Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
The relics found in this Broch included a variety of manufactured
objects in stone and bone, bronze and iron. The stone objects formed a
very considerable and striking group. Among them there were upwards of
fifty querns or hand-mill stones, and an immense quantity of oblong
naturally-shaped stones from 3 or 4 to 15 or 18 inches in length,
water-worn originally, but also wasted at the ends by use as
hammer-stones or pounders. A number of the largest of these were found
set in the ground in rows both inside and outside of the tower. There
were also a large number of stone mortars, irregularly-rounded blocks,
with wide-mouthed rounded cavities, worn smooth by use. Most of the
other stone articles were small. They consisted of the drinking-cup
already mentioned (Fig. 121) as a bowl-shaped vessel, neatly made, with
a handle at one side; a thin smoothly-polished disc of quartzose
sandstone, about 2½ inches diameter, similar to others of mica schist,
and other materials that have been found in Brochs and Crannogs, but of
undetermined use; a small black whetstone or burnisher, smoothed and
polished by use; a small flattish ovoid pebble of quartzite (Fig. 192),
having indentations produced apparently by point-sharpening on its
opposite sides; a quantity of fragments of rings or bracelets of lignite
probably obtained from the Brora beds, and a considerable number of
spindle-whorls of various forms and sizes. The bone implements were
mostly of the nature of handles made of deer-horn, and spatulæ, which
Dr. Joass has suggested may probably have been potter’s tools. No
implements or ornaments of bronze were found, but the presence of the
metal was determined by the finding of three fragments of well-made
crucibles with adhering portions of the melted metal. The iron objects
were a spear-head, a dagger-blade, a knife-blade, a socketed chisel, and
several fragments of implements of indeterminate character. The only
other object of metal discovered was a small and thick ring of lead a
little more than an inch in diameter. The fragments of pottery found
were for the most part portions of coarsely-made vessels, all unglazed
and unornamented. The refuse of the food of the inmates was present in
considerable quantity. The land animals represented among these remains
were the reindeer, the red-deer, the roe, the ox, the sheep, the goat,
the pig, the fox, the wild-cat, and either the wolf or a very large dog.
The marine animals were the whale, the grampus, the porpoise, the
dog-fish, and the cod and haddock, while the remains of such edible
shell-fish as the oyster, the mussel, the cockle, the periwinkle, and
the limpet were very abundant.
[Illustration: Fig. 193.—Hammer-marked Plate of Brass found in the Broch
of Carn-liath (11½ by 7½ inches).]
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