The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . , and was fitted to it by means of a circular found it was filled with bones partly consumed by fire.^ Afragment of another such urn in the Scottish Museum is described bythe donor as part of a vase of a steatitic kind of rock, found in 1829within a kistvaen on the island of Uyea, one of the most northern ofthe Zetland group. At an earlier period the opening of a barrow in the island of Eigg exposed to viewa large sepulchral urn containinghuman bones. It is described asconsisting of a large round stone,which had been hollowed, wi
The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . , and was fitted to it by means of a circular found it was filled with bones partly consumed by fire.^ Afragment of another such urn in the Scottish Museum is described bythe donor as part of a vase of a steatitic kind of rock, found in 1829within a kistvaen on the island of Uyea, one of the most northern ofthe Zetland group. At an earlier period the opening of a barrow in the island of Eigg exposed to viewa large sepulchral urn containinghuman bones. It is described asconsisting of a large round stone,which had been hollowed, with thetop covered with a thin flag-stone,and was found in a tumulus whichtradition assigned as the burial-place of St. Donnan, the patronsaint of the The singular stoneurn figured here, from the original in the Museum of the Royal IrishAcademy, is believed to have been brought from the Hill of Nowth, inthe county of Mcath, one of the most remarkable chambered cairns llibhei-ts Shetlainl, p. 412. ? Sinclairs Statist. Ace. vol. xvii. p. 148 THE PKIMEVAl. OR STONE PRlUolX yet discovered. The urn is decorated with chevron ornaments, andfigures supposed to represent the sun and moon. It is not to be ima-gined that, unless in some very rare and remarkable examples, cineraryurns thus laboriously hewn out of stone can belong to a period anteriorto the use of those fonned of the plastic clay. In so far, however, aswe may judge from the few examples yet noted, they seem to be thework of a very remote era, when such were the rare and distinguishedhonours reserved perchance alone for the Arch-Druid, or high-priest ofthe unknown faith, whose strange rites were once celebrated withinthe Taoursanan, or mournful circles.! Another, and much more common Scottish stone vessel, consists of asmall round cup or bowl, with aperforated handle on one side,and generally measuring fromfive to six inches in of them are more or lessornamented, though generally inan extremely rude
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidarchaeologyp, bookyear1851
