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DESCRIPTIONS OP CEANIA.
mse across it, so as to project over on each side. In the opinion of Mr. John Stuart, this stone
had been originaUy an erect pillar, and had been taken to cover the grave merely as a matter of
convenience. This is indeed apparent from what we have already related. It belongs to a
class of stones, which occur frequently on the north-east of Scotland*.
Sculptured Stone coveriny DnnroUn Cist.
The contents of this cist were the decayed bones of two skeletons of adult men, one of which
was considered by Dr. J. J. Boss to be above the average size. The teeth were much smoothed
and worn by attrition. Beside the bones lay a hollow conical object of thickly oxidized iron.
This is five iaches in length, and an inch and a half in diameter at the lower open end. It is the
socket portion of an iron spear-head, and has the iron rivet in its place, as well as the open slit
at which the sides met in forming this sockett- The thinner blade of the spear, having been
no doubt more deeply oxidized, has been broken off and lost ia the excavation, which was in the
hands of workmen.
Another cist lying a few yards to the west, and constructed exactly in the same manner, was
more carefuUy opened under the inspection of Dr. Boss, who communicated a notice of the whole
discovery to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland i- A complete skeleton, lying at full length,
came at once into view on the removal of the covering stone. The feet were towards the northeast,
in which direction the face looked. It was to this skeleton that the skuU belonged, of
which we here present a lithograph.
Much interest is attached to these interments, for they both belong to the same age and
people. What period and people, it may not be possible to determine quite positively from either
* gee " Sculptured Stones of Scotland," Aberdeen, printed
for the Spalding Club, 1856, p. 35, and Plate CXII. No. 2.
In this splendid publication, edited by Mr. John Stuart, the
fish often occurs, and the object formed of two connected circles
or discs, which has been designated for convenience the
spectacle-ornament," and the quadrilateral one also ; but there
is not another figure of a sword of this kind.
t Mr. Charles Roach Smith, in speaking of spear-heads of
the Anglo-Saxon perifld, observes, " All bear a peruliar fen-
27
ture, which may be termed characteristic. This peculiarity is
a longitudinal slit in the socket which received the wooden
staff."—Inventorium Sepulchrale, 185fi, p. xxxvii. That this
mode of construction, with a slit at the side, sometimes extended
to Danish and Norse spear-heads, is seen by a reference
to "Worsaae's " Afbildninger fra det Kongelige Museum for
Nordiske Oldsager i Kjiibenhavn," 1854, p. G8. fig. 2i)4, b.
J Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,
1854, p. 297.
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wmmmm
ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN—DUNBOBIN CASTLE, SUTHERLANDSIIIRE.
archseological or craniological evidence. Still we believe a highly probable conclu.sion may be
arrived at. That they have no connexion with either primeval or Roman epochs, both at once
decide. The absence of the contracted posture, and the presence of the sculptured slab, as well
as the conformation of the skull, aU concur in this. The orientation of the cists, although not
quite precise, and especially that of the skeleton from which our cranium was derived, for the
contents of the first cist had been put into a box by the workmen before Dr. Boss had an opportunity
of examining them, might be probable testimony to post-Christian times; and others are
not wanting*.
The Scottish sculptured stones appear to be divisible into two groups, the one formed of
rude unhewn blocks, and presenting symbols wholly unknown and hitherto unexplained (still, we
believe, not inexplicable); and the other formed of dressed flags having cut in them crosses
bearing a resemblance to Irish works of art dating from the 7th to the 11th century, and
in combination with these crosses, some of the symbols of the earlier class, along with hunting
and warlike scenes. That the former are remains of a pre-Christian age, and the latter post-
Christian, seem reasonable inferences, and that both series are of indigenous origin there does
not appear any sufficient reason to doubt. Taking this view, no great lapse of time may be
necessary to account for the overthrow of an erect carved stone of the former kind, which had
lost its importance in the eyes of the people by whom it was erected, or, what is more probable,
had no respect in the estimation of a foreign and intrusive race, especially rovers like the
Norsemen, who might at once apply it to such a base purpose. It seems hardly likely that
such a use could be made of a sculptured monument during the age in which those objects were
erected and honom-ed. Therefore either a new and inimical race must be supposed to have been
introduced; or a great, perhaps violent, change in the views and feelings of the native people
must have taken place, such as that occasioned by conversion to Christianity, to account for the
facts. On either supposition, actual events are at hand to supply an ample solution. The
Norsemen evidently settled much more numerously on the eastern than on the western coast
of Sutherland. In the 10th century, Sigm-d, the Norwegian Jarl of Orkney and Shetland,
ruled as far as the river Oykill; and the Norsemen of the Orkneys are said to have been
converted to Christianity about the year 980. So that about this period, or soon afterwards,
we may conclude that this interment in the inimcdiate precincts of the Norwegian Jarl's own
castle may have taken place. We have conclusive evidence in the remnant of the peculiar
iron spear-headt, that the interments belong to a people of Teutonic race; and the like conclusion
may be deduced from the conformation of the skuU. This skull is rather more platycephalic
than those of Scandinavian derivation, with which wo have the means of comparing it I ;
* Much weight, however, cannot be attached to this point.
The direction of the cists may perhaps rather be regarded as
north and south, and this would be strictly accordant with that
of the graves on the Links of Pier-o-waal—a series of Orkney
sepulchres, the contents of which clearly demonstrate them to
have been those of Norsemen. The bodies in these graves lay
north and south.—Wilson's "Archieology of Scotland," p. 551.
-f The presence of the iron spear-head is a sufficient refutation,
if other evidence were wanting, of an opinion, which has
been expressed, that the Dnnrobin graves were comparatively
modern.
I We refer to two fine crania of modern Swedes, which we
27.
owe to the kindness of Professor A. Retzius. These are rather
more dolichocephalic than the Dunrobin skull. In fact, they
are remarkably regular ovoid crania. They closely agree with
another in the Museum of the Andersonian Institution, Glasgow.
The need of a much greater number and variety of
specimens, so difficult to procure, prevents our determining
whether this be the characteristic feature of modem Scandinavian
skulls. Prof. A. Retzius, however, expresses himself
strongly in favour of its being such in Swedish crania,
which he places in his dolichocephalic orthognathous division.
—Blick pii Ethnologiens nivrvavande Stiindpunkt, 1857, p. 4.
The cast of the ancient skull which was found on the shores
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