Fig. 185.—Ground plan of Broch of Kettleburn, near Wick, Caithness.
(From a Plan by Mr. A. H. Rhind.)
When fully cleared from the ruin of its upper portion, the lower part of the building showed a circular construction (b b in the accompanying plan, Fig. [185]), consisting of a wall 15 feet thick, surrounding a central area of 30 feet diameter. The doorway (e) passing straight through the wall, was flanked by a guard-chamber (t) on either side. Remains of two oblong chambers (r, i) constructed in the thickness of the wall were also found some distance apart. The roofs of all the chambers were gone, but the lintels remained on the passages leading into them. There was a well with steps leading down to it in the central area. It was 9 feet deep, and being covered for the support of a partition wall (p p) which passed over it, was full of good spring water when discovered. The area enclosed within the circular wall of the Broch was subdivided into irregularly-shaped spaces (m, s, o) by walls built across it in various directions, and abutting on the main wall. I shall have more to say of such irregular constructions within and around these towers when we come to deal with them in other cases, which show that they are secondary constructions, built out of and upon the fallen materials of the primary edifice. The area outside the tower for a distance of 25 feet from its external wall was covered by the ruins of similar irregular constructions (c d), and the whole was surrounded at that distance from the central tower by a wall (a) 3 feet thick, of whose height little more than the foundations remained.
The objects found during the excavation of the buildings are preserved in the Museum. They were not very numerous, but they formed the first collection made by the systematic excavation of a Broch, and thus were possessed of inestimable value and interest. In point of fact, the gift of this collection to the National Museum gave a new character to the collection of Scottish antiquities, and a new direction to the science of Scottish Archæology. The Museum had previously been enriched by multitudes of donations of objects illustrating the unwritten history of the country, but they were mostly objects whose associations and relations were matters of inference and speculation. This group of objects, on the other hand, was one of which it could be said—(1) that they were related to each other by their common association with a single inhabited site; (2) that they all had relations with a certain typical form of structure; (3) that very various characteristics of form, material, art, and industry were shown to be thus inter-associated; (4) that the condition and culture of the occupants of the structure are truly disclosed by the study of this group of relics, in so far as the objects of which it is composed are capable of affording such indications; and (5) that the special knowledge thus acquired from the study of a group of relics derived from one structure is also an important contribution to our general knowledge of the class to which it belongs.
The group of objects recovered from the ruins of the Broch consisted—(1) of manufactured articles used in connection with the daily life of the inmates; and (2) of objects not manufactured, which were plainly the refuse of their food.
Fig. 186.—Lamp of Sandstone from Broch of Kettleburn.
The manufactured articles included objects fabricated in stone and bone, bronze and iron. The stone objects were principally querns or stones of the old small hand-mills for grinding grain; stone pounders or oblong naturally rounded pebbles of various sizes, having their ends worn down by use; flat circular discs of thin slaty stone, varying from 3 or 4 to 10 or 12 inches diameter, which might have served such purposes as are still occasionally served by similar articles in country dairies and kitchens; oval-shaped boulders of sandstone,
Fig. 186.—Lamp of Sandstone from Broch of Kettleburn. having roughly-formed oval or cup-shaped cavities in their upper surfaces, which may have held a dab of tallow, with a wick of tow or moss, and thus served as lamps (Fig. [186]); other hollowed cup-shaped or bowl-shaped stones, more regularly formed externally and internally, some of which were furnished with handles, and were therefore obviously domestic dishes; seven stone whorls for the spindle; several whetstones and various other articles of indeterminate purpose.