Fig. 185.—Pottery (2⁄3).
Fig. 186 represents another class of pottery very different from the latter. It is nearly 1⁄2 an inch in thickness, and is altogether more massive, but contains no coarse sand, and its colour externally is a dull black.
Fig. 186.—Pottery (2⁄3). Section of Fig. 186.
Organic Remains.—At his own request, a selection of the bones and horns collected during the investigations was forwarded to the late distinguished and much lamented Professor Rolleston of Oxford, for examination and comparison with those from Lochlee, but unfortunately, owing to the state of his health, he was unable to make a report. I may state, however, that the osseous remains were very similar to those from Lochlee. The bones of the sheep, amongst which was an entire skull, were proportionately in greater numbers than either those of the pig or ox. Horns were very abundant, but included only those of the red-deer and roe-deer. Judging from the amount of the remains of shell-fish (Lit. littorea, Patella vulgata, and Trochus), they must have been largely consumed as food.[34]
Section III.
Notice of a Crannog at Barhapple Loch, Glenluce, Wigtownshire.
(By the Rev. George Wilson, Glenluce, C.M.S.A. Scot.)
Barhapple Loch, on the farm of Derskelpin, lay a little to the south of the road from Portpatrick to Dumfries, just beyond the fourth milestone east from Glenluce, between two round hills called Derlauchlin and Barhapple, and about 285 feet above the level of the sea. The water-parting is at Barhapple Hill. The loch was about 1500 feet long, and 1000 feet broad, surrounded by deep peat bog, except on part of the east shore where it touched Barhapple, and rested on a bottom of deep soft peat. Although the water was only a few feet deep, its black colour and the inaccessible nature of the shore on the west side prevented the discovery of any trace of lake-dwellings. It was drained in the autumn of 1878, and in November of that year Mr. Shearer, the tenant, told me that a small round patch of logs and stones had become visible.
On the 15th of October 1880, our President, the Earl of Stair, assembled a party to explore the crannog. There were present with him Admiral Sir John C. Dalrymple-Hay, Bart., M.P., and Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, Bart., M.P., two of our Vice-Presidents; the Hon. Hugh Dalrymple, Mr. J. Pendarves Vivian, M.P., Mr. Vans Agnew of Barnbarroch, Mr. J. Leveson Stewart of Glen Ogil, with Mr. R. W. Cochran-Patrick, M.P., and myself, the Secretaries of the Association. Our digging was stopped at a depth of two and a half or three feet by the influx of water, yet we found a good deal to interest us. This lake-dwelling, so far as explored, consists mainly of piles and platforms of wood, with rough stones at some points. It is about 280 feet from the west shore, but the gangway had run about 550 feet to the east shore at the foot of Barhapple, where there is hard ground. It is surrounded by a row of oak piles, enclosing a space 175 feet long from north to south, and 127 feet broad, and rounded at the angles. While the digging was going on Sir Herbert Maxwell took these measurements for me, and Mr. Vivian walked round on the soft peat and counted the piles in the outer row, of which 134 were visible. There is a slight gap at the west side, and a larger one on the south side, with the piles on each side of it more thinly set. An irregular line on the Plan marks off a part of the enclosure on the east side, which is about 9 inches higher than the rest, and is the only part that can be walked upon with ease in ordinary weather. After heavy rain the whole is still inaccessible, owing to the imperfect outfall of the drainage.