Several bits of brass plate, apparently used as clasps for mending purposes. One, indeed, was found attached to a small portion of a wooden bowl. Also a thin brass button 11⁄4 inch in diameter.
(c.) Articles made of Gold.
Finger-Rings.—On the 14th December one of the workmen while clearing out the refuse-heap turned up a curious spectacle-like ornament, made by twisting the ends of a thick and somewhat square-shaped gold wire into the form of a double spiral ring (Fig. 244). Upon close inspection it became evident that originally this article was a handsome spiral finger-ring, containing 51⁄2 twists, but that, from some means or other, two of the twists had been forced apart from the others. The direction of certain scratches, and a slight mark as if a blow had been struck (probably the spade of the finder), seem to me to confirm this explanation. It lay buried half-way down in the midden, close to the base of the large parapet in front of the entrance to the area of the log-pavement. It weighs 300 grains, and its internal diameter measures a shade over 5⁄8 of an inch. On the 16th April, while clearing away the soil on the west side of the crannog, a few feet to the inner side of the inner circle of piles, another spiral ring was found (Fig. 245). It is made of round gold wire, not quite so massive as the former, and contains rather more than six twists. Both ends taper slightly, and, for nearly a whole twist, are ornamented by a series of circular grooves which gives them some resemblance to the tail end of a serpent. The colour of the gold of this ring is a brighter yellow than that of the former. Its internal diameter is exactly 5⁄8 of an inch, and its weight is 245 grains. Both rings were quite clean, and free from all tarnish when exposed.[37]
Fig. 244.
Gold Finger-Ring (1⁄1).
Fig. 245.
Gold Finger-Ring (1⁄1).