caithness-1911/05_025

Transcription

xxiv -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

Certain of the hill forts of England have been definitely assigned to
the age of bronze, but without excavation it would be rash to attribute
the construction of the forts of Caithness to any particular period.
The knowledge of iron is calculated to have reached Britain
between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C., and its introduction is
commonly attributed to Celtic tribes who are believed to have
invaded the island about this time. The art of the early iron age, as
revealed by the objects of use or ornament referrable to this epoch,
has therefore been called "Celtic" or "late Celtic" art.
During the iron age the fashion of sepulture was still further
modified, and though the cairn burial to some extent survived,
the cairns became low and unimportant, while more frequently the
cists were placed in the earth with no monument superimposed. The
perishable nature of iron has resulted in a difficulty of determining
conclusively the burials of this period, and in Scotland, up to the
present date, there are on record only two reports of excavations of
burials from which iron grave goods have been recovered. The bones
from these interments yielded no very definite anatomical data, and
we have therefore no evidence of a special racial type which can be
identified with the early iron age. The proof of the "Celtic" invasion
must be sought in linguistic, archæological, and other data. In the
absence of graves which can be attributed to this period, it is to the
abodes of the living rather than to the houses of the dead that we
must turn for enlightenment.
Over the whole region of the county, with the exception of the
inaccessible and infertile tracts of moorland, are to be observed grass-
covered hillocks of from 70' to 100' in diameter, and 10' to 12' in height.
Locally they are called "tullochs." These mounds contain the ruins of
brochs, structures of more than ordinary interest, and very numerous
in Caithness where the remains of some one hundred and forty-five
have been noted. From the not inconsiderable ruins of examples
in other parts of Scotland, as well as from the excavated brochs
within the county, we are enabled to form a fairly complete picture
of one of these buildings in its original condition. In plan it was
cylindrical, having a wall from 12' to 15' in thickness, and built of dry
masonry without any adhesive material, enclosing an interior court-
yard open to the sky, with a diameter of 30' or thereby. The wall
of the broch rose to a height of from 45' to 50' and had occasionally
a considerable batter on the exterior for the first 10' or 12'. No
opening pierced the outer wall save the doorway on the ground level.
Through this doorway, which was built up on each side to a height
of about 5', with a width of some 3', and surmounted by a lintel,
access to the interior was gained by a passage directly through the
wall. The passage was roofed with large flags between which a
sufficient space was sometimes left to assail from above any foe who
had effected an entrance. Within the passage, some 6' or thereby,
were checks for a door, and in some instances there were additional
door checks nearer the inner extremity. Behind the first door checks
entering from one side of the passage there was usually a guard
chamber, fashioned in the thickness of the wall and measuring some
7' or 8' in length by 5' to 6' in width. Opening off the court were
one or more small oval chambers, also in the thickness of the wall,
while about a quarter-way round the periphery a passage some 3' to