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A N C I E N T BRITISH SKULL.
FROM STONE CIST, JUNIFEE. GREEN, MID-LOTHIAN.
(aEGION OF THE &ADENI, TEMP. PTOlEMiEI, A.D. 120.)
Cranium from Jiiniper Green Cist.—Quarter-size.
In May, 1851, a stone cist was accidentally discovered in a garden, -wMcli had been long under
cultivation, at Juniper Green, about four miles from Edinburgh, on the road to Lanark. It lay
in sandy soil, within a foot or two of the surface, and not above ten yards from the public road.
There was no mound or other external feature to indicate its presence, and, if such had
previously existed, it had long before been dispersed by the spade. The cist was composed of
thin slabs of sandstone, and measured only 3 feet 11 inches in length, by fuUy 2 feet in breadth
at the head, and was rather narrower towards the feet. Its depth we are unfortunately not
informed of, but like other examples, it probably did not exceed, if even it reached, 2 feet.
The stones had been so well fitted together, besides which the joints were aU carefully closed by
being plastered with loam, that nothing but a little sand had penetrated into the cist; and the
spot was so free from damp, that the entire deposit was, after the lapse of many ages, in a state of
excellent preservation:—it had not been disturbed since the day on which such affectionate
15. (1 )