THE CEANIOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND.. 183 



ends and sides of the cist. Owing to its short length the body of an adult could 

 not be laid in the extended position but had to be placed on one of its sides, with 

 the hip and knee joints bent, as well as the elbows, so that the hands were brought 

 close to the face. Although objects made of bronze have not been found in the 

 majority of the short cists which have been opened, their similarity in size and 

 construction, the bent position of the skeletons and the presence of definite types 

 of urn pottery have led them to be regarded as of the same period, whether bronze 

 was present or not. Frequently only a single cist had been exposed in a particular 

 locality, sometimes two or three ; very seldom were more than five placed in close 

 proximity to each other. 



Almost every county in Scotland has given to archaeologists examples of this type 

 of burial, and it is evident that the people or race which practised it was not limited 

 to a particular area, but were distributed throughout northern Britain. 



In many localities the practice of Cremation was associated with Inhumation ; 

 though in others cremated bodies were found without being contained in or near 

 short cists. In the great majority of cases the ashes were deposited in a special 

 type of urn, known as a Cinerary urn. These urns have been found either singly, or 

 in small groups of three or four, or in such numbers as to indicate a cemetery of 

 some size. They have been exposed as independent burials in sand or gravel, or 

 have been enclosed in a cairn or tumulus. A hole had apparently been made in 

 the ground and the urn lodged in it, either upright, resting on its base, or in- 

 verted, with the mouth downwards, on a flat stone. Sometimes the urn had been 

 in contact with the surrounding sand or gravel, but at others loose stones had been 

 arranged around it as a protection. 



I have now analysed the notices of burials of the bronze-age period recorded in 

 Scotland in no less than 197 localities, which comprised 475 distinct interments.* 

 Two hundred and thirty-two were inhumed in short cists ; in 240, cremation had been 

 practised and the ashes placed in a cinerary urn ; in 3 cases the record was not 

 precise. Sometimes both kinds of interment were found in the same tumulus, 

 cairn, or cemetery, though at others they were in distinct localities. In a few 

 cases, Cavers, Pentlands, Pomona, incinerated bones, not enclosed in an urn, were 

 lying along with a skeleton in a short cist. It is obvious, therefore, that two 

 modes of interment were practised in the same district and frequently at the 

 same period of time. It has, however, been observed that cremated interments in 

 cinerary urns prevailed when bodies had been buried in stone circles. On the other 

 hand, in the Orkneys, inhumation in short cists was the rule in prehistoric graves. 



In 318 cases, urns of rough unglazed clay pottery were said to be associated with 



the interments ; 206 of these were cinerary urns. In a few examples a heap of bone 



ashes and charcoal, obviously indicating an interment, was found not included in 



an urn or cist. In 112 cases urns either of the bowl-shaped food type or of the 



* Ir my lecture "On Early Man in Scotland" (pp. tit.), I analysed the characters of about 400 interments. 



