Part 37

_Wood._--A neat trough, like a butcher's tray, cut out of the solid wood (=Fig. 143=). Five dishes turned on the lathe, bowls, plates, a ladle, etc. A piece of ashwood, 5 inches square, having a curious design carved on both sides (=Figs. 144= and =145=). Six club-like implements, a mallet, and a few things apparently intended for agricultural purposes. Five varieties of pegs from five to fourteen inches in length, with heads and sometimes perforations. One here figured is 14 inches long (=Fig. 136=). Stern-piece of a canoe, a double paddle, portion of a large oar, and three canoes. The paddle and mallet are here figured (=Fig. 146=).

_Iron._--An axe-head with a piece of the handle still in the socket (=Fig. 146=); a gouge 8 inches long, and a chisel 10 inches long, both having tangs on which there is a thick ridge to prevent their insertion too far into the handle; two knives with tangs; a small punch, an awl, and other pointed implements; a crosscut saw, in three fragments, together 38 inches in length; a large iron ring; a pair of shears; and a large three-pronged implement of a remarkable character. The last two objects are illustrated on =Fig. 147=. Two spear-heads with sockets and portions of the wooden handle remaining in each. The larger, 13 inches long, has a prominent centre ridge. Five daggers, all with tangs, one of which has a bone handle and a brass ferrule.

_Bronze or Brass._--A curious spatula-like object of beaten bronze (=Fig. 147=). Three fibulæ and a ring pin (=Fig. 148=). The square-shaped portion at the top of the latter has a _swastika_ or _croix gammée_ on one side and a cross with four equal arms on the other. A spiral finger-ring with three twists, two portions of stout wire, and an object of unknown use.

A bridle-bit having the centre-piece of iron and the side-pieces partly of iron and partly of bronze--the rings being iron and the looped portion bronze (=Fig. 149=).

_Lead._--One round knob like the hilt of a handle.

_Pottery._--Portion of the bottom of a dish like Samian ware, and five fragments of a whitish unglazed ware with parallel striæ, as if made on the wheel. Fragment of a small crucible.

_Glass._--Two beads, one of earthenware of ribbed pattern and coated with green glaze, like those from Dowalton. (See =Fig. 132.=) The other is of green glass, smooth and shaped like dumb-bells.

_Leather._--Portion of a shoe and various bits of leather, one being closely set with copper nails (=Fig. 150=).

_Miscellaneous._--Three portions of plain jet bracelets; another portion of jet is like part of a button; a boar's tusk worked into a sharp point; lumps of blue and red pigment, and large quantities of the horny coverings of insects like beetles, and one or two brilliant-coloured _elytra_; one solitary shell (_Littorina littorea_).

An object which has excited considerable curiosity is an apparatus made like a fringe by plaiting together at one end the long stems of a kind of moss (=Fig. 150=). Portions of similar articles were found in three different parts of the crannog and all deeply buried. One portion of this moss was plaited in four plies and shaped like a cue or pig-tail. It measured 17 inches long and 2 broad in the middle, and tapered to a point.

LOCHSPOUTS.

Lochspouts is a small lake basin, about three miles to the south-west of Maybole, somewhat oval in shape, and ensconced at the base of hilly ground, which encompasses it, except towards the north, where a narrow trap-dike runs across and cuts it off from the open valley beyond. It is thus a natural dam, formed in the face of a declivity, which, beyond the trap-ridge, still continues to slope rapidly downwards for a few hundred yards. No outlet could therefore at any time exist, except along this barrier, and an inspection of its present condition reveals several deep gashes through which at one time the surplus water made its escape. Indeed, some of the oldest inhabitants state that the name "Lochspouts" was given to it because, in former times, during heavy floods, its waters spouted across this ridge at different points. Within the recollection of some of them an artificial cutting was made through the rocky outlet, with the view of utilising its waters for a "walk-mill," an operation which reduced the level of the lake about ten feet, and its area to about two acres. A small island must have then appeared, but, apparently, its nature was unsuspected; and so it remained till 1879, when Mr. James Macfadzean recognised it as the site of an ancient lake-dwelling. This singular and, when surrounded by primeval forests, secluded little lake is now restored to its pristine dimensions; but its water, instead of acting as a defence to an island fortress, or propelling a primitive water-wheel, forms a reservoir for the domestic supply of the town of Maybole. The necessary alterations entailed by this transformation of the home of the crannog-builders--one of which was to clear out the accumulated _débris_ of many a jovial feast in which, judging from the osseous remnants, pigs, oxen, and sheep were no rarity-came very opportunely, as it enabled archæologists to complete an investigation which was in the first instance initiated through the liberality of Sir James Fergusson, the proprietor.

The remains of the crannog, in the form of a low circular mound overgrown with coarse grass, lay at the north side of the lake, near the middle portion of the rocky ridge, and so close to the present margin that it formed a peninsula easily approached on _terra firma_.

At first the only possible investigation was to remove the _débris_ down to the level of the water, and in the course of this operation the following facts were ascertained:--

(1) _Composition of the Mound._--The surface of the mound was composed of coarse grass, having tough matted roots spreading in a thin layer of soil, which overlay about a foot and a half of stones and rubbish, in which no relics were found. Below this the materials were of a very variable character; sometimes vegetable mould, stems of grasses jointed like straw, and beds of heather and moss, which could readily be separated into layers; and at other times heaps of ashes and charcoal mixed with quantities of the shells of whelks, limpets, and hazel-nuts. Intermingled with this heterogeneous mass were large and small stones, broken bones, portions of deer-horns, and various relics. Though several ash-heaps were distinctly discernible in the vicinity of the hearths, no regular refuse-heap was met with; and the broken bones and horns seemed to be dispersed over the general area of the crannog.

(2) _Log-Pavement._--About five feet deep (measuring from the centre of the mound), and only a few inches above the level of the surrounding water, there was exposed a rude, imperfect, and irregularly shaped wooden pavement, formed of flattened oak-beams. It covered only the central portion of the area contained within the circle of piles, the rest being laid with branches and stems of trees. On digging beneath this log-pavement large beams and brushwood were generally encountered, but the voluminous gushing up of water prevented reliable observations from being made regarding these deeper structures. Occasionally ashes and charcoal were turned up, and in one spot near the centre, and under my own inspection, the men succeeded in digging downwards more than two feet below the log-pavement before the water oozed up, in the course of which nothing was turned out but pure ashes, bits of charcoal, and large quantities of the shells of limpets and common whelks. At the bottom of this hole were solid oak-beams, apparently flattened; but no sooner were their surfaces exposed than the water rushed in and filled the trench. These observations gave rise to the conjecture that this understratum represented the accumulated _débris_ of another, and, of course, an older, period of human occupancy--a conjecture which also derived some support from the fact that the surface of the log-pavement was on a higher level than the tops of the encircling piles.

(3) _Hearths._--Over the log-pavement, and a few yards apart from each other, were three circular hearths, each about five feet in diameter, formed of flat stones embedded in a bed of yellow clay, and raised on a sort of pedestal composed of clay and stones, to the extent of one to one-and-a-half foot. One of them, on being demolished, was found to have been built directly over a former similarly constructed hearth, with an interval of about a foot. These hearths were situated near the centre of the crannog, but on its southern half--i.e. the semicircle farthest from the shore.

(4) _Gangway._--On making a few trial trenches in the space directly between the shore and the crannog in search of a gangway, we could find no indications of woodwork. One day, however, my attention was directed to a portion of the log-pavement which looked like a wooden roadway projecting to the margin of the island, and pointing in a north-western direction, towards a prominence in the trap-ridge. Observing also, that, before the lake was lowered, this prominence would be the nearest land to the crannog, it immediately struck me that, if there was a gangway at all, it would be found along this line. Hypothesis was right this time. The adhesive nature of the lake sediment prevented the water from oozing up so quickly as it did on the crannog, so that we were enabled to expose the woodwork several feet below the level of the lake. Close to the crannog the upper beams of the gangway were about three feet below the surface of the grass; but as we neared the shore with the digging they became less buried, and some of the uprights were found even projecting above the ground.

The general plan on which this gangway was constructed appeared to be identical with that adopted by the crannog-builders of Lochlee. Upright piles, singly and in groups, were placed in a zig-zag fashion, between, and from which, the horizontal beams stretched, fan-like, and so formed a sort of latticework, with empty lozenge-shaped spaces between.

From one of these holes, or meshes, some five feet below the surface of the ground, a fine granite quern-stone was extracted. The piles projected some two feet or more above the body of the gangway; but there was no appearance of a subaqueous or superaqueous platform. It would thus appear that its upper transverses were originally under water--a remark equally applicable to the analogous remains at Lochlee--but to what depth the wooden structures reached could not be ascertained.

_Further Excavations._--In order to facilitate the projected operations of clearing out the bed of the lake the Engineers of the Maybole Waterworks caused the rocky outlet to be cut down to the extent of 3 feet, which thus enabled them to remove a corresponding section of the crannog. The result of this was to show, as was conjectured from the facts ascertained in the previous explorations, that there was, about 2½ feet underneath the log-pavement and its hearths already described, another habitable zone with its log-pavement, mortised beams, etc., together with various relics of human industry. It would appear that this was the original surface of the crannog, as it corresponded with the surrounding stockades, some of which were found in position. Others were seen among a heap of wood collected from the excavated _débris_, amongst which were a few of the ordinary transverses containing square-cut holes at their extremities. One thick beam was deeply grooved and resembled the one found at Lochlee. (See =Fig. 138.=) A few large flat planks, having a round handle-like projection some 18 inches long at one end, had only one square-cut hole, placed sometimes close to this handle, and at other times at the opposite extremity. Another stout oak beam, 6 feet long, contained a series of round holes about an inch in diameter, and from 5 to 6 inches apart. The holes, which were on the broad side of the beam, were about two inches in depth, but only penetrated half through it, and from one of them a portion of a wooden pin was extracted. This beam was in a fragmentary condition, being, like many others, partially charred.

RELICS.

_Stone._--About a barrowful of hammer-stones and round pebbles from 1 to 6 inches in diameter. Polishers and whetstones also, numerous, the latter sometimes perforated for suspension. Three portions of sandstone had each a circular perforation funnel-shaped on both sides. Twelve quern stones, nearly all made of granite, of which nine or ten are the upper stones. One spindle-whorl 1¾ inch in diameter. Two polished discs, one being the segment of a circle (=Fig. 151=), are supposed to have been used as mirrors. An oval implement with two hollowed surfaces like the one represented on =Fig. 175=; its length is 3¼ inches, breadth 2⅝, and thickness 1 inch. The cup-shaped cavities are too large for mere finger-marks. It is made of a hard grey trap rock and, though well wrought all over, is not polished, nor does it exhibit any markings such as are seen on the ordinary hammer-stones. Two flint scrapers, one of which is here figured (=Fig. 151=).

_Bone and Horn._--A pin, chisel (=Fig. 152=), awl, two pointers, and a knife-handle are of bone. Of horn there are also only a few objects, as a pick, club, and some pointed implements of the tines of staghorn.

_Wood._--No specific object, except the stave of a vessel like that of a milk cog, was found in the earlier explorations; but from the lowest stratum there were some curious wooden implements. (See B. 373, p. 310.)

_Iron._--Articles of iron were very rare and much corroded--only one retained its form sufficiently well to be recognised as a small dagger.

_Bronze._--Two curious objects, a key and a spiral of bronze wire, are shown on =Fig. 153=. A small finger-ring. An armlet is said to have been also found, but unfortunately could not be procured for descriptive purposes.

_Lead._--A small bead-shaped portion of lead perforated with a round hole is supposed to be a spindle-whorl.

_Pottery._--Several fragments of Samian ware, one ornamented (=Fig. 154=). Another kind of earthenware was of light colour, and showed handles and well-formed rims (=Fig. 155=).

_Glass._--Two ribbed beads covered with a greenish glaze like those from Loch Dowalton (=Fig. 132=), one of an amber tint beautifully variegated (=Fig. 156=), and another of yellow vitreous paste.

_Rock-Crystal._--A conical piece of rock-crystal, polished and evidently ground to its present form, is here shown in outline (=Fig. 156=).

_Jet or Lignite._--Several bits showing workmanship; a polished ring 1¼ inch in diameter (=Fig. 156=), and portions of two larger ones, probably bracelets; and a remarkable pendant in the form of an encircled cross (=Fig. 156=). The arms of the cross as well as the surrounding circle are adorned with a succession of incised circles alternating with short lines which are supposed to have been intended for the reception of some kind of enamel.

BUSTON.

About half-way between Stewarton and Kilmaurs there is a shallow basin of meadow-land which formerly, according to Blaeu's Atlas, was the bed of a lake of considerable size called Loch Buston. Within the recollection of the present generation this area was a mossy bog in summer and a sheet of water in winter; and about fifty years ago, when the present tenant, Mr. Robert Hay, came to reside on the farm, there was a small mound situated about its centre known as the _Swan Knowe_, on account of the number of wild swans that formerly used to frequent it. When subsequently engaged in reclaiming the bog, Mr. Hay states that as many as thirteen cart-loads of timber were removed from the "Knowe," and he distinctly remembers that, in consequence of the difficulty of detaching some of the mortised beams, his father made the remark, "there maun hae been dwellers here at ae time." He also states that until the land was thoroughly redrained, a few years ago, there was still a considerable mound to be seen; but at the beginning of December, 1880, when I first visited the locality, there was hardly any elevation to distinguish it from the surrounding field.

Notwithstanding the havoc committed on the woodwork of the crannog by a long exposure to atmospheric agencies before it finally sank under the protective influence of the muddy water, and subsequently, by the ruthless hands of the agriculturist, there still remained sufficient materials to give one not only a general, but particular and instructive notion of the mechanical principles on which the island and its superincumbent structures were constructed. The general results of the investigation may be categorically summed up as follows:--

1. The island was composed of a succession of layers of the trunks and branches of trees, intermingled in some places with stones, turf, etc.; and the whole mass was firmly knit together by means of upright piles and horizontal beams arranged in three, and in one part four, concentric circles.

2. The outer circle was intended more for protection than for giving stability to the island, and in some parts, as at the east side of the refuse-heap, the piles were closely set with their tops fixed into a transverse beam after the manner of a stair-railing; while those of the inner ones not only penetrated deeply and gave stability to the island, but also were used as part of the wall of the central building.

3. The area enclosed by the stockades was slightly oval in shape, measuring 61 feet by 56, and rudely paved with wooden beams, many of which were firmly fixed to the lower woodwork by stout wooden pegs as well as to the encircling stockades, thus affording here and there, as it were, _points d'appui_.

4. While there was one general hearth situated near the centre, evidence of one or two fire-places elsewhere was quite conclusive. One of these appeared to have been a smelting-furnace, as it contained flat stones much stained with fire-marks and several masses of heavy slag.

5. The entrance to the central area, which was determined by the stumps of two massive door-posts, had a south-easterly aspect, and in front of it there was a well-constructed wooden platform, made of large oak planks supported on solid layers of wood, to which they were pinned down.

6. Beyond this platform, and separated from it by a massive wooden railing which was continuous with the inner circle of stockades, was the refuse-heap; and to the right a wooden pathway, also protected on its outer side, led downwards and westwards to the outer circle, where there appeared to have been a landing-stage. (See =Figs. 157= and =158=.) About twelve yards in advance of this stage, and 4 feet from the surface of the field, a canoe was found buried in the ancient mud of the lake (=Fig. 159=).

This canoe was 22 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches broad at the stern, widening to about four feet in the middle, and 1 foot 10 inches deep. It is remarkable as showing evidence of having been repaired in two places by neatly fitting pieces of oak planking, which were kept in position by transverse ribs and wooden pins. The stern-piece was movable and fitted into a groove in the sides of the boat. In the mud removed from its interior were a few stones and portion of the skull of an ox.

The refuse-heap occupied an oblong position immediately in front of the southern entrance. It measured some 30 feet long by 15 or 20 broad, and 5 feet deep alongside the above-mentioned railing. Here nearly all the relics and some massive bones were found. These bones were abundantly impregnated with the mineral vivianite, both in its amorphous and crystalline condition, but the specimens of crystals here were much inferior to those from Lochlee. The position of the refuse-heap is seen in the immediate foreground of =Fig. 157=, after the removal of its contents, as a pit partially occupied with water.

The crannog was about one hundred and fifty yards from the nearest shore, and there was no trace of a gangway observed.

LIST OF RELICS.

_Stone._--Hammer-stones, polishers, and whetstones were comparatively rare, only some half dozen being found. Among the latter are fragments of a circular grindstone of fine red sandstone, showing a diameter of about fifteen inches, and a large oblong smooth stone perforated at one end.

Two blocks of sandstone with irregularly shaped cavities in each; a third has a large cup-shaped cavity 5½ inches in diameter and 2½ inches deep, and on it are the marks of sharpening tools; hence the cup is supposed to have been for holding water for facilitating the operation of sharpening. Another small fragment has a neatly formed cup-shaped cavity. Two querns, both upper stones; one is of the usual form, but the other is flat and more like a modern millstone. It measures 18 inches across and the central hole is 3 inches in diameter, but not funnel-shaped. For the insertion of a handle there is a square-cut hole near the margin.

Two spindle-whorls, one of which was of cannel coal. Three crucibles, one having particles of gold in its crevices and another the remains of a yellowish slag (=Fig. 160=). One flint knife (=Fig. 160=), two scrapers, two cores, and a few chips.

_Bone._--Twenty pins, of which only one was ornamented with a check pattern (=Fig. 161=). One darning-needle (=Fig. 161=). Three round knobs and one curiously worked object. One of the knobs is ornamented with circular lines. Three nearly perfect toilet combs and fragments of others (=Fig. 162=).

_Horn._--A polished dagger 7½ inches long, another roughly cut, and a few handles.

_Wood._--Fragments of a wooden bowl, ornamented with three incised lines parallel to the rim, which must have been made on a wood-turners lathe; one small fragment had a clasp of thin brass over it as if it had been mended. Portions of an oar, a canoe, a board pierced with holes, and some large pins like those found at Lochlee.