186 PRINCIPAL SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 



published, I may state briefly their characters ; the description of those found at 

 Belfield and Kirk Park in Mid Lothian has already been given on p. 185. 



Leith. — In February 1884, when excavating ground in Merrilees Close, the town 

 authorities exposed a short cist about 6 feet below the surface, lying in sand and 

 gravel not far from the sea beach. The cist, with its contents, was presented to 

 the University, and has been re-erected by me in the vestibule of the Anatomical 

 Museum (fig. 11). The cover of the cist was a massive stone slab, 4 feet 6 inches in 

 length, 2 feet 9 inches broad at one end, and 2 feet 5 inches at the other ; it varied 

 in thickness from 6 to 11 inches ; its under surface, from its appearance, had been 

 detached from the parent rock, but the upper surface was generally smooth, though 

 hollowed in places, as if from trituration with sand and gravel. The stone which 

 formed the right side of the cist was 4 feet 3 inches long by 2 feet 3 inches at its 

 greatest breadth, though it narrowed at the ends ; it was 3| inches thick ; one 

 surface showed the natural cleavage of rock, but the other and two of the edges 

 were smooth and waterworn. The stone of the left side was 4 feet 1 inch long, 

 1 foot 8 inches broad, and had a maximum thickness of 9 inches. One end stone had 

 a vertical diameter of 1 foot 1 1 inches, a transverse of 1 foot 4 inches, and was 5 inches 

 thick : that at the opposite end measured 2 feet 2 inches by 1 foot 9 inches, and 

 was 5 inches thick. A gap, owing to one end stone being defective, was filled by a 

 smooth oblong boulder 13f- inches long by 9| broad. The flattened waterworn 

 walls of the cist had apparently been the surface of the rock exposed on the sea 

 beach, and had been detached by the builders in the plane of cleavage (fig. 11). 



When the massive cover was removed and the sand taken away two human 

 skeletons were exposed, the limb bones of which were so friable that, as a rule, 

 they were not preserved. The skulls, though defective, are described on p. 201. 

 One, larger than the other, was at the north-west end of the cist, but the 

 position of the smaller skull was not noted. The interior of the cist was a little 

 over 3 feet long and about 2 feet high, and bodies could not have been buried 

 in the extended position. 



A bowl-shaped urn was found near the larger skull. It was 6 inches high, 

 6 £ inches wide at the mouth externally, and 4f inches inside measurement, whilst 

 the diameter at the foot was 2>\ iuches. The outer surface was decorated with 

 twelve rows of obliquely impressed zig-zags or chevrons arranged around the urn. 

 Two grooves encircled the urn immediately below and parallel to the rim. At the 

 lower of these grooves four knob-like projections (lugs) had been modelled, one of 

 which was imperfect. The rim of the urn was bevelled on its inner aspect and was 

 marked by the chevron pattern (fig. 12). 



Cousland, Mid Lothian. — Short cists were exposed in 1886 on the farm of Cous- 

 land, Cranston, on Lord Stair's estate. Mr Andrew Gow, the factor, kindly gave 

 me the following particulars : — They were 2 to 3 feet below the surface of the 

 ground, and were between 3 and 4 feet long, 2 feet broad and 20 inches deep. 



