east-lothian-1924/05-038

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN.

in the neighbourhood of Dunbar along with the flint implements. Although the
question of stone weapons is dealt with under the neolithic period, it is well known
that many classes of these implements continued to be made and used long after
the use of metals was begun.
A considerable number of the sepulchral monuments ascribed to the
succeeding Bronze Age survive ; inhabited sites of this period have been
identified at North Berwick, near Archerfield, and on Traprain Law, and a number
of the graves and weapons have been found in the county.
Cairns. - Round cairns, presumably of the Bronze Age, are seen in various
parts, but none of them attains any great size. Excluding the numerous
small cairns east of Gullane, only eighteen, of these constructions, including
two sites, have been recorded. There are three hill-top cairns, on the summits
of Spartleton (No. 183), Priestlaw Hill (No. 226) and Harestone Hill (No. 54)
and these attain a diameter of 50 feet, 40 feet and 43 feet respectively.
Erected at an elevation of from 1250 feet to over 1500 feet above sea level
it is not certain that they are of sepulchral character, but from their size
it is very probable that they are. Two cairns survive in the low country
on Whitekirk Hill (No. 204) and at Tynemouth (No. 205), the latter, which
measures 60 feet in diameter and 11 feet in height, being in a fine state of
preservation. In the cairn " Fairy Knowe " Meiklerig, Stenton (No. 188)
which was removed in 1877, two short cists containing incinerated remains
were found ; a cinerary urn was recovered from one cist and a flint knife
and whetstone from the other, these relics being now preserved in the National
Museum of Antiquities. In the same museum are two bifid tanged blades of
bronze supposed to have been used as razors, and a socketed axe of the
same material, which were found in a tumulus at Bowerhouse, Dunbar, and
presented to the Museum in 1829. In the cairn on North Berwick West Golf
Course (No. 112), which was partly removed, a stone cist contained the remains
of a skeleton and an urn of the food vessel type. Fragments of a second urn and
more skeletal remains were found outside the cist. Including the hill-top cairns
on Spartleton and Priestlaw Hill there have been at least eleven examples in the
region drained by the upper Whitadder and its tributary the Bothwell Water.
As these occur along one of the three lines of penetration into the county from the
south, it might be inferred that the people who erected these monuments immi-
grated by this route, especially as other classes of monuments believed to belong
to the same period are found in this district and nowhere else. It should be noted
however that there is no corresponding abundance of similar structures to the south
of this region. Although it is difficult to get away from the fact that they lie in close
proximity to an ancient line of route, perhaps the natural features of the locality
may to some extent explain their presence. The hills here attain less altitude than
in other parts of the Lammermuirs, and they spread out into dry broad un-
dulating ridges covered with more grass than heather, so providing a more
hospitable region for human habitation than the adjoining hill country to the
east and west. The most interesting cairn in this district is " Table Rings,"
Penshiel Hill (No. 232), as it is one of the few bell cairns known in Scotland.
The encircling ditch and outer bank are clearly defined. This variety of
cairn or rather barrow is well-known in the south of England. Unfortunately
many of the cairns have been tampered with, and possibly the bell-cairn may

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