The archæology and prehistoric annals of ScotlandWilson, Daniel, Sir
History
The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland
Wilson, Daniel, Sir
Scotland -- Antiquities
Unperforated spherical stones, generally about the size of an orange,
have been referred to along with other contents of the Scottish
tumulus. It is not always possible to distinguish these from the
stone cannon ball which continued in use even in James VI.'s reign.
The circumstances under which they occur, however, leave no room
to doubt that they ranked among the articles held in esteem by the
primitive races of Britain, ages before the chemical properties of
nitre, sulphur, and charcoal had been employed to supersede older
projectile forces. The distinction is further confirmed by their being
occasionally decorated with incised circles and other ornaments, as
in the example shewn here, found near the line of the old Roman way
which runs through Dumfriesshire on its northern course from Carlisle.
Another of highly polished flint has already been described among the
remarkable disclosures of a large cairn on the Moor of Glenquicken,
Kirkcudbrightshire, and two of similar form were shewn me recently
as a part of the contents of a cist opened in the course of farming
operations on the estate of Cochno, Dumbartonshire, one of which
was made of highly-polished red granite, a species of rock unknown
in that district. Similar balls occur among the relics found in the
barrows of Denmark. In the "Report addressed by the Royal Society of
Northern Antiquaries to its British and American Members," printed at
Copenhagen in 1836, a class of primitive objects are described under
the name of Corn Crushers. The engraving of one of these represents
a rude block of stone flattened on the upper side. In the centre of
this is a circular cavity, into which a smooth ball of stone has been
made to fit, thereby supplying by a less efficient means the same
purpose aimed at in the querne, discovered so frequently under a
variety of shapes among the relics of various periods of early Scottish
history. The shallow circular stone troughs or mortars so often found
in Scottish burghs and weems belong to the same class. A still ruder
device consists of a pair of stones which have evidently been employed
in rubbing against each other, and it may be presumed with the same
object in view, that of bruising the grain for domestic use. They have
been occasionally noticed among the chance disclosures of the spade or
plough in Scotland, and are of common occurrence in the Irish bogs. The
author of the Account of Halkirk Parish, Caithness, thus describes the
mortars above referred to, and also the pestles or crushers--manifestly
a similar device to the Danish corn crushers--which are found together
in the burghs:--"I have seen in them numbers of small round hard
stones, in the form of a very flat or oblate sphere, of 2½ inches
thick in the centre, and about four inches in diameter; also other
round stones, perfectly circular, very plain and level on one side,
with a small rise at the circumference, and about a foot in diameter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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