between Pagan and Christian burial so as to prevent the continuance of
cremation. Yet the practice of strewing charcoal and ashes ritually in
the open grave, and laying the unburnt body upon them, was a wide-spread
Christian custom of the early Middle Ages.[10] I cannot conceive the
process by which a custom like this could have been evolved from any of
the distinctive usages of Christianity, if the custom of cremation had
not preceded it. Again the practice of placing vessels of clay in the
cist with the unburnt body, which was one of the most widely diffused
and most distinctively Pagan customs connected with the interment of the
dead, was continued with certain modifications of form and significance
as a Christian usage.[11] In Pagan times these vessels contained food
and drink; in Christian times they held holy water and charcoal and
incense. The holy water vessel was shallow and basin-like, and was
placed usually at the feet of the corpse. Johannes Belethus, in the
twelfth century, notices this custom, and after him Durandus, Bishop of
Mende,[12] who says that the holy water is used “that the demons who are
greatly afraid of it may not come near the body;” and that incense is
used "to indicate that the dead person has entered his Creator’s
presence with the acceptable odour of good works, and has obtained the
benefit of the Church’s prayers." That the latter usage was widely
extended throughout Christendom is proved by the frequent discoveries of
vases pierced with holes, and containing the remains of charcoal, which
have occurred in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Denmark.[13] It was not
unknown in Scotland, as the following examples will show. On the
demolition of the old town steeple of Montrose in 1833, in
[Illustration: Fig. 1.—Clay Vase, one of four found in a mediæval stone
coffin at Montrose.] removing the soil under the base of the structure,
a rude stone cist was discovered at a depth of three feet. The cist
contained a skeleton disposed at full length, and beside the skeleton
were four vessels of clay placed two at the head and two at the feet.
One of these vessels (Fig. <span class='htmlonly'>1</span><span
class='epubonly'>1</span>) is still preserved in the Montrose museum. It
is of reddish clay, 4 inches in height, 5 inches in diameter at the
widest part, and 3 inches across the mouth. Its form is shown in the
accompanying woodcut, from which it is also observable that it is
pierced with holes which exhibit irregular outlines. There are five of
these holes in the circumference of the widest part of the vase, and it
is evident from their appearance that they have been pierced by driving
a sharp-pointed instrument through it, not when the clay was soft but
after it was fired.[14] All the characteristics of the interment—the
stone-lined grave, the full-length burial, the vases placed two at the
head and two at the feet[15]—are those of the commonest form of
Christian burial with incense vases, as manifested in continental
examples later than twelfth century.
-----
Footnote 10:
The Christian liturgists account for this custom on other grounds than
as a simulation of the effect of cremation, or a survival by symbol;
but we should not expect them to recognise it as a survival of the
Pagan custom. Durandus says:—“Carbones ponantur in testimonium quod
terra ilia in communes usus, amplius redigi non potest; plus enim
durat Carbo sub terra quam aliud.” Is not the “ashes to ashes” of the
burial service a lingering echo of this ritual?
Footnote 11:
Vases of glass and of clay were buried with the early Christians in
the catacombs. The glass vessels were drinking cups, the clay vessels
are in all probability such as were in domestic use. Garrucci gives a
list of 340 of these glass vessels, many of which have the Christian
monogram, or scenes from Scripture, depicted on them. There are
others, however, ornamented with scenes from domestic and civil life,
and even with subjects from the Pagan mythology.
Footnote 12:
Mabillon also notices this custom:—"L’on trouvent assez souvent dans
l’anciens tombeaux des Chretiens des petits vases de terre pleins de
charbons."—_Dissertation sur le culte des Saints inconnus_, p. 25.
“Aquam benedictam et prunas cum thure apponerent.”—Beleth, _De Divinis
Officiis_, c. 161. “Deinde ponitur in spelunca in qua ponitur aqua
benedicta et prunae cum thure. Aqua benedicta ne demones qui multum
eam timent ad corpus accedant; solent namque desaevire in corpora
mortuorum, ut quod nequiverunt in vita, saltem post mortem egant. Thus
propter faetorem corporis removendum, seu ut defunctus creatori suo
acceptabilem bonorum operum odorem intelligatur obtulisse, seu ad
ostendendum quod defunctis prosit auxilium orationis.”—Durandus, _De
Off. Mortuorum, In Rationale Div. Off._ lib. vii. c. 35. “Vascula cum
aqua lustrali in sepulchris apponebantur.”—Aringhi, _Roma
Subterranea_, vol. i. p. 94. “Statutum etiam fuit ut in sepulchris
crux, et aqua lustralis seu benedicta apponeretur.”—Durantes, _Ex
Antiq. Ritual. Sacr. Libris._ apud Aringhi, _loc. cit._
Footnote 13:
The following are a few of the localities in which these vases have
occurred most abundantly:—Braquemont, Martin Eglise, Bouteilles, where
over 100 vases occurred, Roux Mesnil, Neuchatel, etc. It may be
interesting to indicate the range in time of the custom, by a few
instances, with well-defined dates. In the coffin of Urson, Abbot of
Jumieges, who died in 1127, two pierced vases were found. At Leure,
near Havre, among many interments with similar vases, there was one
with an inscribed slab identifying it as that of Pierre Berenguier
(1270–1290). In the stone coffin there were six of these pierced
vases. The stone coffin of Simon de Goucans, Bishop of Amiens, who
died in 1325, contained three vases, two being placed at the shoulders
and one at the feet, all pierced with holes and partly filled with
charcoal. In the coffin of John Count Dunois, who died in 1468, seven
vases occurred. In that of Francis Longueville, who died in 1491,
twelve pierced vases with charcoal were ranged along the sides of the
coffin. On the right side of the wooden coffin of the Abbé François
d’Orignai, who died in 1483, two pierced vases were found. In the
leaden coffin of Agnes of Savoy, Duchess of Dunois, who died in 1508,
there were four vases of common red unglazed ware containing charcoal.
The latest precise date is furnished by an interment in the graveyard
of the Benedictine monastery at Mans. The coffin, on which the
inscription was still legible, CHARLOTTE LE NORMANT DE BEAUMONT,
DECEDE LE 12 AVRIL 1688, contained a vase with charcoal. This curious
and little known custom is fully illustrated in the Abbé Cochet’s
works, _La Normandie Souterraine_, 2d edition, Paris 1855, and its
sequel _Sepultures Gauloises, Romaines, Franques et Normandes_, Paris
1857. See also _Bulletin Monumental_, vol. xxii. pp. 329–364, 425–447;
vol. xxv. pp. 103–132, 273–311; _Mémoires de la Société des
Antiquaires de Normandie_, vol. xxii. pp. 11, 12, 294–298, vol. xxiv.
p. 5–8; _Archæologia_, vol. xxxv. p. 233, vol. xxxvii. p. 399, vol.
xxxviii. p. 66, vol. xxxix. p. 117; _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of London_, 1855, pp. 206, 290; _Revue de l’art Chretien_,
vol. ii. (1858), p. 420; De Caumont, _Cours d’Antiquites
Monumentales_, vol. vi. p. 316; A. Murcier, _La Sepulture Chretienne
en France_, p. 159–164.
Footnote 14:
This is a frequently-occurring characteristic of the vessels partially
filled with charcoal found in graves of the Carlovingian period and
down to the seventeenth century in France. They are usually pierced
with holes irregularly placed. In some cases the holes have been made
when the clay was soft. In others the vessels have been pierced by
holes driven through their sides after they were fired, as if by a
nail or other pointed instrument.
Footnote 15:
At Bernay, where 150 of these incense vases were found, the most
common arrangement was four in one coffin, two at the head and two at
the feet.
-----
[Illustration: Fig. 2.—Illumination from a fourteenth century MS.,
representing incense vases, placed, alternately with candles, round the
coffin during the funeral service.]
The form of the vase figured is not that of any known variety of urn
found with interments of Pagan type. But it closely corresponds with the
form of the incense vases represented in an illumination from a
manuscript of the fourteenth century (Fig. 2), as placed alternately
with candles on the floor round the coffin during the funeral service,
and which, as we learn from contemporary documents, were afterwards
placed in the grave.[16] In the illumination the red colour of the fire
within the vases appears through the holes pierced in their sides. (This
cannot be shown in the woodcut here given, but the escaping smoke
indicates the position of the apertures). There is in the National
Museum another pierced vase, in which the holes have been made when the
clay was soft. It was found in 1829, with two others, under a flat stone
at the Castle Hill of Rattray in Aberdeenshire. It is here figured (Fig.
3) along with one of the two others found with it, of which the Society
possesses a drawing (Fig. 4). From a note attached to the drawing we
learn that the three vessels were filled, with ashes when they were
first discovered. No other record of the phenomena of this interesting
deposit exists; but, from the character of the vessels themselves, which
is totally distinct from that of all known types of vessels deposited
with Pagan interments in this country, they may be assigned to the class
of vessels deposited in Christian graves of twelfth to fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries with charcoal and incense.
-----
Footnote 16:
Two instances are cited by the Abbé Cochet. Claud d’Escarbotte left
orders in his will that the young lads, orphans, who were to follow
him to the grave should carry each a torch and a pot with incense.
Jehan Thelinige described the custom more particularly, for he
prescribes in his will that the small pots with the fire and the
incense shall be thrown into the grave. In the district of Morvan,
says M. Jules Chevrier, the peasants even in our own days continue the
custom of using funeral vases. They throw upon the coffin, when it is
lowered into the grave, a porringer or some such dish of earthenware
which had been ordinarily used by the defunct; and in certain parts of
La Bresse they still throw into the grave the holy water vessel which
had stood at the feet of the defunct previous to the ceremony of
inhumation.
-----
[Illustration: Figs. 3, 4.—Clay Vases found at Castle Hill of Rattray,
Aberdeenshire (5 inches high).]
In the special features of such survivals as these we read the story of
the transition from the older to the newer forms of burial resulting
from the change of faith. We see the custom of burial with grave-goods
retained as a ceremonial observance in Christian sepulture, and the
practice of cremation succeeded by the symbolic act of strewing charcoal
in the open grave, and by a ritual which still regards the act of burial
as a consigning of “ashes to ashes;” and by these and similar links of
connection we pass gradually from the Christian system to the system of
Paganism that preceded it.
But when we advance beyond the Christian boundary in Scotland we enter
on a region singularly destitute of materials by which the burial
customs of the people may be correlated with those which offer
indications of their culture and civilisation. The general phenomena of
the burials of the Celtic Paganism of the Iron Age in Scotland are not
disclosed by any recorded observations known to me. If they exist, they
exist either as phenomena of unrecognised character or as phenomena
which are still unobserved. I therefore proceed to the examination of a
group of phenomena disclosing the existence within the Celtic area of a
system of Paganism which was not of Celtic origin; and I turn to these
phenomena as the only materials available for the demonstration of the
character of Pagan burial—premising that they belong to a time when,
owing to the intrusion of a foreign element, the Christian form and the
Pagan form were closely contiguous and contemporary in Scotland.
* * * * *
In the autumn of 1878 the late Mr. William Campbell of Ballinaby, on the
west coast of the island of Islay, passing through the sandy links
there, had his attention arrested by the unusual appearance of a patch
of iron-rust in a hollow from which the sand had drifted. Examining the
spot more closely, he found that there was a deposit of iron implements
in the sand. Digging out the deposit, he discovered that it had been
disposed in two contiguous graves, each containing a skeleton laid at
full length, with the head to the east and the feet to the west, the
boundary of each grave being marked by an enclosure formed of stones set
on edge in the sand.
In grave No. 1 he found the following objects deposited with the
skeleton:—
An iron sword in its sheath (Fig. 5).
The iron boss of a shield, with its handle of bronze or brass still
attached. (The boss and handle are shown in Fig. 6, and the handle
separately in Fig. 7.)
An iron spear-head with wide blade and long socket (Fig. 8).
An iron object, having a wide socket at one end of a long shank (Fig.
9).
A conical iron object with the remains of wood adhering to the
interior surface (Fig. 10).
A number of fragments of corrugated iron (Fig. 11).
A hollow cylindrical object of bronze with a globular end, probably
the mounting of the end of a small sheath (Fig. 13).
An iron axe-head, not differing greatly from the modern form, the eye
broken (Fig. 14).
An iron axe-head of similar form, but longer in the shank, the eye
entire (also shown in Fig. 14).
The iron head of a small adze, nearly entire (Fig. 15).
The iron head of a hammer, entire (Fig. 16).
A pair of forge-tongs, partially broken (Fig. 17).
The broken fragments of a large iron pot, and its bow-handle, broken
(Fig. 18).
In grave No. 2 he found the following objects deposited with the
skeleton:—
A pair of oval bowl-shaped brooches of bronze, ornamented with pierced
and chased work and with plaited bands of silver wire and studs, of
which the pins only remain (Fig. 20).
The brass spring-pins of the two brooches (Fig. 19).
Portions of three pairs of discs of thin bronze, plated with silver,
each pair connected by a narrow band, the discs ornamented with bosses
arranged in circles, and the bands with borders all in _repoussé_ work
(Fig. 21).
A silver hair-pin with a globular head, ornamented with filigree work,
and furnished with a ring of wire fastened by a peculiar twisting of
one end round the other (Fig. 22).
A silver chain-like ornament, formed of fine silver wire knitted as a
hollow tube, knotted at the two ends, and furnished at one end with a
ring fastened by a peculiar twisting of the ends round each other
(Fig. 23).
Seven beads of coloured glass, enamelled on the surface with patterns
in different colours (Fig. 24).
A saucepan of thin bronze, with a long flat handle (Fig. 25).
A hemispherical lump of black glass, in shape nearly resembling the
bottom of a bottle, and having its convex side rubbed and striated by
use (Fig. 26).
A small object like a needle-case, of silver, broken, and containing
what seems to be a portion of a broken needle of bronze.
It is apparent, from the nature of the groups of objects severally
associated with the two burials, that No. 1 was the grave of a man, and
No. 2 was the grave of a woman. The man was buried with his arms and
implements, the woman with her personal ornaments and housewife’s gear.
It is equally apparent, from an examination of the whole phenomena of
the burials, that there is an obvious absence of all indications of
Christianity. They are not destitute of characteristics possessing a
special significance, but they are destitute of characteristics
possessing such significance as could be attributed to the faith and
hope of the Christian creed, or explained by reference to any recognised
customs of Christian burial. They suggest, for instance, a condition of
life considerably removed from absolute poverty; they present
indications of culture and taste, of skill and industry, of manly vigour
and womanly grace. But the position of the graves, with the head to the
east and the feet to the west, is the opposite of that referred to by
the liturgical writers of early Christian times as the proper position
of the Christian dead, who should be placed with their feet to the east,
so that in rising they may face their Lord as He comes from the east.
And there is no feature which can be more surely relied on as an
indication of early Christian burial than this orientation of the grave
which is here so plainly disregarded.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.—Sword found in the grave at Ballinaby, Islay (36½
inches in length).]
If the absence of all indications of Christianity be thus obvious, there
is no less obviously a complete absence of all the characteristics of
art and art-workmanship with which we have become familiar in the
progress of our investigation. There is no Celticism apparent in the art
of the decorated objects placed in these graves. The characteristics
which we have found to be constantly present in the decorative
metal-work of the Celtic school of art are notably absent, and those
that are present are mostly new and strange to us. If the phenomena of
the burials are clearly not Christian, the characteristics of the art
are as clearly not Celtic.
To find such weapons of bronze or stone as are commonly styled
prehistoric deposited with the dead excites no feeling of surprise,
because we know, in a general way, that this was the common custom of
prehistoric Paganism. But when we find in a grave, along with the
ordinary weapons of war, a collection of implements like this—a group of
actual tools of iron—scarcely differing in shape, and not differing in
material from those now in use in our workshops, we instantly realise
the presence of a phenomenon at once unusual and suggestive. It is
unusual in this country because our forefathers received Christianity
early, and Christianity abolished the custom of placing implements in
graves. It is suggestive because it enables us to perceive how closely
the characteristic customs of the man we call primeval may be linked
with the arts and culture of modern times. It is therefore a phenomenon
which it is desirable to investigate as fully as possible.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.—Boss of Shield, with Handle attached, found in
grave No. 1 at Ballinaby, Islay.]
For this purpose it will be necessary to examine in detail the principal
objects found in the graves, with the view of determining their typical
characteristics and relations.
First, I take the sword (Fig. 5) as the most important, and therefore
the most likely to disclose its typical relationship by comparison with
others. It is a long, broad-bladed, double-edged weapon, tapering
slightly and evenly from hilt to point. Its whole length is 36½ inches.
The blade is 2¾ inches wide at the junction with the guard of the hilt,
2½ inches in the middle of its length, and 1½ where it begins to be
rounded off at the point. The grip of the hilt, which is covered with
leather, is 3¾ inches in length. The guard, which forms a straight
collar to the blade, flattened on the upper and under surfaces, and
convex on both sides, is 4¼ inches in length. The pommel, which is
triangular in outline and convex from the apex to the base, is 2½ inches
high, 4 inches from side to side, and 1½ inches thick. Portions of the
wooden lining of the scabbard still adhere to the blade.[17]
-----
Footnote 17:
Pennant figures an iron sword of this type in the second volume of his
_Tour in Scotland_, plate xliv., but dismisses it with the remark that
it is “part of an iron sword found in Islay.”
-----
The shield boss (Fig. 6) is a round piece of hammered iron, like a
hollow truncated cone, the outlines being those of an ogee curve instead
of rectilinear. It measures 3¼ inches diameter and 3½ inches high, the
flattened top being half an inch across. The base of the cone impinged
upon the wood of the shield, to which it was securely fastened by two
rivets passing through the flange of the boss and through the wood.
Other two rivets, placed in the circumference of the flange midway
between these two, also passed through the wood of the shield and were
riveted into the handle. The handle is of brass or bronze, 7¼ inches in
length, convex on the exterior surface, and concave internally in the
direction of its breadth, and slightly convex also in outline in the
direction of its length. It is ornamented (as shown in Fig. 7) by bands
of engraved lines forming reticulated patterns, and terminates at both
ends in slightly raised circular discs, furnished with loops in front
and back. The front loops apparently passed through the wood of the
shield, those on the backs of the discs must have stood free on the
inside of the shield, and were probably used for its suspension by a
strap slung across the shoulder. Portions of the wood of the shield
still adhere to the edges of the boss. This specimen shows what has
never before been seen in this country, viz. the method of attachment of
the boss and handle through the wood of the shield.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.—Handle of Shield, front view (7¼ inches in
length).]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.—Spear-head found in grave No. 1, at Ballinaby,
Islay (7 inches in length).]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.—Ferrule found in grave No. 1 (6 inches in
length).]
The spear-head (Fig.8) is a long and stout-bladed weapon,
straight-edged, and tapering equally from the butt of the blade, which
is unbarbed, the short neck of the blade passing gradually into the
rounded socket. The blade is now only 7 inches in length, but was
probably about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide at the butt. The socket
still contains a portion of the wood of the shaft.
With these weapons there are other relics to which it is less easy to
assign a definite purpose, such as the iron object (Fig. 9), 6 inches in
length, which may have been the ferrule of a shaft, if not the heel of
the spear-shaft itself, which was often mounted with an iron prong for
convenience of thrusting it into the ground.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.—Iron Ferrules found in grave No. 1 at
Ballinaby.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11.—Fragment of Iron from grave No. 1 at Ballinaby.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.—Bronze Plaque, from Oland (actual size).]
Akin to this object is the broken portion of a conical ferrule (shown in
Fig. 10), and there are a number of fragments of an iron object with a
corrugated surface, as if formed of thick wires laid side by side (Fig.
11). None of the fragments suggest the probable size or form of the
object when entire, or reveal its purpose. But in the figure of a
warrior represented on a small bronze plaque (Fig. 12), dug up in the
island of Oland, we see a helmet formed of bands of somewhat similar
appearance, and the sword he bears in his hand is a sword of the
peculiar type associated with these peculiar relics.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Sheath Mounting of Bronze from grave No. 1 at
Ballinaby (actual size).]
A small and elegantly-formed and ornamented object of bronze (Fig. 13),
with a cylindrical socket, terminating in a globose and lobated
expansion, with a rope-like moulding round the upper part of the
terminal expansion, appears to have been the mounting of the end of a
small sheath. A similar object, nearly of the same size, having its
globose termination ornamented with a grotesque face was found in a
grave in the island of Westray, in Orkney, and will be hereafter
referred to. (See Fig. 50.)
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Axe-heads of Iron (⅓), from grave No. 1 at
Ballinaby.]
The implements associated with these weapons and accoutrements in the
man’s grave are equally worthy of special examination, because, when
regarded as a representative group, it will be seen that they point with
equal definiteness to the same conclusion as to the typical character
and relations of the special form of burial with which we are dealing.
The iron axe-heads (Fig. 14) found in the grave were two in number,
nearly alike in form and dimensions, though somewhat mutilated. They do
not differ greatly from the modern form of the implement, and are good
serviceable tools.
[Illustration: Figs. 15 and 16.—Adze and Hammer (½), from grave No. 1 at
Ballinaby.]
The small adze-head (Fig. 15) and the hammer-head (Fig. 16) of iron are
also good serviceable tools, not differing greatly from forms that are
still in use, but possessing, in common with the axes, sufficient
individuality of form and character to establish their typical
relationship as members of a special group.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Forge-Tongs (⅓) from grave No. 1 at Ballinaby.]
The forge-tongs (Fig. 17), in the same manner, present features of
individuality which are capable of being correlated with a special
variety of this type of tool confined to a special area, and usually
occurring in certain special associations of a similar character to
those in which this example occurs.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.—Bow-Handle of Iron Pot, one end broken (⅓), from
grave No. 1 at Ballinaby.]