Canoes are so invariably found associated with crannogs, that their discovery in lakes and bogs has been considered by Dr. Stuart as an indication of the existence of the latter. This may be true in some cases, but in others, such as Closeburn, Lochwinnoch, and Loch Doon, three of the examples cited by him, it is more probable that the canoes were used by the occupiers of the mediæval castles in the vicinity of which they were found. From these and many other instances that have come under my notice, I have come to the conclusion that dug-out canoes do not indicate such great antiquity as is commonly attributed to them, nor do they therefore necessarily carry us back to prehistoric times.
While some fragments of the pottery collected on the Ayrshire crannogs (all of which include Samian ware) are undoubtedly Romano-British, others as certainly point to a different period and source. I am informed on the best authority that all the portions showing any appearance of glaze, such as those represented by Figs. 181 to 184, were manufactured in mediæval times; but on the other hand that others (Fig. 186) may belong to the same class of fictile ware as was used for mortuary purposes in Pagan times. My own knowledge of the subject is too slender to guide me in forming an opinion on these points; but, considering how little is actually known of the pottery of the transitional period between that of the sepulchral urns and mediæval times, any conflicting inferences that may be deduced from such a line of discussion need not, at least in the meantime, interfere with the chronological conclusions pointed at elsewhere. The statement made by Grose (see page 155), that the monks of the monastery at Friars' Carse used to lodge their valuable effects on the artificial island in the loch when the English made inroads into Strathnith, suggests a possible, and perhaps probable, escape from any difficulty of this sort.
Again, while it is evident from the parallel striation on some of the fragments, on which the traces of glaze still remain, that they were manufactured on the wheel, an inspection of Figs. 160, 161, and 181, proves that hand-wrought vessels were also manufactured after the introduction of glaze. That sepulchral urns were all made by hand is not a sufficient proof that the wheel was not simultaneously in use among the same people. The extraordinary conservatism, as regards changes in religious ceremonies, displayed by all nations and in all ages, is a sufficient explanation of the persistency with which the hand-wrought vessels have continued in use for sepulchral purposes. Hence, I can conceive that to substitute for the latter others made on the wheel, though at the same time largely used for domestic purposes, would have been an intolerable innovation on the religious customs of the people.
The Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in discussing the question whether the various early sepulchral vessels were especially made for the purposes of burial, or were originally manufactured for domestic use, thus writes:—
"But perhaps the strongest objection to their having fulfilled a purpose in the household, is the fact that they possess but little in common with the pottery which, without much doubt, is domestic. It is true that not very much of this has been discovered, but quite enough has been found to enable us to judge pretty accurately of its character. It has not, indeed, been proved conclusively that the people who occupied the hut-circles and pit-dwellings were those who erected the barrows so often met with in close proximity to them; but if we may judge, as I think we fairly may, from the identity of the flint implements found in each, there can be little doubt that they were, the one the dwelling-place, the other the burial-place, of the same people. Now, the pottery which has been discovered on the site of dwelling-places is a dark-coloured, hard-baked, perfectly plain ware, without ornament of any kind, is in fact just what we would expect domestic pottery to be, and has nothing in which it resembles the sepulchral vessels. And more than this, so far as I know of my own experience, or can learn from that of others, no whole vessel, or even fragments, of the ordinary sepulchral pottery of the barrows or other places of sepulture has ever been met with in connection with places of habitation."—(British Barrows, p. 106.)
That many of these relics were the products of a refined civilisation, is not more remarkable than the unexpected and strangely discordant circumstances in which they have been found. For this reason it might be supposed that the crannogs were the headquarters of thieves and robbers, where the proceeds of their marauding excursions among the surrounding Roman provincials were stored up. The inferences derived from a careful consideration of all the facts do not appear to me to support this view, nor do they uphold another view, sometimes propounded, viz., that they were fortified islands occupied by the guardian soldiers of the people. Indeed, amongst the relics military remains are only feebly represented by a few iron daggers and spear-heads, one or two doubtful arrow-points, and a quantity of round pebbles and so-called sling-stones. On the other hand, a very large percentage of the articles consists of querns, hammer-stones, polishers, flint-flakes, and scrapers; stone and clay spindle-whorls, pins, needles, and bodkins; knife-handles of red-deer horn, together with many other implements of the same material; bowls, ladles, and other vessels of wood, some of which were turned on the lathe; knives, axes, saws, hammers, chisels, and gouges of iron; several crucibles, lumps of iron slag, and other remains of metals, etc. From all these, not to mention the great variety of ornaments, there can be no ambiguity as to the testimony they afford of the peaceful prosecution of various arts and industries by the lake-dwellers.
Proofs of a prolonged but occasionally interrupted occupancy are also manifested by the great accumulation of débris over the wooden pavements, the size and contents of the kitchen-middens, and the superimposed hearths so well observed at Lochlee.
From the respective reports of Professors Owen, Rolleston, and Cleland, on a selection of osseous remains taken from the lake-dwellings at Dowalton, Lochlee, and Buston (see pp. 50, 139-143, 236-239), we can form a fair idea of the food of the occupiers. The Celtic short-horn (Bos longifrons), the so-called goat-horned sheep (Ovis aries, variety brachyura), and a domestic breed of pigs, were largely consumed. The horse was only scantily used. The number of bones and horns of the red-deer and roebuck showed that venison was by no means a rare addition to the list of their dietary. Among birds, only the goose has been identified, but this is no criterion of the extent of their encroachment on the feathered tribe, as only the larger bones were collected and reported upon. To this bill of fare the occupiers of Lochspouts crannog, being comparatively near the sea, added several kinds of shell-fish. In all the lake-dwellings that have come under my own observation, the broken shells of hazel-nuts were in profuse abundance.
From the number of querns and the great preponderance of the bones of domestic over those of wild animals, it may be inferred that, for subsistence, they depended more on the cultivation of the soil and the rearing of cattle, sheep, and pigs, than on the produce of the chase.
There is, in my opinion, only one hypothesis that can satisfactorily account for all the facts and phenomena here adduced, viz., that the lake-dwellings in the south-west of Scotland were constructed by the Celtic inhabitants as a means of protecting their lives and movable property when, upon the frequent withdrawal of the Roman soldiers from the district, they were left, single-handed, to contend against the Angles on the east, and the Picts and Scots on the north. It is not likely that these rich provincials, so long accustomed to the comforts and luxury of Roman civilisation, or their descendants in the subsequent kingdom of Strathclyde, would become the assailants of such fierce and lawless enemies, from whom, even if conquered, they could derive no benefit. Hence their military tactics and operations would assume more the character of defence than aggression, and in order to defeat the object of the frequent and sudden inroads of the northern tribes, which was to plunder the inhabitants rather than to conquer the country, experience taught them the necessity of being prepared for emergencies by having certain places of more than ordinary security where they could deposit their wealth, or to which they could retire as a last resource when hard pressed. These retreats might be caves, fortified camps, or inaccessible islands, but in localities where no such natural strongholds existed, the military genius of the Celtic inhabitants, prompted perhaps by inherited notions, led them to construct these wooden islands. Since the final departure of the Romans till the conquest of the kingdom of Strathclyde by the Northumbrian Angles, a period of several centuries, this unfortunate people had few intervals of peace (see pp. 249 to 259), and, with their complete subjugation, ended the special function of the Lake-Dwellings as a national system of protection. No doubt some of them, as well as caves and such hiding-places, would continue to afford a refuge to straggling remnants of natives rendered desperate by the relentless persecution of their enemies, but, ultimately, all of them would fall into the hands of the Saxon conquerors, when, henceforth, they would be allowed to subside into mud or crumble into decay.