked stones in the Inverness 

 district. Two keen hunters for these mysterious markings 

 were the Eev. Dr Joass, Dingwall, and Mr W. Jolly, H.M.I.S., 

 r.S.A. Scot., the latter of whom wrote a report on them 

 which appeared in the ' Proceedings of the Scottish Society of 

 Antiquaries,' vol. xvi. p. 341. Two very fine examples, one 

 from near Dingwall and one from the neighbourhood of the 

 famous Glenelg brochs, are figured and described by Sir J. Y. 

 Simpson. The former contains over thirty cups in rows and 

 groups, several pairs being joined by ducts or grooves, and 

 there is a row of cbncentric rings across the stone. On the 

 same plate are given some variations of cups, rings, and ducts, 

 noticed by Dr Joass, one incomplete ring ending in cups. 

 This is referred to later on. 



