228 PRINCIPAL SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 



Kelso. — In 1864, whilst digging a drain in Butts Lane, near the Abbey, several 

 cists upwards of 5 feet long were exposed, one of which, built of freestone flags, was 

 6 feet 4 inches long, with a head piece at the west end, 18 inches wide at the 

 shoulders tapering somewhat to the feet, and 12 inches deep. It contained an 

 extended skeleton, the skull being at the west. The graves were parallel to each 

 other and not more than a yard apart. A coarsely woven mort- cloth was wrapped 

 round the skeleton, but unfortunately no bones were preserved.* 



Selkirkshire. — In 1865 the minister of Yarrow, Dr Jas. Russell, described a cist 

 about 5 feet 9 inches long, 16 inches broad at the head, and directed east and west. It 

 was made of undressed flat stones, the covering stones of which were only about one 

 foot from the surface. It was found on the farm of Whitehope near the manse, and 

 was about 25 yards from the spot where some years ago eight similar cists had been 

 exposed. The skull was obtained and examined by me along with Dr J. A. Smith, f 

 It was well formed, dolichocephalic, and with the breadth more than the height (see 

 Table VIII). The capacity of the cranium was 1362 c.c. The skeleton was moderate 

 in stature, and the marks on the bones indicated well-developed muscles. 



Hopetoun. — In 1876 several long stone cists, lying east and west, close together, 

 and from 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 1 inch long, were exposed in a sandy mound near 

 the shore. Portions of four adult skeletons were obtained and examined by Dr J. 

 Alexr. Smith and myself J: Three skulls were dolichocephalic ; one was essentially 

 brachycephalic, 79 -4 (Table VIII). 



Lundin Links. — In October 1864 I was present at the exposure of a long cist on 

 Lundin Links, Largo, Fife, a few yards above high-water mark. It was about 3 feet 

 below the surface and was covered by a layer of waterworn pebbles ; its direction 

 was east to west, and it had the characteristic construction of undressed freestone 

 slabs. The cist contained the bones of a child which had been buried in the extended 

 position. Mrs Dundas had described cists of the same construction discovered on the 

 links in 1858. § At a meeting of the Field Naturalists' Society, Largo, the secretary 

 stated that the cists had been arranged in parallel rows, from east to west, at regular 

 distances from each other. The contained skeletons were extended, and usually lay 

 on shells and pebbles which covered a floor paved with flagstones. I obtained 

 several skulls from the graves at Lundin (Table VIII). In one cist a piece of 

 corroded iron about 2 inches long lay across the bridge of the nose. At the same 

 meeting it was stated that a similar burying-place had been exposed on Hallow Hill, 

 St Andrews, and on the skull from one of the graves a piece of corroded iron had 

 been found. Dr Lumgair of Largo also presented me in 1864 with a skull obtained 

 some twenty years previously from a "coffin built of loose slabs" which had been 

 exposed in the field with the well-known standing stones and immediately adjoining 

 them. He told me that it showed a fracture in the occipital region in which was a 



* Proc. Hoc. Antiq. Scot., vol. vi, p. 246, 1868. t Idem, vol. vi, p. 65, 1868. 



+ Idem, vol. xii, p. 65, 1878. § Idem, vol. iii, pp. 68, 76, 159, 183, 1862. 



