stirling-1963-vol-1/05_058

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE BRONZE AGE
slight terminals expanded regularly all round; weighing 202·4 grammes, it is generally similar,
though undecorated, to the largest object in the Downpatrick gold find, ¹ a bracelet of Type 1
weighing 267·8 grammes. Among the very few bronze objects on record from Stirlingshire are
the blade of a flat riveted dagger from Blochairn, a decorated flanged axe from Bannockburn
and a socketed axe from Carronvale. Two Italian boat-shaped brooches (Pl. 4 A-D), from "near
Castlecary" and "near Falkirk" respectively, might possibly represent articles of trade dating
from the 9th or 8th centuries B.C. ²
Cup-and-ring markings are represented by two on living rock (Nos. 42, 43), and three on
blocks found among the fallen masonry of the broch in Tor Wood (No. 44 and Pl. 2C and D). ³
No stone circles are recorded in Stirlingshire, but standing stones occur either singly, as
for example the three in Logie parish (Nos. 46, 47, 48), or in a pair, as at Waterhead (No. 61),
or in a row, as at Dumgoyach (No. 58). Cists were recorded as having been found at the bases
of the Waterhead pair, but their contents, if any, were unfortunately not preserved.
A timber-framed house of Bronze-Age type was found to have preceded the Early Iron Age
house in the West Plean homestead (No. 104). No evidence is yet available from which the
date of any of the unenclosed hut-circles in Stirlingshire can be deduced with certainty, but
they too are likely for the most part to be of the Bronze Age.
The list that follows includes all the pottery as well as the gold and bronze objects of the
Bronze Age that have been found in the county. ⁴ It is regrettable that whereas four Beakers,
nine Food Vessels and eight Cinerary Urns - twenty-one vessels in all - can be identified
without question, as many as twelve other vessels are lost and have only been recorded as
"urns". But in view of the likelihood that in most if not all cases these were of Bronze Age
types, and in consideration of the proportion that they bear to the known specimens, they have
been included on the map as "urns, type unrecorded".

1 Proudfoot, V. B., Archaeological Research Publications (Northern Ireland), No. 3 (1955), 15 and pl. I, 9.
2 NMA Nos. FG 4 (Castlecary) and FG 5 (Falkirk). Dr. D.B. Harden, O.B.E., F.S.A., in a letter which anticipates a further
publication on such fibulae, states that more than eighty have now been listed from the British Isles and that, in individual cases,
the possibility exists that such a fibula might have been a genuine ancient import.
3 P.S.A.S., vi (1864-6), Appendix (1867), pl. xix, 1-3.
4 A number of faked bronze axes have been detected among specimens alleged to have been found in Stirlingshire. They include
(a) two flat axes (NMA No. DA 83; P.S.A.S., lvi (1921-2), 17; Smith Institute Catalogue No. AI 2); (b) five flanged axes (NMA
No. DC 100; P.S.A.S., loc. cit,; NMA Nos. DQ 120, 121, 122; P.S.A.S., xx (1885-6), 12; Falkirk Burgh Museum No. B 8):
(c) two socketed axes (NMA No. DE 86; P.S.A.S., lvi (1921-2), 17; Smith Institute Catalogue No. AK 3).The Commissioners are
indebted to Mr. R. B. K. Stevenson, Keeper of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, for the foregoing information.

LIST OF POTTERY AND GOLD AND BRONZE OBJECTS OF THE BRONZE AGE
FOUND IN STIRLINGSHIRE

The following abbreviations are used: FBM - Falkirk Burgh Museum; GAM - Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum,
Kelvingrove, Glasgow; HM - Hunterian Museum, Glasgow; NMA - National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland,
Edinburgh; SIS - Smith Institute, Stirling.

NO. -- OBJECT -- LOCALITY -- REMARKS -- REFERENCES -- PRESERVED

1 -- Beaker -- Cambusbarron -- Sand-pit -- P.S.A.S., lxviii (1933-4),
188, No. 270 -- SIS
2 -- Beaker -- Hill of Airthrey -- In cist in cairn, probably secondary -- P.S.A.S., lxviii (1933-4),
186, No. 250 -- Lost

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