Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
In a large cairn on the farm of Hillock Head, in the parish of Towie,
Aberdeenshire, which covered an interment placed in a cist with an urn,
there were found a number of bronze objects, all of which were lost
except two (Fig. 99), which are now in the Museum. They are in the form
of oval hollow rings, expanding on the inferior side, and having an oval
opening in the under part, which shows the remains of an iron pin
fastened at each side of the opening with lead. Their general appearance
is suggestive of the mountings of horse-harness, but their precise
purpose is not obvious, and the articles found in association with them
are undescribed. Although the testimony is singularly defective on that
point, it is not probable that they had any connection with the
interment in the “short cist” which contained bones and an
[Illustration: Fig. 100.—Mounting in Cast Bronze from Dowalton Loch (2
inches in diameter).] urn. A similar object in bronze, also presenting
the remains of iron fastenings in the lower part, was found under a
large stone on the hill of Crichie, near Kintore, along with a number of
globular balls of shale each about 1¼ inch in diameter, slightly
flattened on one side, and having the remains of iron loop-like
fastenings in the flattened side.[59] A number of rings and
harness-mountings found at Middleby, in Annandale, in 1737, and now
preserved in Penicuick House, exhibit the same style of decoration in a
more pronounced and characteristic manner.[60]
-----
Footnote 59:
_Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, vol. v. p. 111.
Footnote 60:
They have been figured by Dr. Daniel Wilson in _The Prehistoric Annals
of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 156.
-----
A mounting in cast bronze (Fig. 100), 2 inches diameter, the sunk spaces
of which had probably been filled with enamels, was recently found in
the dry bed of the loch of Dowalton, which was drained about eighteen
years ago. It is formed of a combination of segmental spaces, the curves
of which are those of the divergent spiral, each space being surrounded
by a raised border, and the sunk surfaces roughened with a tool.
[Illustration: Fig. 101.—Bridle-bit found in a Moss at Birrenswark,
Dumfriesshire (6¾ inches in length).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account