Two Short Cists at Upper Boyndlie, Tyrie, Aberdeenshire. by Professor Alex
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II. TWO SHORT CISTS AT UPPER BOYNDLIE, TYRIE, ABERDEENSHIRE. BY PROFESSOR ALEX. LOW, M.A., M.D., F.S.A.ScoT. On the farm of Upper Boyndlie, in the Parish of Tyrie, Aberdeen- shire, in the fields near the farmhouse, there are two prominent natural mounds, marked on the Ordnance Survey Map as the Castle Hills. These mound-like hills adjoining each othe d risinan rfrop gu e mth level of the 300-foot contour line are known as the East Castle Hill e Westh d t Castlan e Hill respectively. Almos linn i t e wit e Castlhth e Hills e south-west t fullyard0 th bu , 10 yo t s s anothei , r elevation called the Rebel Hill. Those hills would appeal to our prehistoric ancestors; from the summits the prospect is extensive—to the north-west is seen New Aberdour and Aberdour Bay, almost due north Rosehearty, and to e north-easth t Fraserburg Kinnaird'd han s Head. Evidence of the prehistoric occupation of the district is seen in the numbe f cisto r s that from tim timo t e e have been recordede th n O . Ordnance Survey Map " Stone Cist found " is marked on the West Castle Hil"Sitd an lf Cairn Rebee eo th n lo " Hill. e Proceedingsth n I e Societth r f llto fo y h January. J 1909 r M , Graham Callander1 recorde e findindth f threo g e esouth th cist n o -s easter e nEas th fac f t o eCastl e Hill. Eac f theso h e cists containea d drinking-cu e cistth sf o unburn o p urntw n i t; human skeletal remains were found, while in the other cist, which was very small—not more than 15 inches square—there is no record of the presence of skeletal remains. Further I excavate, fulld dan y recorded discovere th 2 o tw f yo short cists within two miles of the Castle Hill, one found at Auchlin, Aberdour, in November 1904, and the other at Blackhills, Tyrie, in July 1905. 1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., 1908-9, vol. xliii79 . p . 2 Proc. Anat. d Anthrop.an Soc. Univ.e oth f of Aberdeen, 1904-6 . 126-147pp , . SHORO TW T CIST T UPPEA S R BOYNDLIE, TYRIE7 17 . WESE . TH CIS1 TN TO CASTL E HILL. On the 24th December 1932, while a farm-worker was ploughing on e Westh t Castle Hill e plougth , h displace e corne dth a larg f o re flat slab, whic e coveha ston th f provee o reb cisto t d . Recognisine th g importanc e "find,th r f Alexandeo eM " r B. Cruickshank e tenanth , f o t the farm, took great s contentcar it o hav t ed e cis th an et s kept undisturbed. On the 27th December I went to Upper Boyndlie, and with the assistance of Miss A. M. Clark of the Anatomy Department, and the willing help of Constable James E. Reid, New Aberdour, and Constable Thomas Cruickshank, New Pitsligo, excavated and made a detailed record of the discovery. The site of the cist is on the south-west aspect of the rounded top of the West Castle Hill. Over the cover-stone at its north-east end there is a depth of about 15 inches of soil, while the opposite end is quite near the surface, the south-west corner having been broken acros t soma s e previous time. The cover of the cist is a large slab of somewhat irregular shape, 5 fee inche4 s greatestit n i s t length e greatesfee4 , th inc1 t t a h t breadth^ and about 4 to 5 inches in thickness. e removaO th e ncover-ston th f o l e limth e b bonea skeleto f o s n were seen covere a deposi y b df fin o t e soil. From e dispositioth f no these s evidenbonewa t i s t that they must have been disturbe t somda e previous time. The bones were cleared of soil and their position noted. Although e limth b bone beed sha n disturbed e seveth , n cervical vertebran i y la e naturaa l positio e ciste noi'th-easrestind e th th th an , f t o na n go d en t front of two of these vertebra was the right half of an ossified thyroid cartilage. No trace of a skull could be found—not even a tooth —a most unusual circumstance. All the evidences indicated that the skull had been removed when the cist had been opened, probably a good many years previously. The contents of the cist were removed, all soil being carefully examined s recoveree frod cis e th floowa an ,tm th f o ro piece tw df o s wha probabld ha t y bee a nhighl y polished perforated stone hammer. Th s formee cis flooth wa t f f o rathero d r coarse thin gravelo sd an , a numbe y la f water-woro r n pebblesinche3 o t diametern i s2 , d an , among the pebbles were pieces of dried red clay, suggesting that the floor of the cist may have been paved with pebbles embedded in clay. The cist was nearly rectangular, and its main axis lay north-east d south-westan e insidTh .e measurements were: Length alone th g north-west side 3 feet 2 inches and along the south-east side 3 feet 2 1 VOL. LXVII. 178 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 13, 1933. 5 inches; breadth at the north-east end 1 foot 10 inches and at the south-west end 2 feet; depth 1 foot 4 inches. The sides and ends of the cist were formed of four slabs from 7 to 8 inches thick, set on edge, the two end slabs being inserted withie south-west th e wale sides e endf th th leveo n o th lf T p o s.u l - end two additional flat stones about 3 inches thick were used; at several placee jointth n si betwee e slabnth s were d claypiecere f . o s Ale stoneth l se constructio useth n di grave th f eno wer f andalusiteo e schist (knotted schist). As already statedevidens wa t i , t tha e beed cisth tha tn openet a d some previous time and the skull removed. Mr J. Graham Callander,1 in his record of the three cists on the East Castle Hill, makes the following reference to the cist indicated on the Ordnance Map: " Previous to 1876 a skull from this grave was presente e Anatomicath o t d l Museu t Marischama l College, Aberdeen, by the late Mrs John Charles Ogilvie Forbes. From his old gamekeeper, Andrew Young r OgilviM , e Forbes hear de bone th tha l sal t excepe th t skull were replace e cistth , n dwhici h was lef situ."n i t In 1902 I described a series of the contents of short cists preserved e Anatomth n i y Museu2 f Aberdeemo n University n thaI . t series wa s a single skull with Museum label "Skull from Boyndlie, Tyrie, presented by Mrs Ogilvie Forbes of Boyndlie. The skull was found in a rude cist forme f slabso e dbod d beeTh ha y . s nlefit lait n o dside , with knees bent and head to the north-east." There is a further record of this skull from West Castle Hill, Boyndlie, having been presenten i d 1872. The skull is still preserved in the Museum and is that of a male advanced in years. The limb bones of the skeleton contained in the unearthew cisno t wels e thos mana d ar wa thaf d l eo e advance an ,h t d e recover th n e yeari righ th y s b borni f s t o t ya mal hal f ou eo ef thyroid cartilage completely ossified. Therdoubo n s ei t tha e skulth t l presente Anatome th o dt y Museum in 1872 and the bones recovered from the cist now reopened belong to one and the same skeleton. CONTENT CISTE TH .F O S The Skeleton.—The skeleton is, on the whole, in a good state of preservation, though e boneman th e imperfect f ar syo portiono t e du , s having decayed away. The Skull.—The skull with s weli lowe w l ja preservedr , except that ther a deficienc s i ee lefth t n i temporo-parietay lf boto regio hd an n 1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., 1908-9, vol. xliii. p. 88. 2 Proc. Anat. and Anthrop. Soc. of the Univ. of Aberdeen, 1902-4, pp. 8-35. TWO SHORT CISTS AT UPPER BOYNDLIE. TYRIE. 179 zygomatic arches. The sutures of the skull are all obliterated except the squamo-parietal and masto-occipital. The skul lighs i l weightn i t , rather thin-walled witd internan an ,h a l capacity of 1580 c.c. of mustard seed; Turnerl gives 1478 c.c. as the mean capacity of seventy-three modern Scottish male skulls. The muscular markings are well developed, the glabella and superciliary Fig . Profil1 . e vie Skulf wo l from Short Cist, West Castle Hill, Upper Boyndlie, Tyrie. ridges are prominent, the upper margins of orbits thick, and the mastoid processes stout. In profile view (fig. 1) the vault is relatively high. From the prominent glabell e frontath a l bone passes backwards, ascending wit a hrathe r steep curv t wit ebu a hcertai n amoun f sinking-io t e ophryonth t a n .