Ancient Scottish lake-dwellings or crannogs : with a supplementary chapter on remains of lake-dwellings in England . od-work of the crannog by long exposureto atmospheric agencies before it finally sunk under theprotective influence of the muddy water, and subsequently,by the ruthless hands of the agriculturist, there still remainedsufdcient materials to give one not only a general, butparticular and instructive notion of the mechanical principleson which the island was constructed. Its substance, as faras could be ascertained by digging holes here and there, wasmade up of layers of the stems
Ancient Scottish lake-dwellings or crannogs : with a supplementary chapter on remains of lake-dwellings in England . od-work of the crannog by long exposureto atmospheric agencies before it finally sunk under theprotective influence of the muddy water, and subsequently,by the ruthless hands of the agriculturist, there still remainedsufdcient materials to give one not only a general, butparticular and instructive notion of the mechanical principleson which the island was constructed. Its substance, as faras could be ascertained by digging holes here and there, wasmade up of layers of the stems of trees, chiefly birch;intermingled with which were occasionally found variousother materials, such as brushwood, heather, moss, soil, andlarge stones. Penetrating deeply this heterogeneous mass,towards its margin, were numerous piles, forming a seriesof concentric and nearly circular stockades, which wereseparated from each other by an interval of 4 or 5 the south side there were four distinct circles to beseen, but on the north only three could be detected, as the 19G ANCIENT SCOTTISH EXCAVATION OF A CKANNOG AT BUSTON. 197 third outermost appeared to have merged into the externalone; and, in accordance with this diminished number ofcircles, the breadth of the stockaded zone also piles in the inner circle, which were strongly made, andshowed evidence of having been shaped and squared bysharp-cutting instruments, were uniformly arranged at adistance of from 4 to 5 feet, and enclosed an area more ofthe form of an ellipse than a circle (measuring 61 feetby 56), while those in the second and third circles weremore irregularly, but generally more closely, set. All theseuprights (except a few on the north side of the inner circle)were linked together by horizontal beams having square-cut •holes, through which the upper ends of the piles horizontal beams were arranged in two ways. Somelay along the circumference and bound together
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisheredinb, bookyear1882
