1908-1909.] Cup- and Ring-Marked Stones. 133 



stition) to the inhabitants of the bronze age, with its era of 

 cremation and urn-bnrial, and thence on to later times ; and 

 perhaps they can be still traced in the spiral, circular, and con- 

 centric figurings upon our ancient Celtic bronze weapons and 

 ornaments, on their stone balls and hatchets, on ancient bone 

 implements and combs ; and even possibly among some of the 

 symbols of the so-called ' Sculptured Stones of Scotland.' " 



About the spirals or volutes. Sir James refers to the fact 

 that the Polynesians adorn their faces with similar curves. 

 Exquisite patterns of triple spirals appear on the Shandwick 

 (Easter Eoss) and other sculptured stones ; and it may be 

 said that the volute reached its highest development in the 

 ornamentation of the capitals of columns in the Ionic and 

 Corinthian orders of architecture. 



The horse-shoe or arch design or symbol seems to have 

 been a favourite. Sir James calls attention to some sets of 

 incomplete concentric circles which are joined at the ends in 

 such a way as to produce a pattern of this shape : it appears, 

 with embellishments, on some of the "sculptured stones," as 

 at Strathpeffer and Grantown, with which compare the sample 

 from a Brittany tumulus ; and we find it in the form of some 

 of the inner enclosures of megalithic circles, as inside Stone- 

 henge in the south, and at Muir of Ord and elsewhere in the 

 north. 



On the cover of a kist-vaen found at Coilsfield, Ayrshire, 

 besides the ordinary set of concentric rings, there are serpen- 

 tine lines, volutes, and other curves. These and similar 

 examples may be looked on as the primitive attempts which 

 gradually, though slowly, developed into the fine vermiculated 

 patterns in relief with which the Barochan Cross in Eenfrew- 

 shire (to give one example which I have seen) is ornamented, 

 and the beautiful serpentine and interlaced work on the latest 

 productions. 



One more comparison I shall institute. As far as I am 

 aware, there are no examples of cup or ring cuttings in this 

 district, but extensive groups of burial cairns are common (I 

 counted 200 cairns along one hill-side), and one of these 

 groups possesses some curious features, which seem worthy of 

 notice in connection with our present subject. On a hill-side 

 about two miles south-east of Tomatin, and just above the new 



VOL. VI. K 



