The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . avoured,— The bracelet was large enough to encircle a womansarm above the elbow. Of many specimens which I examined at theBritish Museum, chiefly Irish, there w^as none like mine, which makesme the more regret its loss. Various tumuli exist in the neighbour-hood of Sunderland House, several of which have been opened, andfound to cover cists of the usual limited size, none of them exceedingthree feet in greatest internal dimensions. In some of them werefound cinerary urns, while others contained the entire skeleton. Some antiquaries have soug
The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . avoured,— The bracelet was large enough to encircle a womansarm above the elbow. Of many specimens which I examined at theBritish Museum, chiefly Irish, there w^as none like mine, which makesme the more regret its loss. Various tumuli exist in the neighbour-hood of Sunderland House, several of which have been opened, andfound to cover cists of the usual limited size, none of them exceedingthree feet in greatest internal dimensions. In some of them werefound cinerary urns, while others contained the entire skeleton. Some antiquaries have sought to assign a sacred significance tothese singular relics, and to associate them with the mysterious ritesof Druidical worship. Vallancey, in particular, supposes them to havebeen sacrificial paterae. There is fully as much probability, however,in the simple conjecture that tliey served as clasps or fastenings forthe mantle. The cups, which appear to possess such a mystic signi-ficance, were not probably left void in their original state. In the. PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 317 example first referred to, in the Reliquiie Galeana?, Sir John Clerkremarks,— The parts at the extremities are hollow, like little cups orsockets, and the sides arc very thin. There is a small circle withinthe verge, which has had a red substance adhering to it like cement,as if it had served to fix some kind of body within the sockets. Asimilar appearance is still more markedly observable in an examplein the possession of Thomas Brown, Esq. of Lanfine, Ayrshire. Uponshowing it to an experienced jeweller, he assured me it cannot admitof a doubt that the sockets have originally contained pebbles or it be indeed the case that in this curious gold relic we have the claspof the ancient British chlamys, worn by the native chief or by the arch-priest when robed in his most stately pontificals, then we see in it aBritish personal ornament which may stand comparison with the mostcostly and elegant Roman f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidarchaeologyp, bookyear1851
