22G PRINCIPAL SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 



LoN(i Cists— Built Graves— Stone Coffins. Table VIII. 



Archaeologists have long been conversant with interments in Scotland in stone 

 cists made about 2 feet longer than the short cists of the bronze age, so as to allow 

 the dead to be buried at full length and not in the bent or contracted posture. The 

 sides, ends and cover stones of the long cists did not consist of single massive slabs, 

 but were built of several thin, undressed flagstones ; those of the ends and sides 

 rested by the lower edge on the ground, whilst their upper edge gave support to 

 the horizontal slabs of the cover, which, like those of the sides, were several in 

 number. The lateral borders of the flags were not connected by cement or clay, but 

 were simply apposed, and the floor might either be paved with thin flags or formed 

 by the soil. In many of these interments the cists were directed east to west, and 

 it was frequently noticed that the skull was at the west end. These cists differed 

 from those described in the previous sections by the absence of urns, implements, 

 weapons and ornaments, and they have consequently received little attention from 

 archaeologists, though in a few cases objects of iron have been noticed lying near the 

 contained skeleton. 



Interments of this kind have been frequently exposed near the surface during 

 agricultural operations. 



Kirkliston, W. Lothian. — The occasion on which I first saw long-cist burials 

 was in April 1864, when Sir James Simpson invited me to accompany him to the 

 cemetery then being excavated by Mr Kobert Hutchison of Carlowrie in the 

 Catstane field, Kirkliston. Fifty-one graves were exposed, arranged in nine rows, 

 with their long axes directed east to west. In the longest row were thirteen graves, 

 in the shortest only one. They were constructed as above described, and the slabs 

 were usually of unhewn freestone, though a few were of a black shale-like stone. 

 Twenty cists were 6 feet or upwards in length, two being 6 feet 9 inches, twenty- 

 seven between 5 and 6 feet, while four were less than 5 feet, the smallest only 2 feet 

 4 inches. The average depth below the surface of the field was about 15 inches, 

 and about a foot of space existed between the graves in each row. When the covers 

 were removed they were seen to be paved with flat stones and to be occupied by 

 sand and earth in which human bones, usually much decayed, were present ; the 

 skeletons had been lying at full length with the heads at the west end. Four 

 imperfect skulls were obtained (Table VIII), and were described by me in an 

 appendix to Mr Hutchison's memoir. In one the cephalic index was 73*3, in 

 another 75 9, in a third 77 ; the proportions were dolichocephalic or approximating 

 thereto. 



Subsequent to the publication of the above discovery Mr Hutchison exposed 

 near the house of Carlowrie a coffin almost similar to those in the Catstane field, 

 except that the floor was not paved ; it was 6 feet long, 20 inches broad and 

 18 inches deep. 



