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THE ARCHÆOLOGY AND PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND.
THE ARCHÆOLOGY AND PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND.
BY DANIEL WILSON HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. "There is in the world no kind of knowledge whereby any part of Truth is seen, but we justly account it precious; yea, that principal Truth, in comparison of which all other knowledge is vile, may receive from it some kind of light."— Hooker. EDINBURGH SUTHERLAND AND KNOX, GEORGE STREET. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. AND J. H. PARKER. MDCCCLI. MDCCCLI. EDINBURGH: T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY....
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TO THE MOST HONOURABLE THE MARQUESS OF BREADALBANE, Kt., PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND.
TO THE MOST HONOURABLE THE MARQUESS OF BREADALBANE, Kt., PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND.
My Lord Marquess , In presenting to my fellow-countrymen a Work devoted to the elucidation of their National Antiquities, and to the recovery of the earliest traces of Scottish arts and civilisation, I esteem it a high gratification to be permitted to dedicate it to a Scotsman, not more noble by hereditary rank and social position, than by the virtues with which he adorns his high station. To you, My Lord , I have reason to believe that the following attempt to establish a consistent and compreh
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The zeal for Archæological investigation which has recently manifested itself in nearly every country of Europe, has been traced, not without reason, to the impulse which proceeded from Abbotsford. Though such is not exactly the source which we might expect to give birth to the transition from profitless dilettantism to the intelligent spirit of scientific investigation, yet it is unquestionable that Sir Walter Scott was the first of modern writers "to teach all men this truth, which looks like
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CHAPTER I.—THE PRIMEVAL TRANSITION.
CHAPTER I.—THE PRIMEVAL TRANSITION.
The closing epoch of geology, which embraces the diluvial formations, is that in which archæology has its beginning. In a zoological point of view, it includes man and the existing races of animals, as well as the extinct races which appear to have been contemporaneous with indigenous species. Archæology also lays claim to the still more recent alluvium, with all its included relics pertaining to the historic period. Within the legitimate scope of this department of investigation are comprehende
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CHAPTER II. ABORIGINAL TRACES.
CHAPTER II. ABORIGINAL TRACES.
Though we are assured, and cannot doubt, that man was created an intelligent being, capable of enjoying the high faculties with which he alone of all the denizens of earth was endowed, we have no reason to assume that he had any conception of the practical arts by which we are enabled to satisfy wants of which he was equally unconscious. We know on the same authority that there existed a period in the history of our race, ere Zillah, the wife of Lamech, had borne to him Tubal-cain, "the instruct
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CHAPTER III. SEPULCHRAL MEMORIALS.
CHAPTER III. SEPULCHRAL MEMORIALS.
The raising of sepulchral mounds of earth or stone to mark the last resting-place of the loved or honoured dead may be traced in all countries to the remotest periods. Their origin is to be sought for in the little heap of earth displaced by interment, which still to thousands suffices as the most touching memorial of the dead. In a rude and primitive age, when the tomb of the great warrior or patriarchal chief was to be indicated by some more remarkable token, the increase of the little earth-m
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CHAPTER IV. DWELLINGS.
CHAPTER IV. DWELLINGS.
Before proceeding to examine in detail the varied contents of the Scottish tumuli, it may be well to glance at the evidence we possess of the nature of the habitations reared and occupied by the constructors of such enduring memorials of their dead as have been described in the preceding chapter. Scattered over the uncultivated downs both of England and Scotland, there still remain numerous relics of the dwellings of our barbarian ancestry, which have escaped the wasting tooth of centuries, or t
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CHAPTER V. TEMPLES AND MEMORIAL STONES.
CHAPTER V. TEMPLES AND MEMORIAL STONES.
The ideal associations with the future and the past, which seem to find some outward manifestation even in the rudest state of society, spring from "that longing after immortality" which affords so strong an evidence of its truth. To this principle of the human mind is clearly traceable the origin of the commemorative erections which abound wherever man has fixed his resting-place. The most primitive of these ancient memorials are the rude unhewn columns or standing stones , as they are called,
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CHAPTER VI. WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.
CHAPTER VI. WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.
The singular correspondence between many of the weapons and implements of the Stone Period, in almost every quarter of the globe, has already been referred to; but there are not wanting many others presenting such national and local peculiarities as are worthy of careful noting and comparison. In this respect much still remains to be done for Scottish Archæology. A far more abundant store of materials, and a much larger class of intelligent and educated observers are required, before the subject
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CHAPTER VII. STONE VESSELS.
CHAPTER VII. STONE VESSELS.
Uyea Stone Urns. A great variety of stone vessels, of different forms and sizes, have been found in Scotland under different circumstances, but in nearly all of them the rudeness of the attempts at ornament, and the whole form and character, suggest the probability of their belonging to the earliest period, coeval with the stone celt and hammer, and the bone and flint spears of the Scottish aborigines. Even sepulchral urns of this durable material are not uncommon, especially in the northern and
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CHAPTER VIII. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
There only remain to be noted the earliest traces of luxury and personal adornment contemporary with the rude weapons and implements, and the simple habitations of earth or unhewn stone, described in the previous chapters. These are scarcely less abundant than the implements of war and the chase; and some of them possess a peculiar value for us, as presenting the sole surviving memorials of female influence, and of the position woman held in the primitive social state which we desire to trace ou
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CHAPTER IX. CRANIA OF THE TUMULI.
CHAPTER IX. CRANIA OF THE TUMULI.
Notwithstanding the zeal with which English archæologists have pursued their investigations among the remains of primitive sepulchral deposits, scarcely anything has yet been done towards obtaining a collection of facts in relation to the size and form of the skulls, and the general characteristics of the skeletons of their constructors. In this, as in so many other respects, the archæologists of Sweden and Denmark have set us an example well deserving of imitation, and have shewn the essential
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CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION OF METALS.
CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION OF METALS.
The evidence adduced in the previous section furnishes the basis of the argument from whence we arrive at the conclusion, that Scotland and the whole British Isles were occupied by a human population many ages prior to the earliest authentic historical notices. Of the character and habits of the barbarian Briton of the primeval period we have also been able to arrive at some knowledge. His dwellings, the remains of which have lain unheeded around the haunts of so many generations, shew his domes
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CHAPTER II. THE METALLURGIC TRANSITION.
CHAPTER II. THE METALLURGIC TRANSITION.
In the earliest glimpse we are able to catch of the British Isles with the dawning light of historic records, we learn of them as already celebrated for their mineral wealth. So long, however, as Britain retained its vast tracts of natural forests, and was only occupied by thinly scattered nomade tribes, the tin mines of Cornwall, and the foreign trade which they invited to the southern shores of the island, might reward the toil and sagacity of the ancient Cornubii or other primitive colonists
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CHAPTER III. PRIMITIVE BRONZE.
CHAPTER III. PRIMITIVE BRONZE.
Among the various means of arriving at definite truths in relation to primitive works in metal, that of chemical analysis has not been lost sight of, and a number of ascertained results are now on record. Before proceeding to examine in detail the relics of this second period, it will be useful to glance at the bearings of this branch of scientific evidence on the general question. It may now be received as an established fact, that the manufactures of this period consist entirely of bronze and
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CHAPTER IV. WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.
CHAPTER IV. WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.
The works of the Bronze Period possess an entirely new and distinct source of interest from those which preceded them, in so far as they exhibit not only the skill and ingenuity which is prompted by necessity, but also the graceful varieties of form and decoration which give evidence of the pleasurable exercise of thought and fancy. Were we indeed to select the most perfect and highly finished productions resulting from the knowledge of working in metals, and to place these alongside of the best
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CHAPTER V. DOMESTIC AND SEPULCHRAL VESSELS.
CHAPTER V. DOMESTIC AND SEPULCHRAL VESSELS.
Along with the weapons and implements of this period there have also been found at various times drinking cups, culinary vessels, horns, and other similar relics calculated to throw some additional light on the manners and domestic habits of the people by whom they were wrought and used. There have not indeed been discovered, or at least preserved, among the sepulchral deposits or the chance disclosures of the Scottish bogs and alluvial strata, anything to be compared with the celebrated Danish
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CHAPTER VI. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
CHAPTER VI. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
In nothing is the singular inequality so characteristic of archaic art more strikingly apparent than in the contrast frequently observable between the rude clay urn of the Scottish tumulus or cairn and the valuable and beautiful relics which it contains. Many of the latter, indeed, are scarcely admissible under any classification of archaic art. They differ more in characteristic peculiarities of style than in inferiority of design when compared with the relics of the Anglo-Roman period. Referen
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CHAPTER VII. SEPULCHRES.
CHAPTER VII. SEPULCHRES.
The tombs of the Bronze Period appear to differ, in various important respects, from those which are clearly assignable to the Primeval Period. Some of their peculiar features have already been noticed, in describing the circumstances under which sepulchral pottery and their relics have been met with; but others equally characteristic of the first era of development and progress remain to be described. To this epoch, as has been already observed, it seems probable that we must assign the introdu
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CHAPTER VIII. RELIGION, ARTS, AND DOMESTIC HABITS.
CHAPTER VIII. RELIGION, ARTS, AND DOMESTIC HABITS.
The title of this chapter, as of some others of those relating to British history prior to the first century of the Christian era, may perhaps appear to readers of indices as not a little presumptuous. These chapters deal exclusively with a period believed to have long preceded written history, and of which we possess no other records than those that have been garnered in the grave, wherein is "no knowledge," or chance-found amid the alluvium and peat-mosses, in which the geologist discerns many
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CHAPTER I.—THE INTRODUCTION OF IRON.
CHAPTER I.—THE INTRODUCTION OF IRON.
The changes consequent on the introduction of Iron, to a people already familiar with the smelting of tin and copper ores and the fabrication of weapons and implements of bronze, were not necessarily of a radical character, and undoubtedly were first experienced in the gradual acquirement of the new metal from foreign sources. Had bronze been obtainable in sufficient quantities to admit of its application to the numerous purposes for which iron has since been used, there was nothing to prevent t
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CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN INVASION.
CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN INVASION.
The fashion of Scottish archæologists in dealing with our national antiquities has heretofore most frequently been to write a folio volume on the Anglo-Roman era, and huddle up in a closing chapter or appendix some few notices of such obdurate relics of primitive nationality as could in no way be forced into a Roman mould. Some valuable works have been the result of this exclusive devotion to one remarkable epoch; but since this has been so faithfully explored by Camden, Sibbald, Horsley, Gordon
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CHAPTER III. STRONGHOLDS.
CHAPTER III. STRONGHOLDS.
Next to the sepulchral monuments and the temples of remote ages, the fortifications frequently furnish the most durable and characteristic evidences of skill, and of the civilisation of the era to which they belong. In the Great Valley of the Mississippi, after Anglo-Saxon colonists have for upwards of two centuries been effecting settlements on the soil of the Red Indian, and obliterating every trace of him by their more enduring arts, the burial mounds and the forts of a race still older than
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CHAPTER IV. WEAPONS, IMPLEMENTS, AND POTTERY.
CHAPTER IV. WEAPONS, IMPLEMENTS, AND POTTERY.
The state of isolation, with all its attendant influences, must now be considered finally at a close. The effects of European civilisation rapidly modified the primitive native arts; and during this era, to which the name of Iron Period is applied, that strange mingling of races was chiefly effected which has resulted in our singular British nationality, in our peculiar virtues and our equally peculiar deficiencies. The Roman influence also failed not, even while indirectly operating, greatly to
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CHAPTER V. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
CHAPTER V. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
It has been already noticed that silver appears to have been a metal very little known in Britain, or the north of Europe, prior to the changes which we associate with the introduction of iron; nor is it difficult, as we have seen, to account for this. The rarity of iron during the primitive periods arises chiefly from the occurrence of the ore in a form least resembling metal, and requiring the most laborious and difficult processes to reduce it to a state fit for use; while the absence of silv
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CHAPTER VI. SEPULCHRES OF THE IRON PERIOD.
CHAPTER VI. SEPULCHRES OF THE IRON PERIOD.
The descriptions already given of the circumstances under which objects belonging to this era have been found, have supplied some sufficiently characteristic illustrations of the sepulchral rites of the period. Very few well-defined examples, however, of tombs of the era immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity have yet fallen under the notice of observers competent to furnish a satisfactory report of their appearance, or of the peculiarities which have marked the mode of interment
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CHAPTER I.—HISTORICAL DATA.
CHAPTER I.—HISTORICAL DATA.
By whatever course the earlier colonists of the British Isles reached our shores and diffused the first influences of the presence of man, as well as those succeeding evidences of his progress, the traces of which have been reviewed in the preceding sections, it is unquestionable that that latest and most important of all sources of change, the introduction of Christianity, took place by a very different route from that of the Straits of Dover. All the affinities indicated by the later and well-
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CHAPTER II. SCULPTURED STANDING STONES.
CHAPTER II. SCULPTURED STANDING STONES.
The progress of our inquiry into the peculiar characteristics of Scottish Archæology brings under consideration one of the most interesting, yet most puzzling classes of monuments of early native art. While England has her Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical remains exhibiting more or less distinct traces of the transition by which the debased Roman passed into the pure Romanesque or Norman style, Scotland, along with Ireland, possesses examples of an early native style of ecclesiastical architecture and
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CHAPTER III. THE NORRIE'S LAW RELICS.
CHAPTER III. THE NORRIE'S LAW RELICS.
The most remarkable discovery of ancient personal ornaments and other relics of a remote period ever made in Scotland, was that of " The Silver Armour of Norrie's Law ," a tumulus or artificial mound which stands on the marches of the two estates of Teasses and Largo, in Fifeshire. The correspondence of the engraved devices on this collection of silver relics with the mysterious symbols which constantly recur on the sculptured standing stones of Scotland, has served, along with the singular char
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CHAPTER IV. SCOTO-SCANDINAVIAN RELICS.
CHAPTER IV. SCOTO-SCANDINAVIAN RELICS.
From the slight historical sketch introduced in a preceding chapter, we perceive that the plundering expeditions of the Norse Vikings, and the establishment of Norwegian dominion by Harold in the Northern and Western Isles, were rapidly superseded by the establishment of an independent Scoto-Norwegian kingdom, which diminished the direct intercourse with Scandinavia Proper, and led to some interfusion of the Celtic and Scandinavian races. To this period, therefore, we must look for the introduct
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CHAPTER V. AMUSEMENTS.
CHAPTER V. AMUSEMENTS.
In the earliest and rudest states of society, war and the chase become at once the business of life, and, with the needful preparations of weapons and other requisites, suffice to supply each day with its full complement of labour and pastime. A very slight rise, however, in the social scale, creates the desire for some artificial means of filling up the leisure hours of life; and the modes adopted for this purpose often form no uncertain criterion of the age in which they originate. We accordin
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CHAPTER VI. PRIMITIVE ECCLESIOLOGY.
CHAPTER VI. PRIMITIVE ECCLESIOLOGY.
With the introduction of Christianity into Britain an entirely new era of art begins, derivable here, as elsewhere, from the central heart of ancient Christendom, as in the celebrated example of the Candida Casa, built at Whithern, in Galloway, in the Roman style. We have the authority of Bede for the fact already referred to,—that the first churches of the Britons were constructed of timber. The cathedral of St. Asaph, founded by St. Kentigern in the sixth century, was a wooden church, after th
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CHAPTER VII. MEDIEVAL ECCLESIOLOGY.
CHAPTER VII. MEDIEVAL ECCLESIOLOGY.
The subject of Medieval Ecclesiology is much too comprehensive to be treated with attention proportionate to its extent, and the importance justly ascribed to it, in the compass of a single chapter. But some notice of it is indispensable to the completeness of any systematic treatise on Scottish antiquities; and in attempting this it becomes once more necessary to glance at the ethnological elements on which depend the transition from the earlier and simpler characteristics already noticed. What
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CHAPTER VIII. ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES.
CHAPTER VIII. ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES.
Notwithstanding the systematic eradication of every relic associated with the rites or dogmas of the old faith, carried on by the Scottish Reformers of the sixteenth century, ecclesiastical remains are still preserved in sufficient number to furnish out a much ampler list than the limits of this work can embrace. The recumbent effigy, for example, is to be met with in many districts of Scotland, sometimes mutilated and defaced, but not unfrequently still exhibiting evidences of refined taste and
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CHAPTER IX. MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES.
CHAPTER IX. MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES.
The numerous relics which illustrate the arts and manners of the Medieval Period have already furnished English and foreign antiquaries with copious materials for large and valuable treatises on single selected departments, nor is the field of Scottish medieval art greatly less productive. It is not, however, designed in this closing chapter to do more than select a few characteristic examples of a very miscellaneous character, which are worthy of a passing glance in a treatise on Scottish Archæ
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CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION.
CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION.
In the two previous chapters, as well as in that devoted to medieval ecclesiology, some of the later exemplars of Scottish arts and civilisation have been glanced at, coeval with many authentic historical documents, to which the researches of the antiquary can only add supplementary illustrations. These, however, though legitimately included in the compass of archæological investigations, do not strictly come within the plan of this work, except in so far as they suffice to illustrate the remark
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