_Chronological, Social, and other Indications derived from the Relics._
Having thus glanced over the collateral phenomena bearing on the age
or period of the Scottish Lake-Dwellings, it only remains to say a
few words on the general evidence supplied by the relics themselves.
We have already seen that the scattered remains of the artificial
islands brought to light in modern times extended over a large area,
embracing nearly the whole of Scotland, with the exception of its two
northernmost counties and a few others lying on its south-eastern
extremity. So far, however, as the discovery of actual remains
illustrative of the civilisation and social condition of their
occupiers is concerned, we are almost entirely limited to the results
of the investigations made at Dowalton, Lochlee, Lochspouts, and
Buston, all of which are within the counties of Ayr and Wigtown. In
instituting a comparison between the contents of these four groups,
their analogy, not only as regards the structure and local distribution
of the islands, but as regards the general character of the relics,
is so wonderfully alike that we have no difficulty in assuming that
originally these lake-dwellings within this area were erected by one
and the same people for a special purpose, and about the same time,
or at least within a comparatively limited period. It is true that a
considerable diversity exists as regards the number and character of
the relics found in some of these localities; thus neither Samian ware
nor implements of bone or horn have been found at Dowalton, though
these are amongst the relics from all the Ayrshire examples. Such
negative evidence, however, does not amount to much, more especially
in this case, as the absence of Samian ware is more than compensated
for by the presence of other articles presumably of Roman origin; and,
moreover, I believe that a more careful search would have greatly
increased the number of relics from Dowalton.
This uniform similarity in these remains, though not entitling us to
extend the above generalisation beyond a certain geographical area in
the south-west of Scotland, is however sufficiently marked to enable
us to dispense with any further necessity of discussing the merits of
each group separately; so that whatever inferences can be legitimately
derived from a critical examination of any one group may be safely
applied to the whole.
If these observations are really trustworthy, we may at once proceed to
examine the remarkable series of implements, weapons, ornaments, and
nondescript objects here presented to us, with the view of abstracting
from them some scraps of information regarding their original owners.
Fragments of Samian ware (Fig. 180), bronze dishes (one with Roman
letters, Fig. 13), harp-shaped fibulæ of peculiar type (Figs. 140 to
143), together with a large assortment of beads, bronze and bone pins,
bone combs, jet ornaments, etc. etc., are so similar to the class of
remains found on the excavated sites of Romano-British towns that
there can hardly be any doubt that Roman civilisation had come in
contact with the lake-dwellers and partially moulded their habits. The
Celtic element is however strongly developed, not only in the general
character of many of the industrial implements of stone, bone, and
iron, but also in the style of art manifested in some of the ornamental
objects included in the collection. Thus the piece of wood (Figs.
149, 150) with its carved spiral patterns, the combs, especially the
one represented by Fig. 30, showing a series of concentric circles
connected by a running scroll design, the table-man carved with similar
circles and an open interlaced knot-work; and the bronze brooch (Fig.
26), present a style of ornamentation which is considered peculiar to
early Celtic art. The spiral finger-rings seem also to have been of
native origin, and the probability is that they were manufactured where
they were found, as several crucibles are amongst the relics from the
same lake-dwelling, one of which, from the fact that it still contains
particles of gold, unmistakeably demonstrates that it had been used in
melting this metal.
On the other hand, the forged gold coin (Fig. 246) is the only relic
that can with certainty be said to have emanated from a Saxon source;
at least, that cannot otherwise be accounted for.
[Illustration: Fig. 255.--Bone Comb, from Ballinderry Crannog, Ireland
(2-1/2 inches long).]
[Illustration: Fig. 256.--Bone Comb from the Knowe of Saverough, Orkney
(1/2).]
But if, from internal evidence, a presumptive case is made out in
favour of the Celtic origin and occupation of these lake-dwellings, it
is greatly strengthened when we consider that the neighbouring Celtic
races in Scotland and Ireland were in the habit of erecting similar
island abodes, while there is not a particle of evidence in favour of
the idea that such structures originated with the Roman conquerors of
Britain or its Saxon invaders.
[Illustration: Fig. 257.--Comb of Bone found in the Broch of Burrian,
Orkney (1/2).]
[Illustration: Fig. 258.--Bone Comb from the Broch of Burrian, Orkney
(1/2).]
The resemblance between the remains found in the Scottish and Irish
lake-dwellings, as well as in many other antiquarian finds of Celtic
character, must also not be overlooked. Combs, similar in structure and
ornamentation to those from Buston, have been found in several of the
Irish crannogs (Fig. 255);[48] in the Brochs and other antiquities of
the north of Scotland, as at the Knowe of Saverough, Orkney (Fig. 256);
the Broch of Burrian (Figs. 257 and 258); and in many of the ruins of
the Romano-British towns, as at York and Uriconium (Fig. 259).[49] Iron
knives and shears, variegated beads of impure glass, with grooves and
spiral marks, ornaments of jet and bronze, implements of stone, bone,
and horn, besides querns, whetstones, etc., are all common to Celtic
antiquities wherever found.
[Illustration: Fig. 259.--Bone Comb from Uriconium (2/3).]
Canoes are so invariably found associated with crannogs, that their
discovery in lakes and bogs has been considered by Dr. Stuart as an
indication of the existence of the latter. This may be true in some
cases, but in others, such as Closeburn, Lochwinnoch, and Loch Doon,
three of the examples cited by him, it is more probable that the canoes
were used by the occupiers of the mediæval castles in the vicinity of
which they were found. From these and many other instances that have
come under my notice, I have come to the conclusion that dug-out canoes
do not indicate such great antiquity as is commonly attributed to them,
nor do they therefore necessarily carry us back to prehistoric times.
While some fragments of the pottery collected on the Ayrshire crannogs
(all of which include Samian ware) are undoubtedly Romano-British,
others as certainly point to a different period and source. I am
informed on the best authority that all the portions showing any
appearance of glaze, such as those represented by Figs. 181 to 184,
were manufactured in mediæval times; but on the other hand that others
(Fig. 186) may belong to the same class of fictile ware as was used
for mortuary purposes in Pagan times. My own knowledge of the subject
is too slender to guide me in forming an opinion on these points;
but, considering how little is actually known of the pottery of the
transitional period between that of the sepulchral urns and mediæval
times, any conflicting inferences that may be deduced from such a line
of discussion need not, at least in the meantime, interfere with the
chronological conclusions pointed at elsewhere. The statement made
by Grose (see page 155), that the monks of the monastery at Friars'
Carse used to lodge their valuable effects on the artificial island
in the loch when the English made inroads into Strathnith, suggests a
possible, and perhaps probable, escape from any difficulty of this sort.
Again, while it is evident from the parallel striation on some of
the fragments, on which the traces of glaze still remain, that they
were manufactured on the wheel, an inspection of Figs. 160, 161, and
181, proves that hand-wrought vessels were also manufactured after
the introduction of glaze. That sepulchral urns were all made by hand
is not a sufficient proof that the wheel was not simultaneously in
use among the same people. The extraordinary conservatism, as regards
changes in religious ceremonies, displayed by all nations and in all
ages, is a sufficient explanation of the persistency with which the
hand-wrought vessels have continued in use for sepulchral purposes.
Hence, I can conceive that to substitute for the latter others made on
the wheel, though at the same time largely used for domestic purposes,
would have been an intolerable innovation on the religious customs of
the people.
The Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in discussing the question whether
the various early sepulchral vessels were especially made for the
purposes of burial, or were originally manufactured for domestic use,
thus writes:--
"But perhaps the strongest objection to their having fulfilled a
purpose in the household, is the fact that they possess but little
in common with the pottery which, without much doubt, is domestic.
It is true that not very much of this has been discovered, but
quite enough has been found to enable us to judge pretty accurately
of its character. It has not, indeed, been proved conclusively that
the people who occupied the hut-circles and pit-dwellings were
those who erected the barrows so often met with in close proximity
to them; but if we may judge, as I think we fairly may, from the
identity of the flint implements found in each, there can be little
doubt that they were, the one the dwelling-place, the other the
burial-place, of the same people. Now, the pottery which has been
discovered on the site of dwelling-places is a dark-coloured,
hard-baked, perfectly plain ware, without ornament of any kind,
is in fact just what we would expect domestic pottery to be, and
has nothing in which it resembles the sepulchral vessels. And
more than this, so far as I know of my own experience, or can
learn from that of others, no whole vessel, or even fragments, of
the ordinary sepulchral pottery of the barrows or other places
of sepulture has ever been met with in connection with places of
habitation."--(_British Barrows_, p. 106.)
That many of these relics were the products of a refined civilisation,
is not more remarkable than the unexpected and strangely discordant
circumstances in which they have been found. For this reason it might
be supposed that the crannogs were the headquarters of thieves and
robbers, where the proceeds of their marauding excursions among the
surrounding Roman provincials were stored up. The inferences derived
from a careful consideration of all the facts do not appear to me
to support this view, nor do they uphold another view, sometimes
propounded, viz., that they were fortified islands occupied by
the guardian soldiers of the people. Indeed, amongst the relics
military remains are only feebly represented by a few iron daggers
and spear-heads, one or two doubtful arrow-points, and a quantity of
round pebbles and so-called sling-stones. On the other hand, a very
large percentage of the articles consists of querns, hammer-stones,
polishers, flint-flakes, and scrapers; stone and clay spindle-whorls,
pins, needles, and bodkins; knife-handles of red-deer horn, together
with many other implements of the same material; bowls, ladles, and
other vessels of wood, some of which were turned on the lathe; knives,
axes, saws, hammers, chisels, and gouges of iron; several crucibles,
lumps of iron slag, and other remains of metals, etc. From all these,
not to mention the great variety of ornaments, there can be no
ambiguity as to the testimony they afford of the peaceful prosecution
of various arts and industries by the lake-dwellers.
Proofs of a prolonged but occasionally interrupted occupancy are
also manifested by the great accumulation of débris over the wooden
pavements, the size and contents of the kitchen-middens, and the
superimposed hearths so well observed at Lochlee.
From the respective reports of Professors Owen, Rolleston, and Cleland,
on a selection of osseous remains taken from the lake-dwellings at
Dowalton, Lochlee, and Buston (see pp. 50, 139-143, 236-239), we can
form a fair idea of the food of the occupiers. The Celtic short-horn
(_Bos longifrons_), the so-called goat-horned sheep (_Ovis aries_,
variety _brachyura_), and a domestic breed of pigs, were largely
consumed. The horse was only scantily used. The number of bones and
horns of the red-deer and roebuck showed that venison was by no means
a rare addition to the list of their dietary. Among birds, only the
goose has been identified, but this is no criterion of the extent of
their encroachment on the feathered tribe, as only the larger bones
were collected and reported upon. To this bill of fare the occupiers
of Lochspouts crannog, being comparatively near the sea, added several
kinds of shell-fish. In all the lake-dwellings that have come under
my own observation, the broken shells of hazel-nuts were in profuse
abundance.
From the number of querns and the great preponderance of the bones
of domestic over those of wild animals, it may be inferred that, for
subsistence, they depended more on the cultivation of the soil and the
rearing of cattle, sheep, and pigs, than on the produce of the chase.
There is, in my opinion, only one hypothesis that can satisfactorily
account for all the facts and phenomena here adduced, viz., that the
lake-dwellings in the south-west of Scotland were constructed by the
Celtic inhabitants as a means of protecting their lives and movable
property when, upon the frequent withdrawal of the Roman soldiers
from the district, they were left, single-handed, to contend against
the Angles on the east, and the Picts and Scots on the north. It is
not likely that these rich provincials, so long accustomed to the
comforts and luxury of Roman civilisation, or their descendants in
the subsequent kingdom of Strathclyde, would become the assailants of
such fierce and lawless enemies, from whom, even if conquered, they
could derive no benefit. Hence their military tactics and operations
would assume more the character of defence than aggression, and in
order to defeat the object of the frequent and sudden inroads of the
northern tribes, which was to plunder the inhabitants rather than to
conquer the country, experience taught them the necessity of being
prepared for emergencies by having certain places of more than ordinary
security where they could deposit their wealth, or to which they could
retire as a last resource when hard pressed. These retreats might be
caves, fortified camps, or inaccessible islands, but in localities
where no such natural strongholds existed, the military genius of the
Celtic inhabitants, prompted perhaps by inherited notions, led them to
construct these wooden islands. Since the final departure of the Romans
till the conquest of the kingdom of Strathclyde by the Northumbrian
Angles, a period of several centuries, this unfortunate people had
few intervals of peace (see pp. 249 to 259), and, with their complete
subjugation, ended the special function of the Lake-Dwellings as a
national system of protection. No doubt some of them, as well as caves
and such hiding-places, would continue to afford a refuge to straggling
remnants of natives rendered desperate by the relentless persecution of
their enemies, but, ultimately, all of them would fall into the hands
of the Saxon conquerors, when, henceforth, they would be allowed to
subside into mud or crumble into decay.
Amongst extraneous antiquarian discoveries with which we may profitably
compare the remains from the lake-dwellings, there are two remarkable
groups recently brought to light by the exploration of two caves,
both of which, singularly enough, are within the confines of the
ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. These are a collection of relics from
the Victoria Cave near Settle, Yorkshire,[50] and another from the
Borness Cave, Kirkcudbrightshire.[51] Though the objects indicative of
high-class art found in the latter are not so numerous as those from
the former, yet they are, as a whole, of a similar character and type.
They consist of fragments of Samian ware, bronze fibulæ, and other
ornaments of bronze and horn, spindle-whorls, and a large quantity of
implements and weapons made of stone, bone, and horn, etc., all of
which bear a striking resemblance to the corresponding objects from
the Lake-Dwellings. It would exceed my limits to enter upon a minute
and critical comparison of the important results obtained from these
two independent sources, viz., the Caves and the Lake-Dwellings; I
cannot, however, resist quoting the following remarks by Professor Boyd
Dawkins, regarding the date of habitation of the Victoria Cave, which
might, with equal appropriateness, be applied to the latter:--
"There can be no doubt but that this strange collection of objects
was formed during the sojourn of a family for some length of
time in the cave; we have to account for the presence of so many
articles of luxury in so strange and wild a place. The personal
ornaments, and the Samian ware, are such as would have graced the
villa of a wealthy Roman, rather than the abode of men who lived by
choice in recesses in the rock. In the coins we have a key which
explains the difficulty. Some belonged to Trajan and Constantine,
others to Tetricus (A.D. 267-273), while others are barbarous
imitations of Roman coins, which are assigned by numismatists
to the period just about the time of the Roman evacuation of
Britain. These objects, therefore, could not have been introduced
into the cave before the end of the fourth century, or just that
time when the historical record shows us that the province of
Roman Britain was suffering from the anarchy consequent on the
withdrawal of the Roman troops. In the year 360, the savage Picts
and Scots, pent up in the north by the Roman walls, broke in upon
the unarmed and rich provincials, and carried fire and sword as
far south as London. Their ravages were repeated from time to
time, until the Northumbrian Angles finally conquered the Celtic
kingdom of Strathclyde. It must nevertheless be admitted that,
so long as the Celts of Strathclyde held their ground against
the Angles, they would certainly follow the mode of life and the
manners and customs handed down to them by their forefathers, the
Roman provincials. And therefore, it is very probable that these
objects of Roman culture may have been used in that district which
was the Northumbrian border, long after they had ceased to be used
in the regions conquered by the English. To say the least, there
are two extremes between which the date must lie--the fourth and
fifth centuries, as shown by the barbaric coins, and the year 756,
when Eadberht finally conquered Strathclyde. It cannot be later,
because of the presence of Roman, and the absence of all English
cultus. The cave, situated in a lonely spot, and surrounded by
the gnarled and tangled growth of stunted yews, oaks, and hazel,
which still survive in one or two places in the neighbourhood, as
samples of the primeval forest, would afford that shelter from
an invader of which a native would certainly take advantage. We
can hardly doubt that it was used by unfortunate provincials
who fled from their homes, with some of their cattle and other
property, and were compelled to exchange the luxuries of civilised
life for a hard struggle for common necessaries. In no other way
can the association of works of art of a very high order with
rude and rough instruments of daily use be accounted for. In
that respect, therefore, the Victoria Cave affords as true and
vivid a picture of the troublous times of the fourth and fifth
centuries as the innumerable burned Roman villas and cities; in
the one case, you get a place of refuge to which the provincials
fled; and in the other, their homes which have been ruthlessly
destroyed."--(_Journal of Anthrop. Inst._ vol. i. p. 64.)
The presence of a Saxon coin in one of the Ayrshire examples is in no
way inconsistent with the general views here advocated, as we have
undoubted evidence that the country had been occupied, at least
temporarily, by the Saxons as early as the date to which Mr. Evans
assigns this coin.
Turning now to the Celtic area beyond the limits of the Scottish
portion of the kingdom of Strathclyde, I may at once state that there
are no data derived from an examination of its artificial islands,
nor any relics of their occupiers, which can give even an approximate
notion of their chronological range.
In localities where the Celtic races were not supplanted by foreigners,
it would be strange indeed, and altogether at variance with
archæological experience, as propounded by the learned author of _The
Past in the Present_,[52] if the habit of resorting to isolated and
inaccessible islands for safety would be all at once abandoned whenever
the greater security afforded by stone buildings became known. Hence,
in the Irish annals we find frequent mention made of crannogs down even
to the middle of the seventeenth century, and Dr. Joseph Robertson has
quoted several historical passages to prove that certain crannogs in
Scotland--as, for example, those of the Loch of Forfar, Lochindorb,
Loch Canmor, and Loch-an-eilan, etc.--survived to the middle ages. Many
of these, however, were strong mediæval castles built for a different
purpose, and had nothing in common with the crannogs proper beyond the
fact of their insular situation.
From an etymological analysis of the earliest topographical
nomenclature of Britain, as well as from other sources, there is
abundant proof that in former times a Celtic population occupied
nearly the whole of the island. Ultimately, however, these Celts
were driven by successive waves of immigrants to the far north and
west, and it becomes an important inquiry to determine if, in these
localities from which they were expelled, there still exist any traces
of lake-dwellings. I have already remarked that no remains of wooden
islands have been found in the south-east of Scotland. This, however,
may be due to want of research on the part of antiquaries, and other
causes, which so long kept us altogether in the dark regarding the
phenomena of lake-dwellings in this country; and, indeed, some curious
indications have already been supplied by independent observers as to
their existence, not only in the south-east of Scotland, as at Balgone
in East Lothian (see footnote, page 249), but in several parts of
England and Wales.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 40: _Caledonia_, Book iii. chap. v. pp. 358 _et seq._]
[Footnote 41: Amongst the donations to the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, I find various vessels of brass found in
marshy ground near Balgone, East Lothian (also deer's horns and bones
of animals.--_Proceed._ vol. vi. p. 174), by Sir George Grant Suttie,
Bart., which are at least suggestive of the former existence of a lake
and a crannog in the locality.
These vessels consist of--
A large bronze (brass) tripod pot, with loops at the neck for handle,
13 inches across the mouth, 15-1/2 inches high, and circumference round
the middle 45 inches.
Three other bronze (brass) pots of similar type, varying in size.
A bronze (brass) pot (measuring, etc.).
Shallow bronze (brass) basin, etc.
Portion of a larger bronze (brass) basin.
Bronze (brass) tripod vessel, with spout and looped handles, etc.
Bronze (brass) tripod vessel with straight spout, etc.
The following extract of a letter from Sir G. Grant Suttie gives the
details of the discovery, dated 16th Feby. 1849:--"Last autumn my
labourers were trenching amongst some rhododendrons in a piece of mossy
ground under a peculiar ledge of grey rocks, in my park at Balgone,
near my house, and about a mile and a half due south from North Berwick
Law, when they found a number of camp-kettles of various sizes, one
very large, and in this, one of the goblets was found. They were close
to each other, and about 8 feet from the surface. The meadow, extending
to about 20 acres, where they were found, was generally under water
till imperfectly drained by me; since then the level has sunk from 3 to
4 feet. I have little doubt that when these kettles were deposited here
the meadow was a lake, or at all events a morass."--(_Proc. Soc. Antiq.
Scot._ vol. iii. p. 251.)]
[Footnote 42: See _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._ vol. vi. p. 91.]
[Footnote 43: _Lake-Dwellings_, by Keller, Second Edition, p. 657.]
[Footnote 44: _A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of
Moss Earth_, 1811.]
[Footnote 45: _Sketches of Early Scottish History_, p. 100.]
[Footnote 46: Portion of the trunk of an oak-tree, recently dug out of
the moss at the margin of the lake basin, still lies on the surrounding
hedge bank.]
[Footnote 47: _Notes of a Tour in the East_, 1875.]
[Footnote 48: "It (the comb, Fig. 255) is 2-1/2 inches long, and 1-3/4
deep, and the three pectinated portions are held together by flat
sides, decorated with scrolls and circles. The top or handle shows a
triple open-work decoration, and the side-pieces are grooved at one end
for receiving the clasp of a metal tooth, which replaced one of the
lost bone ones."
Double-edged combs "vary from 3 to 4-1/2 inches in length, and from
1-1/4 to 2-1/4 across, the teeth portions being double, and passing
through and through the sides to which they were riveted."
"The crannogs of Dunshaughlin, Ardakillen, and Cloonfinlough, and the
street cuttings in the city of Dublin, have afforded nearly all the
specimens of which the localities have been recorded. The total number
of combs at present in the collection, including those on the 'Find
Trays,' is eighty. Many of these combs are but fragmentary; yet in each
a sufficiency has been preserved to enable us to judge of the original
size, and also of its style of ornamentation, which generally consists
of transverse or oblique grooves, diced-work, interlacings, dotted
lines, and circles surrounding a central indented spot."--(Wilde's
_Catalogue_.)]
[Footnote 49: "The comb drawn in the sketch (Fig. 259) is an elaborate
affair, consisting of central piece or pieces, with teeth; the upper
portion being strengthened in front and behind by transverse pieces of
ornamented bone, riveted together by now much corroded iron rivets;
three of the rivets are reproduced."--(_Roman City of Uriconium_, p.
86.)]
[Footnote 50: _Collect. Antiq. and Journal of Anthrop. Inst._ vol. i.]
[Footnote 51: _Proceed. of Soc. of Antiq. Scot._ vol. x. p. 476; xi. p.
305; and xii. p. 669.]
[Footnote 52: _The Past in the Present_, by Arthur Mitchell, LL.D.]