Beakers from Easter Gollachy, near Buckie, by I. C. Walker

Subsequent to compiling the corpus of Bronze Age pottery for the counties of Nairnshire, Banffshird an , e publishe PSAS,n di xcvm (1964-6), 99-12 writee 5th r came acrosn a s article, entitled 'The Enzie and its Antiquities' by George Thomson, in the Transactions of the Northern Association of Literary Scientificd an Societies . Hn,pt I (1896) 60-7 which gives additional information on the Beaker cemetery - for such it must have been - at Easter Gollachy on the S. shore of the between and Buckie. Thomson, eithe tenane th r r (moro t e likely ownee th ) f Maino r f Gollacho s y farms wa , on manf eo y enthusiastic amateur archaeologists lase whoth t quarten i , lasf o r t centurn i d yan the early year thif so s century, added greatl locayo t l prehistor publishingy yb , ofte surprisa t na - ingly high standard for the time, in the now largely-forgotten publications of local antiquarian societies. Thomson's observation that he had 'in his time opened and overhauled many, perhaps more, Celtic graves than any other individual in this north quarter of .. .' lacks some- thing in modesty and archaeological accuracy, but it should not be allowed to obscure the fact that his description f find so quite ar s e accurat detailedd ean . cise tTh wit Beakee hth r fro Mild mGollachyf Ol lo , Auchintea (spelt Auchintah 7t e th n eo serie corpue s O.Sth n i s . 0 maps)referre3 . No ,above o dt founs wa ,20tn do h April 1881 several feet down in a knoll a few yards W. of the old meal mill of Gollachy (pp. 60-1). The cist was 2 ft. 10 in. long by 2 ft. 2 in. wide, and 2 ft. 6 in. deep. The 'very pretty carved urn' was carefully embedde . corneciste th .NW f o rWhee sann e dth i th n d ni n i Thomso s wa writins n nur wa e gth possessio r SimpsoM a f Auchinteaf o no . r Simpso(ThiD e s th Simpso ne b referre y nma o dt late Strou Thomsoe somy d rb th ha f eo po Branwh e Cinerar muse h , yt Urnso hav f i se- beee nth eccentric note PSAS,n di xcvm (1964-6), 123.) Another cist, with several human bones in a layer of black mould but with no urn, was , 1967 . E. 29 ,& . D ' > ibid., 118, . fig19 . 3 op. cit., 117-21. < PSAS,LXvm(1933-4), 202-4. SHORTER NOTES | 189 found withi previoue ydsth 0 n2 f o . s cis Aprin ti Aprilh 1884t . 61)n l1 (p O 188 . 4similaa r cist, ful whitf o l e sand flin, witw tfe himplementa smala d slan quantit bluisf yo h mould founs ,wa n di sanda y moute knolGollache th th t f a lh o y bur Mainn no Gollachf so y farmknole Th .l com- mande Mora e . shorfinda N th ef e evieo y th Firtwo t h (pp. 61-2). Beaker 31 in the corpus was found, according to Thomson (p. 61), on 25th February 1882. He noted tha cise tth t contained whit Beakee sandth d littlra an , e mould Beakere Th . , which was foun Alexy db . Gordo tenane th f Eastef o nto jr.n , so ryds. 0 Gollachy cis20 a .NE . n tc i s ,wa fare ofth m steadinge . cisdeepe th in t tTh 3 .measure A . ft . 10 1 . widft ^lon. d in 1 ft ey dan g3 b time of writing the 'beautiful' urn 'of the tall thin-lipped kind... barrel-shaped' was in the 'Royal Institution, '. The Royal Institution building is that now occupied by the Royal Scottish Academy at the foot of the Mound, and the building was known throughout last centur Royae th s ya l Institution long after that bod ceased yha existo dt 1882n I . ,n wheur e nth was found Nationae th , w whano ls i tMuseu Antiquitief mo Scotlanf so d occupied that building, and while the Museum had left by 1896, the time of Thomson's writing, it seems likely that Thomson meant the Beaker had gone to what is now the National Museum. However, there is no record either in the Antiquaries' Proceedings or in the 1892 Catalogue (the earliest) of its loan or . StevensoK . donationB . helr R gratefu nthim fo n r pa o sM I ( point..o t l ) Under the particulars for Beaker 32 in the corpus there was noted an entry in the Elgin Museum catalogue of an urn and bones from a grave given to that museum in 1889 by Messrs Gordon and Thomson. It is tempting to identify this urn with one found on that farm in March 1889 together with 'a bracer barbea , d arrowhead somd an , e human remains' (pp. 62-3)e Th . arrowhea describes di beins da g calcinedsoftd an . However - whic n ur he musth , t have beena Beaker - was stated by Thomson to be in his own collection, while the bracer and arrowhead were Catholie th t a c Institute, Buckie fac e vien th I t . f wtha o Beake e tth r founcannoe b t Elgiw da tno n possibls i t i e that Thomso bacn toour ke frok th museume mth . From Thomson's description, Beaker 34 in the corpus, then in Hugh W. Young's collection, is to be identified with one found in the spring of 1895 at Easter Gollachy. According to Thomson, bonee th s found include dlarga e femur fragmen a ,enamee th jawa d teethf f o lo an , t . Yet another Beaker from Easter Gollachy not hitherto mentioned is noted by Thomson (p. 62). It was found on 22nd March 1884 in a cist comprising five sandstone slabs. The cist was 3 ft. 4 in. long by 1 ft. 6 in. wide at the E. end and 1 ft. 10 in. at the W. end, by 1 ft. 10 in. deep. The urn was 'barrel-shaped' and 'carved in a way different from any other of the kind got in this quarter of the country. Commencing about an inch below the mouth, some five or six indented lines encircle the vessel. Below these circles is a plain unornamented space of three-quarters of an inch and under this plain unornamented space are again punctured circles, while round the bulge seriea n f diamono sru d shaped ornaments beautifully line symmetrical.d dan s ' wa Thin ur s apparently locae mad clayd th f re le o . first A t sigh descriptioe tth thif no s Beaker reads lik descriptioea corpuse Beakef nth o n i 4 ,r3 already noted (bu describedt tno Thomsony )b thit unlikelys ,bu s i lattee th s ra , vesserathea s lha r unusual yellowish colour therefors i t I . e possibl similaa s efounthas e thawa on wa r t t a di t Easter Gollachy Thomsod an , n never mentione s resemblancdit Beakeo et becaus4 3 r e that particular Beaker wen Hugo t h Young's collection probabls i t i d an ,e that Thomson. neveit w rsa Wit Beakee 'verha th s yr wa muc h wasted' skeleto fully-growa f no n individual roun,a d polished pebble of white quartz by the urn, and a fragment of flint. The grave was filled with white sand but round the body was a thin layer of rich loam which Thomson suggested was the remains of a vegetable lining or bedding. At the time of writing this Beaker was in the Catholic Institute, Buckie. 190 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY 1967-8 In referring to the Stroup Brae Cinerary Urns (p. 64), Thomson notes that one was in the Masonic Institute, Buckie, the others being with a Dr Simpson. From the above it appears that at least one Beaker - from Easter Gollachy, found in 1884 - possibld an y another (that from Easter Gollachy foun e aboveaddee b th n 1889i d n o t d- ca ) mentione als w locatee ob dno corpusn t Easteda ca Beake4 d 3 an ;r. GollachyNo r . Thu t leassa t six Beaker burials (includin Mild g Gollachyf thaOl o l urnles t o a t tw d placee sb )an cist n n di sca the same immediate area, clearly suggesting a cemetery and probably indicating a settlement site nearby ciste Th s. appea havo rt e consistently been found filled with whitt cleano s rei sandt i t bu , whether this is merely the local sandy soil or a deliberate infilling with pure sand. recene Th t tracin t leas a remain e f gth o t anothef so r late nineteenth-century private collec- tion of antiquities from the Enzie - that of Canon John James Kyles of Preshome and known as the Preshome Collectio Mary'. St o t sn- Colleg Blairst ea , near (Discovery and Excava- tion Scotland 1962, 23-4) suggests that material such as Thomson's and Simpson's and that in the Masoni Catholid can c Institute lyine wholle b b y gt Buckin forgottesyi no ma losy t ebu tma n ni family attics or institute cupboards. If Fellows in the Banffshire area could endeavour to find what happene theso dt e collections they woul makine db gmosa t useful contributio locao nt l prehistory.