The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland

by Sir Daniel Wilson

The rudimentary form of the cinerary urn is the common flower-pot shape, which the potter still finds the easiest and simplest into which the plastic clay can be fashioned. The later fictile ware, however, which is found deposited in the sepulchres, apparently for the purpose of holding food or preserving other tributes of affection or reverence, is characterized by considerable variety both in shape and decoration. Vases of a peculiar form, and apparently not sepulchral but domestic—in so far as they lay beside unburnt bones, and contained no incinerated remains—were discovered in several stone cists dug up in the years 1833 and 1834, in the parish of Whitsome, Berwickshire. The cists measured internally four and a half feet in length, and lay north and south. "Each chest had also its urn of unglazed earthenware, and of a triangular shape, the original contents of which had been converted into a quantity of black dust."[332] I have in vain attempted to ascertain if any of these singular examples of primitive fictile ware are still in existence. The two urns here represented were found under circumstances which seem in like manner to indicate their original use as domestic rather than sepulchral vessels, though they differ little from shapes of frequent occurrence in cinerary urns. They were found in the year 1817 by a party of men employed in levelling a piece of ground on a farm at Banchory, Aberdeenshire.[333] In the progress of their work their tools struck on a stone, which proved to be the cover of a cist of unusually large dimensions, lying nearly due NE. and SW. It was composed of six stones, so arranged that the skeleton which lay within at full length was bent at the pelvis to fit the angular construction of the cist. It measured internally, in a straight line, six feet, by two and a quarter feet at the north end, where the head lay, and only one foot ten inches at the lower end. The whole was composed of rough undressed mica-slate of from three to five inches thick. Within this the skeleton was disposed in the singular position above described, with the vases on its right side, one opposite the knee and the other at the thigh-joint. Nothing was found in them but some sand which had fallen in on opening the cist. The largest measured six and a half inches, and the other five inches in height. They are described as "composed of the common stones of the country pounded,—granite, mica-slate, apparently some moss-earth, and a little clay on the outside. They are wonderfully accurately made, and the patterns meet so well that one would think they had been done in a lathe or stamped. They are perfectly circular, and seem to have been only baked in the sun." Several cists have been discovered in the same neighbourhood, but no other example is known to have corresponded to this either in disposition or contents. The whole skeleton crumbled into dust after being exposed for a short time to the air; but it would appear to have exhibited the wonted characteristic of a remarkably small head in proportion to the body. The discoverer remarks: "The teeth are perfectly fresh; and from the appearance of the jaws the skeleton must be that of a full-grown person, though of small stature."

A still more remarkable example of pottery somewhat similarly disposed, was discovered more recently on the demolition of the old town steeple of Montrose. This venerable belfry tower, which was ascribed to the twelfth century, occupied the highest ground in the centre of the ancient burgh. After serving for centuries as clock-tower, belfry, and prison, the fabric at length became so ruinous that it was taken down in 1833. In digging the foundations for the new steeple, which occupies its site, the workmen excavated the ground about nine feet below the surface, and fully three feet below the base of the old tower. Remains of several bodies were found in the new ground: one of which lay with the head towards the west, and had a small pile driven through the skull. In another part, directly underneath the foundations of the old tower, was a skeleton disposed at full length in a rude stone cist, and with four urns beside it: two at the head and two at the feet. The skeleton measured six feet in length, and the skull, which has been already referred to, is now in the Edinburgh Phrenological Museum.[334] Only two of the urns were preserved; one of which is now in the Montrose Museum, and the other in the collection of the Scottish Antiquaries. The latter is a neat vessel of common form, and decorated with the usual style of incised chevron ornaments. There is something peculiarly interesting in the recovery of these memorials of long forgotten generations, over which later builders had reared the massive tower unconscious of their presence. The strong old Gothic masonry, after withstanding the storms of some seven centuries, has decayed and been swept away, and from beneath its foundations we recover the fragile yet more enduring memorials of primitive skill pertaining to a far older era, when the infant nation was just struggling into intelligent youth.

Among the most remarkable classes of domestic pottery found in the tumuli, are those evidently designed for suspension, and occasionally provided with a cover or lid made of the same material. Some of them are made round on the bottom, so as to be unfitted for setting on the ground, and it seems no improbable inference that in these we possess examples of the earliest artificial cooking vessels manufactured by native skill. They are familiar to continental as well as to British archæologists, and are figured in several works on Scandinavian antiquities. The example engraved here, from the original in the Scottish Museum, measures 4½ inches in height, and about 6½ inches in extreme diameter. It was found in one of a group of cists, under a large cairn, situated at a place called Sheal Loch, in the parish of Borthwick, near Edinburgh, and is minutely described by Dr. Jamieson in the Archæologia Scotica.[335] Five perforated projections are disposed at nearly equal distances around it, and the interior of the vessel bears evident marks of fire. Nothing but clay was found either in it or the inclosing cist, and no urns were discovered in any of the adjoining graves. It appears to be made of fine baked clay, and is of a much harder and more durable consistency than the majority of specimens of Celtic pottery. Urns perforated for suspension, though by no means common, are occasionally found in the British tumuli. The fragments of another, found in Fifeshire, with perforated ears, are preserved in the same collection with the above; and a third example, found in a cairn at Crakraig, Sutherlandshire, in 1818, and engraved in the Archæologia,[336] appears to have been of the same class. Reference has already been made to a small cup discovered during the construction of the "Queen's Drive" round Arthur Seat in 1846, and, as is believed, alongside of the cinerary urn, alluded to in a former chapter, which was broken in pieces by the workmen. The little cup is formed with great regularity, and ornamented with a uniform pattern, the lines of which seem as if they had been impressed on the soft clay with a fine twisted cord. It measures 1¾ inches in height, 3¼ inches in extreme diameter, and fully half an inch in thickness.[337] Another cup, in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, of still more regular proportions, and a higher style of ornamentation, was dug out of the foundation of an ancient ruin in the island of Ronaldshay, Orkney, and presented to the Society in 1831. Like the larger urns referred to above, it is perforated for suspension. Similar cups are of comparatively frequent occurrence; sometimes devoid of ornament, but generally symmetrical, and finished with a degree of art and skill indicative of their construction, and of the adoption of the ideas which led to their being deposited with the funeral urn, at a considerably later period than that of the rude hand-made pottery of the early tumuli.

In striking contrast to these minute sepulchral relics, many of the Scottish cinerary urns are of an unusually large size. So far as my opportunities of observation extend, it is much more common in Scotland than either in England or on the Continent to meet with urns measuring thirteen, fourteen, and even sixteen inches high. In the cairns, more especially where several urns are grouped together, one is very frequently much larger than the others, though not more ornamented; for the pottery of the largest size is generally comparatively plain. The woodcut represents one, now in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, measuring 11½ inches in height. It was found within the area of the modern Scottish capital, in digging for the foundation of the north pier of the Dean Bridge that spans a deep ravine through which the Water of Leith finds its way to the neighbouring port. Numerous cists and urns have been discovered in the extension of the New Town of Edinburgh towards the sea, attesting the presence of a busy and ingenious native race in ages long prior to the dawn of authentic history, on the same spot which has formed the centre of nearly all the most memorable events in the national annals in more recent centuries. Another urn in the Scottish Museum, measuring 12½ inches in height, was found near Abden House, in the parish of Kinghorn, Fifeshire, in 1848, by workmen engaged in cutting through the rocks on the sea-shore, preparatory to the formation of the Northern Railway. When discovered it lay in an inverted position on the flat surface of the rock, at a depth of five feet from the surface, and was full of ashes and burnt bones. In examples discovered under similar circumstances, it is not unfrequently observed that the inside of the urn exhibits considerable marks of exposure to heat and smoke. The incinerated remains would appear to have been carefully gathered together in a little heap while yet the glowing embers had only partially consumed the bones, and over this the inverted urn was laid, quenching the last fires that glowed within the ashes once ardent with impetuous life.

None of those examples of primitive Scottish pottery have been accompanied by relics which would enable us to assign them with absolute certainty to the period when the introduction of the metallurgic arts had stimulated native skill and ingenuity into action; unless perhaps in the case of the small cup found on Arthur Seat, alongside of which I have reason to believe the bronze celt now in my possession was found. But most of them, in all probability, do belong to that period; nor is it at all improbable that the practice of cremation may itself be traced to the same source from whence the ingenious workers in stone learned to fuse the metallic ores, and fashion them into every variety of form. There are not wanting, however, numerous examples both of native domestic pottery and of cinerary urns, found along with relics which leave no room to question their belonging to the Bronze Period. The larger of the two vases represented in the annexed woodcut was discovered under a tumulus at Memsie, Aberdeenshire, and beside it lay a bronze leaf-shaped sword, broken in two. It is scarcely a quarter of an inch in thickness, and otherwise exhibits in symmetrical proportions and durable material the evidences of experienced workmanship. In style of ornament it differs little from the ruder specimens of Celtic pottery. But from the well-baked material and the unusual thinness of the ware, it furnishes a good example of the highest perfection attained in the potter's art prior to the introduction of the vitrified glazing which is found for the first time in connexion with the relics of the latest Pagan era. Some similarity of form may be traced between this vessel and the larger of the two discovered in the cist at Banchory. It is a peculiar shape, and no doubt designed for some special purpose, possibly a pitcher for liquids—the Pictish heather ale, perchance, of vulgar tradition,—while the shallower vase which accompanied the former example would more fitly receive the solid food provided to appease the anticipated cravings of the dead. Alongside of the urn from Memsie another is figured belonging to the same period, which was dug up in the parish of Ratho, a few miles from Edinburgh. It was found filled with ashes and fragments of human bones, mingled with which were the fragments of bronze rings, and the handle of a small vessel of the same metal. Both of these specimens of primitive fictile ware are now in the Scottish Museum. A third, in the same collection, somewhat similar to the last, was discovered in trenching a field near the old castle of Kineff, Kincardineshire. A bronze spear lay beside it, and within it were found, mingled with the ashes of the dead, two large bronze rings, possibly designed to be worn as bracelets, and the broken and corroded fragments of several others of smaller proportions.

The numerous discoveries of cinerary urns and sepulchral pottery of various kinds, which have been made in Scotland, abundantly prove the very extensive and long continued practice of the rite of cremation by the early Britons. It is a just subject of regret that so very limited a number of examples of these curious specimens of native art have been preserved. The statistical accounts of nearly every parish in Scotland report such discoveries, frequently in considerable numbers. Many pass into private hands, to be forgotten and abandoned to neglect and decay, when the transient influence of novelty has passed away; many more are destroyed so soon as discovered. To the casual observer they appear mere rude clay urns characterized by little variety or art. A closer examination of them, however, shews that they are divisible by periods, classes, and the adaptation to various purposes; and it is hardly to be doubted that, with an ample and systematically arranged collection, a much more minute classification might become apparent. A more general diffusion of knowledge on this subject will, it is to be hoped, aid in the accomplishment of so desirable an end. With the hearty cooperation of landed proprietors, clergy, and the educated classes who have influence in rural districts, it might be effected at little cost or trouble; and it is impossible fully to anticipate the important inferences that might become obvious, in relation to the primeval history of our country, by such an accumulation of the productions of native archaic art. Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, and medieval manufactures, have all been patiently and enthusiastically traced back to their first rude efforts. It is to the study of the infancy of medieval art especially that the sculptors and painters of Germany, France, and England, have now turned in their enthusiastic anticipations of a new revival. Why should the infantile efforts of our own national ancestry be alone deemed unworthy of regard, rude though they be, and little akin to the favourite models of modern schools? They form an important first-link in the history of native design, and manifestly were among the earliest products of skilled labour and inventive ingenuity. It is obvious, moreover, that the art must have been in use for many generations. Amid the evidences of a thinly scattered population, examples of it are still of very frequent occurrence, after all the ravages of the spade and the plough. In these we trace its gradual improvement, and from thence very effectually discover proofs of the progress of their constructors. First in order is the shapeless hand-made urn, merely dried in the sun. To this succeed the imperfect efforts at decoration and symmetrical design, and also the subjection of the moist clay to the process of the kiln. Then comes the important discovery of the potter's wheel, in the train of which many other improvements follow. Taste is displayed in a variety of forms and ornamental patterns. In the source to which it is conceived some of the more complicated of these designs are referrible, we have another evidence of civilizing arts. Among the rarer contents of the British sepulchral mounds, fragments of manufactured clothing have been repeatedly found. These appear to have been invariably wrought with the knitting-needle, and in their texture may be traced the various patterns of herring-bone, chevron, and saltire work, as well as nearly all the more complicated designs employed in ornamenting the contemporary pottery. After a careful examination of the examples within my reach, I have little doubt of this being the source of the earliest imitative ornamentation, in advance of the first simple attempts at combinations of incised lines. The subject will come again under review in a future chapter; but, meanwhile, it may be noted here as suggestive of the possible first source of decoration of the rude cinerary urn, that its fragile texture may have been strengthened by being surrounded with a platting of cords or rushes, which, in tasteful hands, would assume the same forms as in the work of the knitting needles, and thus lead to the reproduction of such patterns by a more durable process on the clay. Humboldt describes a similar practice which came under his notice at the village of Maniquarez in South America, where the Indian women fashioned their rude vessels out of a decomposed mica-slate, which they bound together with twigs, and baked in the sun. It is certain that very many of the indented patterns on British pottery have been produced by the impress of twisted cords on the wet clay,—the intentional imitation, it may be, of undesigned indentations originally made by the platted net-work on ruder urns,—so simple and yet so natural may be the source to which we must look for the first glimmering dawn of British art. Painters have delighted to picture the Grecian maiden tracing her lover's shadow on the wall. Perchance some British artist may not think it beneath his pencil to restore to us the aboriginal potter marvelling at the unsought beauty which his own hands have wrought.

Along with such evidences of taste and inventive ingenuity as the works of the primitive potter display, the increasing demands of progressive civilisation also become apparent in the adaptation of vessels to the various requirements of domestic convenience or luxury; the clay-made pottery improves from the clumsy, friable, ill-baked urn, into a vessel of light and durable consistency, fitted for all the common purposes of fictile ware. To this extent it was carried during the archaic era of native art to which we give the name of the Bronze Period. It will be seen in a future section that it received further improvements from native skill before it was superseded by more ingenious arts indirectly derived from Roman civilisation.