THE CRANIOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND 189 



Anatomical Museum. It was 32 mm. long and 18 mm. in greatest breadth; the 

 edges were saw-like, point sharp, surfaces finely chipped (fig. 17). No trace of 

 an urn was seen. 



Birsley Quarry, Tranent, E. Lothian. — In 1884 the workmen employed by 

 Mr John Wilson exposed a short cist in the earth covering the sandstone rock. 

 The cist had been built in a layer of sand and weathered sandstone. It consisted 

 of the customary four slabs for the sides and ends, and of a larger cover slab, all 

 formed of sandstone. In internal measurements it was 3 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 

 broad and 2 feet 3 inches high. The floor consisted of the solid rock. The cist 

 contained a skeleton with the hips and knees bent, and with the face looking 

 towards the east ; the bones of some of the fingers were situated at the back of 

 the head, as if the elbows had been bent and the hands raised to the sides of the 

 head. Neither urns nor other grave goods were present. Previously to the discovery 

 of this cist a cinerary urn had been obtained in the earth covering the same quarry, 

 and had been recorded by the Rev. John Strutheks,* who stated that a short cist 

 had been exposed within three or four yards of the urn. 



Morrison's Haven, Preston Grange. — A short cist was exposed in May 1887 in 

 the sand near the mouth of the harbour. Mr Luke, manager of the adjoining 

 colliery, told me that it was built of rough stone 'slabs, was covered with rough flat 

 stones, and was also said to be paved. The internal dimensions were length about 

 3 J feet, breadth 2 feet, depth 20 inches. It contained a human skeleton in the bent 

 position, but the skull, detached from the spine, was found between the legs (p. 204). 

 No urn nor implement was obtained from the cist. 



Bridgeness, W. Lothian. — In 1896 Mr H. M. Cadell of Grange informed me 

 that a "heavy stone coffin" had been exposed a few yards from the probable 

 end of the Wall of Antoninus at Bridgeness-on-Forth. Owing to absence from 

 home at the time he could not give its dimensions, but he. had ascertained that the 

 skeleton which it contained had been bent around an urn which was preserved. 

 The " coffin" was undoubtedly a short cist. The urn was a good example of the 

 bowl-shaped form (fig. 13). It was 5 '3 inches high, 6*9 inches wide at the outer 

 lip of the mouth and 4 "9 inches at the inner lip, 2 '5 inches in diameter at the foot. 

 The rim was bevelled on the inner surface and marked by short oblique impressions. 

 A broad groove encircled the urn below the outer lip, and the outer surface was 

 marked with closely arranged horizontal rows of pits about the size of small shot, 

 separated by lines, some of which were plain, others minutely pitted. The skull 

 is described on p. 206. Mr Cadell subsequently obtained a similar urn from 

 a short cist exposed in 1905 at Cowdenhill near Bo'ness, in a sandbed of the 

 25-foot beach, about 10 feet above high-water mark, f 



* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xiv, 1880. In vol. iv of the same Proceedings, a note is made of a large cinerary 

 urn having been got in trenching a field at Tranent, 

 t Idem, vol. xl, 1906. 



