The archæology and prehistoric annals of ScotlandWilson, Daniel, Sir
History
The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland
Wilson, Daniel, Sir
Scotland -- Antiquities
There is another class of relics, however, which we can feel no
hesitation in ranking among the earliest remains of the Stone Period,
though it may sometimes be difficult to determine whether we should
regard them as mere personal ornaments or as charms employed in the
mysterious rites of Pagan superstition, as it is not uncommon to find
them used, at a very recent date, by their illiterate inheritors in
some of the remoter districts of the Highlands and Isles. One relic,
for example, in the Scottish Museum, consists of a flat reddish
stone, roughly polished. It measures 4 inches in length, and about
2¾ inches in its greatest breadth, and is notched in a regular
form, with two holes perforated through it. It was presented to the
Society of Scottish Antiquaries in 1784, as a charm in use among the
population of the island of Islay for the cure of diseases. From its
correspondence with others of the earliest class of relics, it can
hardly admit of a doubt that it belongs to the personal ornaments of
the Stone Period, and may have owed the reverence of its more recent
possessor to the fact of its discovery within some primitive cist, or
in the charmed circle of Taoursanan, the origin of which is commonly
ascribed to superhuman powers. It is worthy of note, indeed, that the
word _Druidheachd_ is no longer associated with the priesthood of
the British groves, but is now only used by the Scottish Highlanders
as applicable to sorcery or magic. Another, but much less perfect
ornament of perforated reddish stone, in the same collection with the
above, was found, along with several flint arrow-heads, in the island
of Harris; and a third, still ruder, was discovered, with a similar
arrow-head, on the Lomond Hills of Fifeshire. But perhaps the most
singular relics of the Stone Period ever discovered in Scotland are two
stone collars, found near the celebrated Parallel Roads of Glenroy,
and now preserved at the mansion of Tonley, Aberdeenshire. They are
each of the full size of a collar adapted to a small Highland horse;
the one formed of trap or whinstone, and the other of a fine-grained
red granite. They are not, however, to be regarded as the primitive
substitutes for the more convenient materials of later introduction.
On the contrary, a close imitation of the details of a horse collar
of common materials is attempted, including the folds of the leather,
nails, buckles, and holes for tying particular parts together. They are
finished with much care and a high degree of polish, and are described
as obviously the workmanship of a skilful artist. Mr. Skene, who first
drew attention to these remarkable relics, suggests the probability of
the peculiar natural features of Glenroy having led to the selection
of this amphitheatre for the scene of ancient public games; and that
these stone collars might commemorate the victor in the chariot race,
as the tripods still existing record the victor in the Choragic games
of Athens.
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