Part 36

Since the publication of Dr. Stuart's paper in 1866, little progress was made in the investigation of Scottish crannogs, though traces of them were occasionally noticed in various parts of Scotland, till the discovery and examination of the Lochlee crannog, Ayrshire, in 1878-9. The work done at Lochlee was important, not only because of the varied collection of relics secured, but also on account of the interest it had excited in archæological research, the fruit of which has already been reaped by the discovery of no less than five other lake-dwellings in the south-west of Scotland, all of which have now been carefully investigated. Full details of these investigations are given in the Collections of the Ayrshire and Galloway Archæological Association, as well as in my recent work on the "Scottish Lake-Dwellings." (B. 331, 344, 373, and 426.)

While such general indications of lake-dwellings can hardly be said to limit their geographical distribution to any given area in Scotland, it is a singular fact that, so far as the discovery of actual remains illustrative of the civilisation and social condition of their occupiers is concerned, we are almost entirely dependent on the investigations made at Dowalton, Lochlee, Lochspouts, Buston, Airrieoulland, Barhapple, and Friar's Carse, all of which are situated within the counties of Ayr, Dumfries, and Wigtown. In instituting a comparison between the relics of these respective groups their resemblance is so wonderfully alike that we have no difficulty in dispensing with the necessity of discussing the merits of each group separately; so that whatever inferences can be legitimately derived from a critical examination of any one group may be safely applied to the whole.

As a preliminary to this inquiry the following details of the investigation of lake-dwellings in Scotland will, I trust, be sufficient to give general readers a tolerably correct notion of the social conditions and environments of the people whose history, solely from an archæological standpoint, it is our object here to pourtray.

DOWALTON.

The loch of Dowalton was of an irregular form, about 1½ mile long, and about three-quarters of a mile in greatest breadth, and without any marked outfall for drainage. Sir William Maxwell effected this by making a cut, 25 feet deep, through the wall of whinstone and slate which closed it in at its south-eastern boundary. When the waters were allowed to run off in the summer of 1863 no less than five artificially constructed islands became visible. One of these had a cairn of stones on it which always remained above water, and was known as the "Miller's Cairn," from the fact of its having been used, like the Nilometer, to measure the quantity of water in the lake, and thereby to regulate its supply to neighbouring mills. "On approaching the cairn," says Dr. Stuart, "the numerous rows of piles which surrounded it first attracted notice. These piles were formed of young oak-trees. Lying on the north-east were mortised frames of beams of oak, like hurdles, and, below these, round trees laid horizontally. In some cases the vertical piles were mortised into horizontal bars. Below them were layers of hazel and birch branches, and under these were masses of ferns, the whole mixed with large boulders, and penetrated by piles. Above all was a surface of stone and soil, which was several feet under water till the recent drainage took place. The hurdle frames were neatly mortised together, and were secured by pegs in the mortise holes. On one side of the island a round space of a few feet in size appeared, on which was a layer of white clay, browned and calcined as from the action of fire, and around it were bones of animals and ashes of wood.... Lines of piles, apparently to support a causeway, led from it to the shore." (B. 94.)

The other islands were constructed in a similar manner, and of like materials. The largest and farthest from the shore measured twenty-three yards in diameter, and its surface was three feet lower than that of the others. Several canoes and bronze dishes were found in the mud in the vicinity of these islands, and in making excavations on them many relics and broken bones were collected, of which the following is a list as far as known up to the present time:--

RELICS FROM THE CRANNOGS IN LOCH DOWALTON.

_Metal._--"Pot or patella of yellowish-coloured bronze (=Fig. 126=), with a handle springing from the upper edge, 7 inches in length, on which is stamped the letters P. CIPIPOLIBI. At the farther extremity is a circular opening. The bottom is ornamented with five projecting rings, and measures in diameter 6 inches; it is 8 inches in diameter across the mouth; the inside appears to be coated with tin, and has a series of incised lines at various distances. The vessel is ornamented on the outside opposite to the handle by a human face in relief, surrounded by a movable ring, which could be used in lifting the pot." (B. 94, p. 109.)

A bronze basin, measuring 10 inches in diameter and 4 inches in depth, shows several patches or mendings (=Fig. 127=). It is formed of several separate pieces of sheet-metal riveted together, and appears to have had an iron handle.

Two bronze dishes, hammered out of the solid. One measures 12 inches in diameter and 4 inches in depth. The other has the same diameter as the former, but is 1 inch less in depth, and has a turned-over rim 1 inch in breadth (=Fig. 128=).

A bronze ring, having attached to it a portion of the vessel of which it had been a handle (=Fig. 129=).

A penannular brooch and a circular ornament, with trumpet-shaped spaces, probably intended for enamel[99] (=Fig. 130=). Also a small ring, a fragment of bronze, and iron slag.

Three iron hammers or axe-hammers (=Fig. 131=).

_Glass._--Two beads of earthenware of a ribbed pattern, showing traces of a green glaze; one of vitreous paste of a whitish colour, with red spots; half of another bead of white glass, streaked with blue; and a large bead, 1¼ inch in diameter, of a somewhat remarkable character. The latter has in the central perforation a tube of bronze, and the edge of both sides of the perforation is ornamented by three minute bands of twisted yellow glass, while the body is of blue glass, of a ribbed pattern (=Fig. 132=).

Several portions of armlets of glass. Half of one is of white glass, and streaked with blue. Others are of a yellowish or whitish colour (=Fig. 132=). A small portion of blue glass.

_Leather._--Portion of a leather shoe, 7 inches in length, nearly covered with ornamental stamped patterns (=Fig. 133=).

_Stone._--A thin flat stone, of a rectangular shape and highly polished, is supposed to have been used as a mirror; five querns, a flake of yellow flint, and several whetstones.

_Wood._--Five canoes, measuring from 18 feet to 25 feet in length, and from 2 feet 7 inches to 4 feet 2 inches in breadth. Dr. Stuart describes one as being "25 feet in length, and strengthened by a projecting cross-band towards the centre, left in the solid in hollowing out the inside." A large wooden vessel, roughly cut out of the solid, and a portion of a bowl, with circular grooves made by means of a wood-turner's lathe.

_Pottery._--A small fragment of Samian ware and an earthen crucible (=Fig. 134=).

_Miscellaneous._--A small shale ring, unfinished, a bead of amber, and a copper coin.

LOCHLEE.

The site of the Lochlee crannog was a small lake, which formerly occupied about nineteen acres of what is now, and has been for many years, arable land, on the farm of Lochlee, near Tarbolton. Before it was artificially drained, some fifty years ago, no one appears to have surmised that a small island, which became visible in the summer-time, and formed a safe habitation for gulls and other sea-birds during their breeding season, had been formerly the residence of man; nor does it appear to have attracted the attention of the poet Burns, who lived on this farm for four years as ploughman to his father, then tenant of the place. The crannog was near the outlet, of the lake, and the nearest land, its southern bank, was about seventy-five yards distant. When the first drainage of the lake was carried out, the wrought woodwork exposed in the drains running through the island, and especially the discovery of two canoes buried in the moss, attracted some attention. It was not, however, till 1878, in consequence of some discoveries during the re-drainage of the locality, that this most important crannog was investigated.

The general appearance which it presented before the excavations were commenced, as seen in =Fig. 135=, was that of a grassy knoll, drier, firmer, and slightly more elevated than the surrounding field. Towards the margin of this mound were seen the tops of a few wooden piles, barely projecting above the grass, which at once suggested the idea that they might be portions of a stockaded island.

The diameter of the island was about one hundred feet; and its superficies was thus occupied:--In the centre was a flat circular area about sixty feet in diameter. Then followed a double line of upright piles from 2 to 3 feet apart. These were bound together by short transverse beams with a hole, generally square, at each end (=Fig. 136=), into which the tops of the uprights penetrated, while others stretched along the circumference forming a firm network. The surface of these horizontal binders was about three feet above the level of the inner area, and thus the stockade presented the appearance of a breastwork. At the north-east corner this arrangement was more perfect than elsewhere (see sketch, =Fig. 137=) and constituted what was supposed to have been a landing stage, as from it a neatly-constructed flooring of wood extended for some yards inwards. Outside the stockade on the north side there was a mass of brushwood and stakes forming a kind of trellis-work, as if intended for further protection to the island. In the centre of the inner area there was a square portion, measuring 39 feet on each side, covered with closely laid beams of split stems of trees having the appearance and size of railway sleepers, which appeared to have been the flooring of a wooden house. This log-pavement (as we called it) had been Surrounded by a wooden wall, the stumps of which then only remained, and a line of similar stumps ran across it, from east to west, thus bisecting the building into two nearly equal compartments. The sides of this wooden foundation looked towards the four cardinal points, and its corners just reached to the surrounding stockades. On the surface of the wooden pavement were found some fragments of curiously worked beams and some large broad boards. Some were grooved and had also square-cut holes, in which both transverse and upright beams could be mortised. (See sketch, =Fig. 138=.) A doorway, the stumps of the sideposts of which were readily distinguished, opened to the south; and in front, but more to the left, was an extensive refuse heap, in which many relics were found. This midden occupied the space between the south margin of the log-pavement and the surrounding stockades--some 10 or 12 feet in breadth by about double that in length.

About the middle of the northern half of the log-pavement was found a remarkable series of four hearths, or fire-places, superimposed one above the other. The lowest was placed a little above the log-pavement, and had a layer of stones, clay, and earth intervening between it and the wood. About one and a half foot higher there was a second hearth; at a similar interval, a third; and at 2½ feet still higher, a fourth. These hearths were formed of small boulders laid closely together, like a stone causeway, embedded in, and surrounded by, a layer of clay (=Fig. 139=). They were oval or circular in shape and about four feet in diameter. The corresponding layers of clay extended considerably beyond the limits of the hearths around which they appeared to form a flooring. The third hearth (counting from below upwards) had been more elaborately constructed than the others, and it was surrounded by a number of stumps of stout uprights which no doubt were the remains of a secondary building, as their lower ends did not penetrate much beyond the level of the hearth. The space underneath the clay bed corresponding to this hearth, and extending downwards to the log-pavement, was, next to the refuse heap, the most prolific in relics. In it were found, about the level of the second fire-place, nearly the entire skeletons of two animals like a goat or sheep, the skulls of which had short horn-cores attached to them.

_Gangway._--Beyond the midden, outside the island, the tops of a few piles were detected, and upon making exploratory excavations, these turned out to be the remains of a gangway. As this structure was very peculiar and somewhat comparable to the wooden structures described by Virchow and others in the German Pfahlbauten, I will here quote my original description of it _in extenso_. (See plan and sections, facing page 416):--

"We commenced this inquiry by excavating a rectangular space, 30 feet long, 16 feet broad, and 3 to 4 feet deep, in the line of direction indicated by the piles, and exposed quite a forest of oak stakes. Other trenches were then made with exactly similar results. The stakes thus revealed did not at first appear to conform to any systematic arrangement, but by-and-by we detected, in addition to six single piles, small groups of three, four, and five, here and there at short intervals. This observation, however, conveyed little or no meaning, so that we could form no opinion as to the manner in which they were used. Up to this point no trace of mortised beams was anywhere to be seen. In all these trenches the stuff dug up was of the same character. First or uppermost was a bed of fine clay rather more than 2 feet thick, and then a soft dark substance formed of decomposed vegetable matter. The source of the latter was evident from the occurrence in its upper stratum of large quantities of leaves, some stems, branches, and the roots of stunted trees _in situ_. The tops of the piles in the trench next the crannog were from 2 to 3 feet below the surface of the field, but they rose gradually as we receded from the crannog, and in the trench next the shore one or two were found on a level with the grass. About 4 feet deep the stuff at the bottom of the trench was so soft that a man could scarcely stand on it without sinking ankle-deep. It was not nearly so heavy as the upper strata, but more adhesive, and of a nutty-brown colour, which, on exposure, quickly turned dark. Notwithstanding the flabbiness of this material, the piles felt quite firm, and this fact, together with the experience derived from our examination of the deeper structures of the island, led to the supposition that the piles must terminate in some more solid basis than had yet been made apparent. To remove all doubts on this point, though a long iron rod could be easily pushed downwards without meeting any resistance, we ordered a large deep shaft to be dug in the line of the piles, and the cutting nearest the crannog was selected for this purpose. This was accomplished with much difficulty, but we were amply rewarded by coming upon an elaborate system of woodwork, which I found no less difficult to comprehend than it now is to describe. The first horizontal beam was reached about 7 feet deep, and for other 3 feet we passed through a complete network of similar beams, lying in various directions. Below this--_i.e._ 10 feet from the surface--the workmen could find no more beams and the lake silt became harder and more friable. We then cleared a larger area, so as, if possible, to exhibit the structural arrangement of the woodwork. The reason of grouping the piles now became apparent. The groups were placed in a somewhat zig-zag fashion near the sides of the gangway, and from each there radiated a series of horizontal beams, the ends of which crossed each other and were kept in position by the uprights. One group was carefully inspected. The first or lowest beam observed was right across, the next lay lengthways and of course at right angles to the former, then three or four spread out diagonally like a fan, and terminated in other groups at the opposite side of the gangway, and lastly, one again lay lengthways. Thus each beam raised the level of the general structure the exact height of its thickness, though large lozenge-shaped spaces remained in the middle quite clear of any beams. The general breadth of the portion of this unique structure examined was about 10 feet (but an isolated pile was noticed farther out), and its thickness varied from 3 to 4 feet. A large oak plank, some 10 feet long, showing the marks of the sharp-cutting instrument by which it was formed, was found lying on edge at its west side, and beyond the line of piles, but otherwise no remains of a platform were seen. All the beams and stakes were made of oak, and so thoroughly bound together that, though not a single joint, mortise, or pin was discovered, the whole fabric was as firm as a rock. No relics were found in any of the excavations along the line of this gangway." (B. 373, pp. 99-101.)

_Structure of the Island._--Having now collected the chief facts regarding the log-pavement, its surrounding structures and superincumbent materials, we determined to sink a shaft about the centre of the crannog for the purpose of ascertaining, if possible, the thickness, composition, and mode of structure, of the island itself. This shaft was rectangular in form, and large enough to allow three men to work in it together. (See plan and sections, page 416.) After removing the three or four layers of oak planks which constituted this portion of the log-pavement, we came upon a thin layer of brushwood, and then large trunks of trees laid in regular beds or layers, each layer having its logs lying parallel to each other, but transversely or sometimes obliquely to those of the layer immediately above or below it. At the west end of the trench, after removing the first and second layers of the log-pavement, we found part of a small canoe hollowed out of an oak trunk, evidently part of an old worn-out one, thus economised and used instead of a prepared log. Much progress in this kind of excavation was by no means an easy task, as it was necessary to keep two men constantly pumping the water which copiously flowed from all directions into the trench, and even then there always remained some at the bottom. As we advanced downwards we encountered layer upon layer of the trunks of trees with the branches closely chopped off, and so soft that the spade easily cut through them. Birch was the prevailing kind of wood, but, occasionally, beams of oak were found with holes at their extremities, through which pegs of oak penetrated into other holes in the logs beneath. One such peg, some three or four inches in diameter, was found to pass through no less than four beams in successive layers, and to terminate ultimately in a round trunk over thirteen inches in diameter. One of the oak beams was extracted entire, and measured 8 feet 3 inches in length and 10 inches in breadth, and the holes in it were 5 feet apart. Others had small round projecting bars, which fitted into mortised holes in adjacent beams. Down to a depth of about four feet the logs ware rudely split, but below this they were round rough trunks, with the bark still adhering to them. Their average diameter would be from six inches to one foot, and amongst them were some curiously gnarled stems occasionally displaying large knotty protuberances. Of course, in the act of digging the trench the wood was cut up into fragments, and, on being uncovered, its fibres had a natural and even fresh-like appearance, but in a few minutes after exposure to the air the freshly cut pieces became as black as ink. Amongst the _débris_ thrown up from a depth of 6 feet below the log-pavement I picked up the larger portion of a broken hammer-stone or polisher, which, from the worn appearance presented by its fractured edges, must have been used subsequently to its breakage. After considerable labour, when indeed the probability of total discomfiture in reaching the bottom was freely talked of, our most energetic foreman at last announced, after cutting through a large flat trunk 14 inches thick, that underneath this he could find no trace of further woodwork. The substance removed from below the lowest logs consisted of a few twigs of hazel brushwood, embedded in a dark, firm, but friable and somewhat peaty soil, which we concluded to be the silt of the lake deposited before the foundations of the crannog were laid. The depth of this solid mass of woodwork, measuring from the surface of the log-pavement, was 9 feet 10 inches, or about sixteen feet from the surface of the field. Amongst the very last spadefuls pitched from this depth was found nearly one half of a well-formed and polished ring made of shale, the external and internal diameters of which were 3½ and 2 inches respectively.

RELICS FROM LOCHLEE.

_Stone._--Several hammer-stones and sling-stones, etc. Five whetstones or hones of the ordinary form. They are made of hard clay-stone or sometimes fine sandstone, and vary in length from 5 to 7 inches. One 6¼ inches long has a groove running nearly its whole length (=Fig. 140=). A large oval pebble of white quartz used as an anvil. A flat circular stone, 3 inches in diameter and 1⅜ inch thick, shaped like a cheese. One stone celt made of a hard mottled greenstone (=Fig. 141=). Five upper and some bits of lower millstones or querns, mostly of granite. The former are all somewhat elongated, with a funnel-shaped hole in the centre and generally a small round hole near the margin, as seen in the accompanying illustration. Two cup-marked stones, one with two concentric circles (=Fig. 141=). One spindle-whorl of stone and three of clay (=Fig. 141=). Two flint flakes and one scraper (=Fig. 141=). Several worked portions of stones.

_Bone and Horn._--Two chisels, five pointed objects, a small spoon, a needle with its eye in the middle, a small ring, and several worked bits of ribs were of bone. Of horn there were about forty worked pieces--clubs, hooks, bodkins, handles, etc. (=Fig. 142=).