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THE BADDEN SLAB by MARION CAMPBEL F KILBERRYLO , F.S.A.SCOT. . SCOTTG . J , , M.A., F.M.A., F.S.A.SCOT. d STUARan , T PIGGOTT, B.LITT., D.LITT.HUM., F.B.A., F.S.A., F.s.A.scor.1

I. DISCOVERY ON 18th March 1960 carvea , d ston ploughes fiela ewa n di p (Natu d . Grid Ref. NR 858890) on the farm of Badden by Mr H. Mitchell, brother-in-law of the owner, Mr D. R. Campbell. The field lies on a gravelly slope through the 5O-foot contour, the stone having.been found at about 30 feet above present datum; the slope marks the south-easterly end of a former fresh-water loch which extended to Cairnbaan befor constructioe th e Crinae th f no n Canal (fig. i). Mr M. Campbell, Ministry of Works Custodian of Ancient Monuments, was consulted and identified the stone as an important pre-Christian carving, and on stone th 2 isew t lyinsa Marc invite s fare d gth wa m an wherd beeho I t d ha n t ei found. The carvings were strikingly fresh and sharp, consisting of a series of dia- monds and lattice-patterns, each of several concentric lines, cut at either end of the ston groovesy b e e stonTh .a e greenish-gre f itselo s i f y schistose rock, probably Ardrishaig phyllite, readily obtainably eb . locally,in 9 measured . ft iy an 2 b . ft s5 3 in. The carvings extend over almost the whole length and over half the width, remainine th d an g undecorated pars beeha t n dressed awa foro yt mV-sectiona , probabl facilitato yt e settin slae gth b uprigh grounde th groovese n ti . Th wid. in 2 e, by i in. deep, are 7 in. from either end (PI. VIII). slae deptbeea d t b Th ha . a belof 1 n h0o in y caughplouge e la w th th t i y s b hta soil, and had been thrown out and scarred. This was the first occasion that the field d beeha n tractor-ploughed e formeth , r owner having worked with horsess i e h ; know havo nt e ploughe t mordno e tha. deepin n8 . Thi confirmes swa workee w s da d e findspotth t a , ashe recend san t household rubbish being trace in.8 ,o t dbelo w which lay clean soil for 4 in., and at one foot we reached pure sharp river gravel containing (unusually for this area) a few small flint pebbles. No sign of a cist was found, but sunk into the gravel was a setting of rounded boulders covering an area extendind an . ft 8 x g . 1downwar7ft . beloft 2 wo dt present ground level; amone gth boulders were patches of dark earth with small deposits of charcoal, and some dressed flints includin well-made gon e triangular sory shello an N t .f wer so e found sitee th , n whico h however suggeste ddwelling-sita e rather tha gravena . numbeA f dresseo r d flints (some water-rolled somd an ) e struck cores were also recovered fro surface fiele mth th df eo betwee Baddee th site d nth nean e Burth o nt south-west. Informatio obtaines nwa chancy db e tha 'flaa t t stone lik esmala l hatch-cover' 1 Part I, describing the discovery of the stone, is contributed by Miss Campbell, Part II, discussing the British setting, by Mr Scott, and Part III, discussing the continental affinities, by Professor Piggott. The first repordiscovere th f o t y appeare Discoveryn di Excavation,d an , 1960. 5 , 2 Examined by Dr S. M. K. Henderson, of Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. THE SADDEN CIST SLAB 47

|j»" /'IM V^/ '/' '""' © a ^. NETHER LARGIE SOUTH

Fio. i. Grooved and rebated (1—12) and linear cemetery in Mid Argyll. (open circle) with or (solid circle) without grooved and/or rebated cist. For details of cists see pp. 59-61. 8 4 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , ig6o-6l beed ha n found fielhighee th d p abouru t thirty year sbee d beforeha n t buriebu , d farmee feareth o y wh b rt migh di gravestonea e b t . mentioo Thern s ef thiwa n o s slab's having been carved. Whether this was the same stone or not, it seems possible that the carved stone had been forced out of the subsoil by pressure from tractors (including a large crawler-tractor hauling pylon girders shortly before the ploughing) and by contact with the setting of boulders. The only known stone with similar carvings in the area is the end-slab of a cist at Cairnbaan, 840907, i| miles NW. of Badden at the other end of the former loch (fig. i)Nationae .th Thin i sw l slaMuseuno s bi Antiquitief mo Scotlanf so d (cata- describe s 7)i logu A t I ;i . eno P.S.A.S.,n di vi, Appx. PI0 ,3 . XIII (se,4 e below, fig. 2). Baddee Th n ston bees eha n presente Glasgoe th o dt t Galler wAr Museud yan m . CampbelR . D r byM l (reg . A6o45)no . .

II. THE BRITISH SETTING The importance of the Badden short cist slab lies in the association on one stone of applied carpentry technique s- groovin rebatind gan g- wit h decorative carving. Whereas grooving and rebating have a restricted distribution within the British Isles and abroad, the connections of the lozenge design range much further. The cultural chronologicad an l equations whic thun establishee hca sb d hav vitaea l par plao t y in assessing the Early and Middle in Argyll and the west of Scotland. Fourteen short cists having groove r rebatedo knoww d slabno Britainn e i sar , Islee th Scilly,f so n i rese e Scotland1n th i on t discoveres f wa thes O e . eon 196n di 0 islane onth Inchmarnockf do . coasW Bute. f e o tremainine th f Th 2 of , g twelve ear all in Mid Argyll, Badden being near Lochgilphead and the other eleven all within a radius of a mile of Poltalloch, in the Parish of Kilmartin, near Crinan (fig. i). Attentio firss ntwa drawKilmartie th o nt . CrawnH serie. J .y sb Detail givee sar n in summary on pp. 59-61, from which it will be noted at once that decoration is exceptiona grooven o l r rebateo d d slabs, being confine cup-marko t d s except a t Badden where addition i , carvee th o nt d lozenge design cup-mara e ,b thery ekma sla e bace oth b nth f k(PIo . VIII). On the Badden slab the and rebate are boldly carved, and impress as functional. It is possible to visualise the original cist as a stone box with the sides fitted together in the manner of a jointed wooden chest. The grooves slight the lozenge pattern, showing that the decoration was carved before the grooves; the slighting may be merely incidental to the construction of the cist, and should not be taken to imply that the slab had been adapted as the side of a burial cist from an olde differend an r t monument. n CisO t t 1Kilmartia 1 e groovon n cup-markso etw slightef o e on d. There is little doubt that in this cist, as well as in Cists i to 8, the grooves or rebates were functional d 10Cistt n Poltallochi a , an t s9 Bu . groovese th , , though present, were d slabs e insertioen th t usee . r no th Cra dfo f o n w suggested tha n Cisi t t e 1th 0 1 Antiquity, (1941)v x , 81-83. 2 Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1960. 24 , THE BADDEN CIST SLAB 49

BARCLODIAD Y GAWRE5

GOWARD ofuLf O.Dovies BUSH BARROW and. E.Eva/vs ?. AsKb«a

CAIRNBAAN BADDEN

3 FEET FIG. 2 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, ig6o-6l grooves may have been used for a wooden lining. A possible alternative explanation itime s thath e y 1d Cisttb 0 an wer s9 e constructe groovee dth becomd sha e symbolic rather than functional. This explanation receives some support fro additionae mth l unnecessaryd an , perhaps symbolic, grooves foun othee somn th o d f reo cistsn i ; Cist grooveo 1d s1tw an ionl. long e possible sin ar y8 Th . e chronological significance of this is discussed later. t d 1Kilmartia 1 an 7 , 6 , Cistn4 wer, s3 , ie2 , certainl r probablyo y coverey db of stones, in three cases with stone kerbs, but it seems possible that in all cases the cists were eccentric. d 10Cistt Poltallocha ,an s9 , were evidently parflaa f to t cemetery of the Middle Bronze Age. The translation into stone of the carpentry techniques of grooving and rebating in cist construction recalls the use of similar techniques at . It does not seem to have been generally recognised that four of the Kilmartin sites with grooved r rebateo d cists form parlineaa f o t r cemetery (fig. i, table)type th ef o ,see n most impressively near Stonehenge. e 'Founder'Th s Barrow' e cemeterth f o y would 1 2 certainly be Nether Largie south cairn, which has a burial chamber of Clyde- Carlingfor Nethee ar . N r de Largi th type cairnd o T emi . , wit grooves hit d cist, then Nether Largie north cairn, which has - and cup-marked cist slabs, and finally the Kilmartin Glebe cairn, with a central cist which contained an Irish Bowl of Aber- cromby's typ , witA e h beads t necklacefro je n eccentri a ma d an , c cist wita h Tripartite Bowl Food Vessel. To the S. of Nether Largie south cairn the cemetery 3 is i CruicontinueR e nth cairny b d , wit s groovehit d rebatean d d dan cistse ax , possibly halber Rowanfiele d th carvings y b d dan , Cottag d Crinaean n Moss cists, both grooved. Thu cemeterye sth t presena s a , t known totaa s lha , lengt nearlf ho y three miles. The impression of linearity is not lessened by the siting of the three Ri Cruin cists, all eccentric, yet in line from N. to S.; indeed the cairn may even have been enlarged so as to accommodate the largest cist, with the carved slabs. Baddee Th n cist paro f course n o ,thin i td shardl n ha ,complex ca t e i yb t bu , without significance that the nearest parallel to its multiple lozenge design occurred on the end slab of a short stone cist at Cairnbaan, only i\ miles to the NW. (figs, i, 2).4 This reopenes ciswa t Cray dgrooved.b e b w n 1929 i o foun d t otheo t N an , no dr

decoration is known 5 at Cairnbaan, unless some faintly incised markings observed late in 1960 on top of the cover slab, and reminiscent of 'fir tree men', are indeed artificia contemporard an l y wit cise hth t (fig : , PIa).3 .IX . 6 noteworths i t I y tha t Baddeta Cairnbaad nan lozenge nth e design appears alone, simplt integraten no a d s ya an d elemen Passage th n ti e Grave repertoire. Other such

1 Ashbee, P., The Bronze Age in Britain (1960), pp. 34-35. V. G. Childe was the first to draw attentio alignmene th o nt cairnse fouf th Prehistoryo te f o r Th : of Scotland (1935) . i19p , , . fig29 - 2 Ashbee, loc , quotin. cit.34 . p , g Grinsell, L .Ancient e V.Th , Burial Mounds of England (and ed., 1953), . 256p . P.S.A.S., LXXXV (1950-1), 40-41. Now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (reg. no3 . lA;), P.S.A.S., in (1857-69), 488. I . Stevenson K indebte . m a B Keepere photograp. a th R r 4 o dr t fo , M , thif ho s stone. 5 P.S.A.S., LXIV (1929-30), 138, with references. P.P.S.E.A., vn (1934), 297, fig. 8. A rather more convincing parallel is on an engraved stone (M 26) found6 by A. E. P. Collins and D. M. Waterman in a curious late cairn at Millin Bay, Co. Down : cf. Archaeological Research Publications (Northern ) No. 4 - Millin Bay (1955), 39, fig- 13. The Cairnbaan cover slab design had previously and independently been noticed by Mr D. D. A. Simpson. E SADDETH N CIST SLAB 51 instances may be noted. A stone incised on its flat face with seven lozenges is said to have been found cove e lyinth n rg o ston cisa t Kilchattanf a teo , Colonsay. loosA 1 e stone slab with engraved multiple lozenge ornament was found on the surface of the Clyde-Carlingford cair t Gowardna . DowCo n i , (fig . e lasa).Th t 2 examplo en doubt once accompanied a secondary burial; the others are all unequivocally asso- ciated with short cist burials, and it may be that the lozenge had a special meaning

Fio. 3. Scale i/a to people wit htraditioa f singlno e grave buria Argyln Earle i l Middlth d yn an i l e Bronze Age. Perhaps it is no accident that the large cover slab, 8 ft. 4 in. by 6 ft. in size, of the grooved cist in the Nether Largie mid cairn was lozenge-shaped. 3 Undoubtedly the most spectacular use of the lozenge as a decorative device occurgole th d n si plate s Wessee founth n di x culture grave t Bussa h Barrow, Nor- manto a linea nn i r, (fig 2) cemetery. t Clandoa d an , n Barrow, Dorset.e Th 4 dominant position which this plate must have had is well brought out by P. Ashbee s recenhi n i t reconstruction drawin e Busth hf g o Barro w burial (fig. a)n thii ; s

P.S.A.S., XLI (1906—7) . Stevenso . Bindebte, K .R m 450 a r I .M thir o dnt fo s reference. 5 81 P. Belfast N.H.S. (1932-3), 8-9 and PI. 5. 3 P.S.A.S., LXIV (1929-30), 128-9. 4 P.P.S., N.S. iv (1938), 105 and PI. X; Stone, J. F. S., Wessex (1958), p. 113 and PI. 44. 5 op. cit., p. 77, fig. 24. 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, ig6o-6l burial the plate was found on the chest of the skeleton of a 'tall and stout' man, dressuggestina s a se ornamentus s git Piggots a , t points out. possibl e vien th I 1 f wo e interpretation of the Badden design as a patterned textile hanging,2 it might not be fancifuo to imagino t l gole eth d plat oncs ea e attache cloaa o dt k wove matchina n i g lozenge design. In any event another link between Badden and the Wessex culture seems to be established. Further connections between Wessex and Mid Argyll at this period may be showndiscussios hi groovee n I th . n no d cis t Samsona t Islee Scillyth f so n i , , Piggott pointes associatioe i Cruiha th R t e dnou th cistn n i groovinf so rebatind gan g with carving boaflaf a so f halberd.tr o to axe d san 3 Include same th en d i linea r cemetery is the Nether Largie north cairn, which contained a cist, not grooved, just N. of the centre of the cairn, with one end bearing flat axehead carvings, and the cover slab bearing both axehead carving cup-marks.d san 4 Piggot compares tha i CruiR e ndth carvings wit carvinge hdaggersth o tw axef o fivd so tw ean ,s cup-mark kerba n so - stone from the barrow at Badbury, in Dorset.5 The carvings of and a dagger from Stonehenge may also be cited.6 The Kilmartin grooved and rebated cists have unfortunately produced fe,w t PoltallocCisn findsa i t 9 t crescentia bu , s hwa adjoinine t necklacecth je n i d gan , Cis Tripartita ts 10wa e Bowl Food Vessel. t wil I 7recallee b l d that unde Glebe rth e Cairn, the northernmost of the linear cemetery, two cists were found, one with part t necklac othee je o th a f rd witean Tripartitha e Bowl Food Vessel.8 Finalle th n yi rebated cist found on Inchmarnock, Bute, in 1960 there was a very fine crescentic t necklace.je line kTh 9 between necklaces, linear cemeter grooved yan rebated dan d cists thus indirectly strengthens the Wessex connection, for Piggott would derive the crescenti t necklaccje Scotlanf eo d fro ambee mth r space-plate necklac Wessex.f eo 10 furtheA r discover n 196yi 0 whic reflecy hma t Wessex influenc Argyld Mi n lei is that of a polished stone cup, 3! in. in diameter and if in. high, which was found afte scarpine th r bana f go k during road construction, abou f tmil e NNE Fordf o . , Lochaweside (fig. 4, PI. IX: i).11 The cup is made of a choloritic epidotic schist, obtainable locally, and has almost straight sides separated by a carination from a rounded base. Decoration consists of a zigzag scored line between two horizontal scored lines jus tsimila a belo f o lip e wd th r , s an desig i carinatione p th t cu na e Th . carefully made, the outside highly polished, the inside slightly so. No signs of a burial nor of habitation could be seen at the site. Although all trace might have been remove constructioe th y db roade unlikels i th t f i ,no y tha caira t n existee th t da foundplacs wa ep .whercu e eth No rea quotele paralleb n dca thifrop o lt scu m Scotland suggestes i t i d an , d that, in view of the evident Wessex influence in Mid Argyll, it may be regarded as a northern version of the Wessex shale or cup, in much the same way as the jet 1 P.P.S., N.S (1938)V .I . 79 , . 2 infra,55 . p a Antiquity, (1941)v x , 81. 1 P.S.A.S., txv (1930-1), 269-74. 5 A"*- J-> XK (1939), 291-9. 6 P.P.S., xvin (1952), 236-7. 7 P.S.A.S., LXIII (1928-9), 154 ff; LXXXV (1950-1), 40-41. 8 ibid., LXXXV (1950-1), 40-41. 9 See p. 48, note 2. 10 Inventaria Archaeologica, G (1958)5 B2 t necklac;je bronzd ean e armlet from Melfort, Argyll.

Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1960, 7; Nat. Grid ref. NM 866039; now in Glasgow Art Gallery and

1 Museu1 m (reg . A6og)no . . THE BADDEN CIST SLAB 53 necklace is a version of the amber necklace. The Ford cup, of course, lacks the handle which Wessee th n i s xt compare i cup t bu , s approximatel shapn yi sizd ean wit ambee h th frop Hove cu mrth e barrow, Sussex,1 whils doubla t e zigzag scored line decorates the inside of the lip of the shale cup from Farway Down, Honiton, Devon.2 The Wessex Mid Argyll connection seems to find a counterpart in , in the Armorican Barrow Culture. The round barrows of this culture have been

divided intserie. o CognJ o tw y P.-R sd b ean . Giot. somn I 4 e barrow earliee th f 3 so r series the burial chamber seems to have been of wood, whilst grave-goods might be enclose smaln di l woode t Saint-Fiacrea ne boxeson n I . , Melrand founs wa n , a d amber space-plate, whilst in another, at Kerguevarec, Plouye, was a jet space-plate

frop mCu FIG . nea4 . r Ford, Kilmartin. (1/2) fro mcrescentia c necklace.5 Amon barrowe gseconth e th f o sd seriest a ther e ear least five sites with slab-built grooved cists. thin I s series, too, engravings, including

cup-marks e occasionallar , ye cis founth t n slabs. o de connectio Th 7 n betwee6 n Brittany and Wessex at this period was, of course, originally pointed out by Piggott,8 contemporare th w sa , tooo he s wh , y wa lin t i k d betweean nArgyll.d WesseMi d 9xan However, that the Breton sites are not in themselves sufficient to explain the lozenge design on the Badden slab will appear from what he says below. Mention mus e lozenge madb th t f eo e designe carveth n do s stones founy b d T. G. E. Powell and G. E. Daniel in the at Barclodiad y Gawres, in

Anglesey. mose th tn I convincingl y anthropomorphi thesf co e carvings Stonn ,o , e22 0

there are 1 two double lozenges, one of which occupies a place approximately on the 'chest' of the figure (fig. 2). Each of the other two stones considered by the exca- vator anthropomorphibe sto c included lozenge designits sin , Ston havine5 singlga e

doublo tw d e lozengesan , Ston havine6 gtripla e lozenge multiple Th . e lozengen so

2 , Wessex S. Stone1 . F . ,(1958)J , PI. 51. P.P.S., N.S. iv (1938), . PIXI . 3 Gipt, P.-R., Brittany (1960), pp. 128-45. 4 Briard, J., and L'Helgouach, J., Chalcolithique, Neolithique Secondaire, Survivances Neolithiques a I'Age du Bronze Ancien en Armorique — Travaux du Laboratoire d'Anthropologie de la Faculte des Sciences de Rennes . PowelE . drawinr G fo l . indebte T m attentio a y (1957)r gI m M . o dt thi47 ,o n t s work. 6 Gipt, P.-R., op. cit., p. 145. 6 Briard, J., and L'Helgouach, J., op. cit., 49 and PI. 28. I am indebted to Dr P.-R. Giot for kindly givin detailee gm d reference theso t s e sites. ' Giot, P.-R. cit.. . 141op ,p , . 8 P.P.S., N.S. iv (1938) ff- 2 (1939)v ;5 , , '93-5- Antiquity, xv (1941), 83. Barclodiad y Gawres (1956). 9 10 4 5 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F SO , 1960—6l l threal e carvings occupy prominent position centree th n stheii f so r s designsi t i d an , clear that they were considered important. It may not be too much to suggest that they represent gold plates of the type which accompanied the Bush Barrow and Clandon Barrow burials.1 The lozenge occurs in Passage Grave art in Ireland, as is well known,2 but there takes its place merely as one of the many symbols employed. Powell and Daniel compare with their Stone 22 the design on the roofing slab of the E. 'side chamber at New Grange, which incorporate doublo tw s e lozenges d suggesan , w tNe thae th t Grange desig represeny nma degenerata t e profusio e motifth Stonn f o o sn e 22.3 If this is so, and if the Wessex connection of the Barclodiad lozenges be admitted, then it would appear that the Passage Grave art at New Grange, if not New Grange itself, could hardly be earlier than the Wessex culture. There is, of course, nothing unusua thin i l s dating, whic bees t forwarhha n pu Powely b d Danield an l among others.4 summary saiIn be d tha discovermay tthe ,it Badde the yof lessena stoneto r and , extenFore th df o t cup, reinforce evidence th s Wesser efo x influenc Argyld Mi n lei already implici resultthe Craw'tin s of s wor thirtkof y years ago perhapbut , s some- what overlooked since becaus excavations ehi s were published seriatim withoud an a t distribution map Kilmartie Th . n linear cemetery indeed suggest t onlsno y influence but actual settlement, with the introduction and maintenance for perhaps some generation alien a f nso traditio burialf no Baddee Th . Cairnbaad nan n stones show tha similaa t r patter settlemenf no t probably prevaile Lochgilpheae th n di d area. It is hardly to be supposed, however, that this phase, with its exotic burial traditio lineae th nr- cemeter groovee th decorate d d dan yan d cis - twoul d persist for more tha nfea w generations. Indeed non-functionae ,th l groove Poltalloce th sn i h cists sugges quica t k degeneration fro fulle mth y functional Badden typ groovef eo d cist. Sinc perioe eth contacf do t betwee nArgyld WesseMi therefors d i l xan e likely to have been brief, it is especially valuable to have three manifestations of the Early to Middle Bronze Age in Mid Argyll so firmly placed in that period, namely the crescentic jet necklace, the Tripartite Bowl Food Vessel and the carved cup-mark.5 If, as on the whole seems likely, the Mid Argyll cist engravings are representational rather than magica r strictlo l y religiou originn si , the e cup-marknth , y tooma , represen actuan a t l object, possibl ycaka coppef eo r tino r . Suc explanation ha n would accord with the obvious attraction of the deposits of copper in Mid Argyll in the early part of the Bronze Age, and with the high status of the first men to exploit them.

E CONTINENTAIIITH . L AFFINITIE CRINAE TH F NO S DECORATED CISTS e newlTh y discovered decorated slab from Badden raises afres questioe th h f no affinitiee massivth e th f o s Crinae cistth n si n region whic i CruiR Nethed t ha n an r parallee 1 drawTh s , Arch. P. wa lCorcoran y . nb NewsW . X . Letter,,J (1958)8 . viNo , , 184. 2 Piggott, S., The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles (1954), pp. 208-18. 3 op. cit., p. 47. « ibid., p. 57. 6 It will not have escaped notice that not one of the cup-marks mentioned in this account is associated with rings to form cup-and-ring-marks. It may be that the latter, more elaborate forms are a development from the simple cup-mark in the full Middle Bronze Age. THE BADDEN CIST SLAB 55 Largie North have ornament including representations of metal axes, and at Cairn- destroyee th baa d nan d cist implie Baddee th y db n stone, lozenge patterns.1 Previous comment on these cists has assumed that the decoration was in some sens generae parea th f o t l provinc rock-cutf eo r rock-peckeo , t representedar n do the passage graves and allied structures of the Boyne Culture, and by the carvings generally of 'cup-and-ring' type usually found on living rock surfaces both in Ireland and in northern Britain.2 Mac White some years ago made a distinction between the Passage Grave style and what he called the Galician series, the cup-and-ring carvings coming almost wholly withi e lattenth r group, though some showe da mixtur f eo motifs derived fro Passage mth e Grave style.3 Childe looke south-westero dt n origins for the art of the Crinan cists, and Lindsay Scott even more emphatically referred the cists and their decoration to a broadly Iberian source. But one may note straight away that the motifs on the Crinan cists, although they include cup-marks, do not show ringe de manne th cup n i f ssuc o r h local site s Achnabrecka s , Kilmichael Glassary or Baluachraig, nor do they show any of the distinctive curvilinear forms Boyne th characteristi f o e t passagar e th ef co graves . Recent work in East Germany, following the discovery near Halle of a remarkable decorate ddiscussioa cist-graveo t affinitiee d th le f s no thif othed ha ,o s san r similar monument same th e n s i pointe region th t issud a s an , e have been admirably sum- . Powell.E . mariseG . reviewe4d T dr Fouan M rSaale y db cistth en si valley have ornament greatea o t , r leso r s degree thein o , r interna lthesf wallso mose d eth an t, significan highld an t y decorate those d ar Dolaue t e Gohlitzscea th n o rd Heidehan , the side stones of which are covered with pecked, incised or painted geometrical designs (mainly zigzags, chevrons, lozenges and similar motifs), and also more or less naturalistic representation f sweaponso d an s , suc haftes ha d metal axesa , quiverfua bow d an , arrowsf o l theso T adde.e eb cisty stonda sma e fro mgrava f eo steinpackungsgrab typ t Hornburea g near Querfurt kilometre0 3 , e westth o ,t s with roughly incised decoration includin representatione gth numbea f so haftef ro d metal daggers. Although othethiallieon sand r dart standingrave on sand g stonesamthe esin general regio bees nha n claime easterln a s da y outpos generae th f o t l West European province of 'megalithic' art of which the Boyne style is a component, Powell has shown that this view will not bear scrutiny. He points out that, as has more than once been suggeste instance th Gohlitzsce n th di f eo h tomb dealine seee b w , mo t g with the representation on the cist walls of the patterned textile hangings and every- equipmeny da t which would ador man'e walle th n th f sso hous life n stonee i th : e cist representing the timber building in durable and relatively monumental form. The concept continued int Late osame th eth Bronzen i generae eAg l regio Northerf no n Europe, where painted wall-plaster on the inside of the tomb-chamber at such sites Cruin,i 1R metal axeobjecd san t describe 'boata s da alternativelr o ' halberya d (Atkinso Excursionn ni Guide Prehist. Soc. Scottish Meeting 1354, 13): P.S.A.S., vin (1870), 378; ibid., LXIV (1929-30), 131. Nether Largie North, metal axes, one allegedly but very dubiously hafted: P.S.A.S., LXV (1930-1), 269. Cairnbaan, lozenge pattern with multiple outline: P.S.A.S., vi (1864-5), Appendix (1867), 29, PI. XIII, 4. instancr fo o S 2 e Childe, Prehist. Scotland (1935), 115; Lindsay Scott, P.P.S., xvn (1951). 49 , 3 J.R.S.A.I., LXXVI (1946). 59 , 4 Antiquity, xxxrv (1960), 180, with refs. 6 5 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , ig6o-6l as Baalberg Gross-Wirschlebend ean Bernburg. ,Kr 'King' e th d s,an Grave Seddint a ' , is comparable with similarly decorated plaster from contemporary settlement sites, as at Rottelsdorf and elsewhere.1 It is an expression of a familiar sentiment, dramati- cally represente instancer fo , din , Egyptia r Etruscano e Roman th tombs n i nr o , sarcophagus of the third century A.D. from Simpelveld in the Netherlands, that 'astonishing projectio hopenof expectationsand after-lifthe sin whicin e h curiously imagination'e littlth lefs ei o t t , wher appurtenancee eth wela f so l furnished room are carved in low relief on its inner walls.2 Powell indicates the importance of this tomb-house concept in e Ukraine Caucasulookd th th an , o t d s r ultimatean fo s e origins, districts archaeologically consonant wit likele hth y affinitie Saale th f eo s cist culturen si s such as tha Bernburgf o t r moro , e especiall Single th f yo e Grave/Corded Ware cultures. To the examples he quotes, one might add Hausler's study of the extraordinary decorated stones fro Kamennaye mth a Mogila near Melitopol, thoughf theso e ear uncertain date: one may note, however, that the treatmen3 t of one of these is not unlike that of the Hornburg stone, and that representations of feet, singly or in pairs, also appear. Saale Th individuar e fo cist e sar l burial, even thoug Dolauee hth r Heide measures 4 by i metres internally. Gohlitzsch measured 2-19 by 1-25 metres, and many analogou t undecoratesbu dsame cistth en s i regio thif o se sizn ar r smaller eo : they t disproportionatel largee no ar t bu , y largsingla r efo e inhumation neee t W dno . think that the translation from house to tomb always involved the use of stone, in recordse vieth f w o woodef o n cist r massivso e sarcophag Saale th n ei , and these may well have been decorated internally in carving or paint or both.4 In the light of this Central European evidence, it is apposite to reconsider the Crinan cists, and to ask whether perhaps they may be better connected with the Saale region than wit Atlantie hth c shore f continentao s f ciso lt e Europeus e Th . buria generan i l l amon Britise gth h Beaker, Food Vesse r allieo l d cultures neee db morno e tha intermittennthe fora lininmof of buriafrequen a so guse t to to l pit as t have hardl y culturaan y l significance s similarlit t bu , y intermitten e amonus t g Corded Ware and Beaker groups in northern Europe is probably significant. Massive cists (suc thoss ha e under discussio t Crinan)na , often wit extenden ha d rather than crouchea d inhumation distinctiva e ar , recurrend ean t featurBritise th n ei h series of cultures mentioned above, and the extended burial has its best antecedents in the Funnel Beaker cultures of the north European plain. The use of a cairn or barrow to cover the cist is characteristic of the Saale Corded Ware graves, and becomes a firmly established tradition there persisting into the Early Bronze Age Leubingen

Culture, wher barroe eth w cover woodea s n mortuary houst Leubingea s ea n itself, . MtillerH . H 1 , Ausgrab. undFunde (1959)V I , 15. 2 Richmond, I. A., Arch, and the After-life in Pagan and Christian Imagery (1950), 19. 3 Wiss. Zfitschr. Martin Luther Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, vn (1958), 497. Cf. also M. Ya. Rudinsky, Kam'yana Mogila (Kiev, 1961). 4 Fischer, U., Graber der Steinzeit Saalegebietm i (1956), 117; note als e timber-builoth t grave chambef o r the Walternienburg Culture at Ditfurt, Fischer, op. cit., 92, PI. 25, 5. THE BADDEN CIST SLAB 57 Helmsdorfd an , whic itsely hdescendanma e f welth e b lstone th f eo t cis Dolauef o t r Heide type. woodee Th n prototypes implici tongue-and-groove th n i t e jointinn go 1 several of the Crinan cists (and well exemplified by the grooves on the Badden slab) have been commenter ScotM y t b earlie n do thin i r ss als paperha o e beeon : n recorded from But therd ean anothes ei t Martin'S Islee n o rth Scilly,f so n si d an 2 they also occur in Brittany. have Asw e seen motife th , s carveCrinae th n whola do n s a cist-wall et no e ar s those characteristi westere th f co n Boynstylee th f r Galiciaso e o n group, thougr hM Scott has indicated analogues for the lozenges in Boyne Culture art. In their rectilinear patterns t ,leas a the e ty ar jus comparables a t t mor , witno patternf e so i , hth e th f so Saale group of tombs, and the representations of axes, even if without hafts at Crinan, again have their counterpart Centran si l Europe. Ther tendencya s ei t a , both Gohlitzsc Dolauee th d han r Heide filo t ,l onl uppee yth stonre parth f eo t with ornament, in a manner comparable with the Badden slab, and the working of the bevel on the lower part of this stone is exactly comparable with the similar treatment of one end of the larger slab forming the north side of the Gohlitzsch cist.3 There seem casa s r perceivinefo Britain gi na 'cis t art' f presumeo , d Central European affinities, and distinct from the occasional appearance of patterns of Boyne or Galician affinitie cist-coversn o s . If this is admitted, the decoration of the side slab of the Pool Farm cist in the Mendips, with its representations of human feet, may also have a significance in a Crinan context. Such representations, and those of hands which either accompany

the r occumo r separately4 , distinctivele seeb mo t y North Europea concentration i n and probably origin: Kamennaya Mogil hiny tama that prototype counterpartr so s may exist further east. recene Th 5 t discover paia hanf f yo ro d representationa n so rock in Crinan could then be taken in conjunction with the features of the cists already discussed to indicate an origin in Central and Northern Europe for cultural elements present in Argyll at a period of marked by the first use of metals in the British Isles. The Saale cists date from late in the local Neolithic cultures, and radio-carbon readings suggest that we must give this an absolute date in the late third millennium B.C.6; Beaker cultures of broadly Low Countries origins were estab- lished in Britain by at least 2000 B.C. It would be at the beginning of the second millennium B.C., therefore, that we would have to date these presumptive contacts between Argyl North-Centrad an l l Europe tima t a ,e whe firse nth t coppe gold ran d was being worked in the British Isles, even if the critical tin alloy of bronze had not yet been achieved. The persistence in North Europe of the tradition of the internally decorated 'house cist' intLatothe e Bronze implieAge s however that second mil- lennium example wely slma have existeContinente th n do .

1 Fischer . cit.op , , 186 ;, Ethnog.-Arch. OttoH. . K , Forschungen, in i (1955), . 2 Antiquity, (1941)v x , 81. 3 Illustrate r instancdfo Behrenn ei at.,t se Arch. Kostbarkeitm Landesmus. HallejSaale (1958), 20; Jahresschr. Mitteldeutsche Vorgesch., (1956)L X , PI. 50 ,II . 4 P.P.S., XXHI (1957), 231presence Th . representationf eo Calderstonee th fee f sn o o t s (locy .ma cit.) 20 , indicat mixturea t lozengtheree ar sourceth f e. o e cf ;th e n pattersi Stonn no . eA 6 Foot representations in North Europe cited in P.P.S., loc. cit.; note too hands on the Bunsoh stone (Altschlesien, V (1934), PI. LXXVI) and Danish examples in Br0nsted, Danmarks Oldtid, n, (1939), fig. 133—5- Jahresschr. Mitteldeutsche Vorgesch., XLVI (1962), 41. 6 58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, ig6o-6l It is in this context that contacts of the kind we have assumed become inherently probable earle Th .y presenc Hiberno-Britisf eo h copper, golprobabld dan y bronze types in Northern and has long been recognised by both British and Continental archaeologists althougd an , trade hth e which these objects imply cannot availabln o e evidenc takee eb n beginnin e bacth o ksecont e th f go d millenniums wa t ,i certainl ygoina g concer middlee th decorate stude e y nth b Th f .y o d fla hammerr o t - flanged axes of Hiberno-British types made by Megaw and Hardy,1 and supple- mente Scandinavir dfo Maas-Rhine th d aan e regio Butler,y nb shows ha broa e nth d

lines of distribution, with the find2 s in the Saale valley having a special significance to us in the present enquiry, and the same goes for the halberds studied by O'Riordain whateve ultimate rth e origitype. e indees i th t f nI 3o thin di s Saxo-Thuringian region that som formativ e t leasea th f o t e element Wessee th n si x Bronz culture eAg e derive, presence th decoratee d ax f halberd an e Iriseo n th a hn d di manne an s r froe mth Dieskau hoard near Halle is matched by the miniature tore-pendant from a Wessex Culture barro wt Normantoa Wiltshiren i , bess whicit ts counterparhha anothen ti r object from Radewell in the same region of Germany, and is wholly exotic in Britain. suggestes i t I d therefore thacist-gravee th t s under cairne Crinath n si n region, 4 with their distinctive feature groovef o s d side-slab internad san l decoratio thein no r walls, have affinities with the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cists of Corded Ware and contemporary cultures in the Saale valley, rather than with anything withi Wese nth t European culture theid san r characteristi t stylescar connectioA . n betweeregiono tw e renderes i snth d inherently probable whe e distributionth f no early Hiberno-British coppe bronzd an r e objectEuropeae th n o s n continen cons i t - sidered, and also the role of the Saale region in the genesis of the Wessex Culture. e presenc Th Crinan-Loce th coppef n eo i e or r h Fyne are wels ai l e knownth d an , Crinan-Lochgilphead valley offer a classis c trans-peninsular route whereba se y traffic could avoi heave dth y seatide-raced san s roun Mule d th Kintyref o le th y B . secona s timwa d n necessiteti metallurge th n yi toolf yweaponso d san Cornise th , h sources must have playe increasingln da y important part: coul groovee dth d cisn o t St Martin's possibly be connected with such trade? 1 P.P.S., iv (1938), 272; map, p. 280, fig. 7. ' Kuml, 1955, 36; B.R.O.B. JVederland, ix (1959), 191. 3 O'Riordain's original thesis (Arch., LXXXVI (1937), 195) was based on the view that the Central Euro- pean halberds were derived from those of Ireland, but the situation may in fact be reversed. J. D. Evans suggests a Saxo-Thuringian origin for the halberd series (Inst. Arch. Univ. Land. Ann. Reports and Bulletin, xni (1955-6), 66n) and H. Case, partly on the grounds of metal analyses, has suggested an origin for the Saale halberds in North Italy, followed by the transmission from the Saale to the British Isles (P.P.S., xxin (1957), 103)r furtheFo . r aspect problee Brunnn th f vo o s . mcf , Bronzezeitliche Hortfunde, i (1959) ff5 2 ;, Junghans, Sangmeiste d Schroderan r , Metallanalysen kupferzeitlicher und friihbronzezeitlichter Bodenfunde aits Europa (1960), passim. 4 The Dieskau axe is Megaw and Hardy no. 250: its analysis shows it to be bronze, with a high (14 per cent) tin content, Junghans et al., 136, no. 0.397, of Group EOT. It corresponds closely in typology and com- position with a decorated axe from Bushmills, Co. Antrim (P.P.S., xxm (1957), 103), itself of Group Fi, probably of Tyrol origin: Junghans et al., 138, no. Ca. 37. The Radewell ingot-tore pendant is illustrated in Reall., n Wiltshirs , it PI d . 192an , eg , counterpar P.P.S.,n i t ; iAshbeev8 . (1938)no , , PI, BronzeIX 80 ., e Ag Round Barrow in Britain (1960), Pis. XXVIII a and b. 9 5 E BADDETH N CIST SLAB

KILMARTIN: GROOVE REBATED DAN DE LINEA CISTTH N I SR CEMETERY

Number Name Description Reference

i Nether Largie Almost circular cairn, 109 by 101 P.S.A.S., LXIV caird mi n ft., with partial kerb, containing (1929-30), 127-30 two eccentric cists, one grooved and covered by a lozenge-shaped slab, size n i othee . th ,ft r6 y b . in 4 . ft 8 t groove slad no t en witb dbu n h a bearing a single cup-mark on its inner face; loose in cairn material a flat slab bearing five cup-marks

NOTE: side slabs grooved for end e slao on btw f o d en e slabson t a ; additional grooves outside ciste th , f o p to t a . r onlin fo outey 8 t cu r stone

2, 3.4 i CruiR n Cairn, 65 ft. in diameter, with P.S.A.S., viii some kerb-stones visible and three (1868-70), 378-81; eccentric cistse groovedon , o tw , LXIV (1929-30), grooved and rebated; one of the 131-4; both slad ben e carvelatteon s drha with corrected by representations of flat axeheads and Atkinson, R. J. C., a slab at the other end with a Excursion Guide design variously interpreted as a Prehist. Soc. boa horizontalf (i t halbera s a r o )d Scottish Meeting with streamers (if vertical, as found) ('954). PP- '2~«3

NOTE: in each cist grooves or groov d rebatean sidn ei e slabt a s one end; no grooves at opposite d slaenden b; inserte grooven i d s and rebates in two cists; end slabs missing in other cist

5 Rowanfield Grooved cist, without trace of P.S.A.S., LXIV Cottage cairn (1929-3°)- J43

NOTE: side eon slab groovet da one end, with end slab placed in it

6 Crinan Moss Probable site of cairn with partial ibid., 137 kerb and ruined grooved cist

NOTE: side slabs grooved at each end; on one an additional groove adjacene inside th th f o o et . t in 8 groove 6o PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, ig6o-6l KILMARTIN: OTHER GROOVE REBATED DAN D CISTS

Number Name Description Reference

7 The Lady's Seat, Cairn, 55 ft. in diameter, in which P.S.A.S., LXIV Slockavullin were found remain cisto d tw san f so (1929-30) 143 some burnt bones, wit hskeletoa n between the cists; one cist grooved, the other not examined NOTE: side slab f grooveo s d cist grooveende On , chamferet da t a d the other

8 North Lodge, Grooved and probably rebated P.S.A.S., LXIII Poltalloch cist, without trace of cairn (1928-9), 189; Miss M. Campbell NOTE: probable rebate at one of Kilberry in litt. side on e f slabo d ; en opposite side slab grooved at same end of cist 9 Poltalloch Cis , groovedA t probabla n i , e flat P.S.A.S., LXIII cemetery, containing partially in- (1928-9), 158-60 cinerated human bone teethd an s , with a crescentic jet necklace, a flint , charcoa d smalan l l lumps of ochre

NOTE: single shallow groovn o e one side slab a in. in from place wher slat sidd eben eme

10 Poltalloch Cis , groovedB t , probabl samn yi e ibid., 160-2 flat cemetery as no. 9, containing inhumation, Tripartite Bowl Food Vessel, bronze fragment, piecf o e flint, charcoal and fragments of ochre

NOTE: side slabs groove t eacda h end, one, in a concave slab, cut for bottomd an p d . onlto en ;3 in t ya slabt placeno s n groovei d t bu s outside ii Barsloisnach Probable site of cairn, with two P.S.A.S., LXIV cists groovee on , d (1929-30), 136-7 NOTE: e sidon e s slathreha b e beind en ge onlon grooves t ya o tw , 7 in. apart, the outer only 8 in. long; the opposite slab has a groove at one end, slighting one of two cup-marks E BADDETH N CIST SLAB 6i BADDEN, LOCHGILPHEAD: GROOVED AND REBATED CIST

Number Name Description Reference

12 Badden Farm Single slab from grooved and re- Present paper bated cist found by itself; no trace of cairn; slab decorated with pecked multiple lozenge design

NOTE: slab groove t sideda d san rebated at bottom; grooves slight lozenge pattern