9. Iron A.Ge Pottery from Sundayswells Hill, Torphins, Aberdeenshire
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9. IRON A.GE POTTERY FROM SUNDAYSWELLS HILL, TORPHINS, ABERDEENSHIRE. Sundayswells Hill is the south-western offshoot of the Hill of Learney, which shelter e villagth s f Torphino e s froe northmth . Learney Hile b l itsely ma f regarded as a prolongation westwards of the broad granitic mass of the Hill of Fare, which separateVallee De ye .froth s m Midmar. After curving roune dth basin overlooked by Learney House, the hill divides itself into two spurs, known respectivel s Chapelwelya l HilSundayswelld an l s Hill, separate holloa y db wn i which the Gownie Burn descends towards the Dee. The western of these spurs, Sundayswells Hill, feetfalld 0 riseheigha an 82 so , t sf steeplo e west th to yt into the valley of the Beltie Burn, which forms a natural avenue leading through from Deeside to Midmar. NOTES. 149 The hill is at present much overgrown with heather, bracken, and broom. I visite lltn o ht di February 1946 wit Fellowr hou Jamer ,M s Lumsden, F.S.A.Scot., Aberdeen. Although our time was limited, it was clear that the southern and south-western slopes bear many traces of early occupation, including numerous small cairns and lines of stone settings, suggesting stock-pens, much like those surveyed so carefully by the late Sir Alexander Ogston in the neighbourhood of Loch Kinnord.1 Proceedingsr ou n yeae I th r 1905—fo 6 2 ther noticea s ei , base information do n from the late Mr James Ritchie, of a beaker of Class B recovered from the central spac caira n Sundayswellen i n o s Hill. Referenc alss ei o discovere madth o et y of a cist to the. north-west of the cairn, in which were found '' portions of a larger whicn ur alse ht ar Learney.o a Ritchir M " e himself publishe Proceedingsr ou n di for the year 1918—19 3 an account of the cairn, in which the somewhat damaged Fig . 1 .Sectio bowl f PIne o .Se XXVI. beake e lat founs th e wa y rColone b d l Francis Inne f Learneyo s centrae Th . l hollow fee9 , diametern i t , surrounde flay db t stone averagn so e abou fee3 t t high, was compared to hollow-centred cairns within circles with a recumbent stone. Mr Ritchie make mentioo s n ciste th ,f no irrelevan immediats hi o t e subjects A . it appeared that the second urn has never been published, I asked Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, F.S.A.Scot., Lord Lyon King of Arms, whether it still existed, and he kindly brought both urns into King's College, Aberdeen, for me to inspect, together wit ha photograp e cisth t f h(PIo . XXVII , whic1) , h would seemo t have been of the usual Early Bronze Age type. The vessel is unfortunately imperfect, but it is totally unlike any British pottery of Neolithic or Bronze Age types. The fragments which have been pieced together (see photographs, PI. XXVI sectiond an , , figmak) considerabl1 a . p eu e part, amounting to about one-third of the circumference, of a wide shallow bowl or dish, the over-all diameter of which was about 9J inches and the height 3J inches. The slightld vesseflaa an s t ha l y splayed-out bas r footstandeo , bulging sides, and an inverted rim, the actual lip being rounded so as to form a flattish curve. The thickness of the sides, at the middle of the bulge, is about | inch; in the base so far as this is preserved, the thickness increases to f of an inch. The material Prehistorics hi e 1Se Antiquities of Cromar (Third Spalding Club). 2 Vol. xl. pp. 312-313. 3 Vol. liii. pp. 74-75. 150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1945-46. is a hard, smooth, light rusty brown or mud-coloured clay, with a black core. It is very well mixed and free from grit, but shows numerous small specks of mica. The clas beeyha n thoroughl e surfacyth fired d s remarkabli ean , y uniforn mi colour, both outsid insided ean . t tha e seemI affinitiee m th t o st thif o s s remarkable vessel must lie wite hth wide shallow bowls foun Hallstatn do t site Centran si Westerr lo n Europe, marked by a flat base often splayed or footed, sides bulging out in a broad swinging curve, and ofte in-turnen a n d lip.Britainn I 1 , bowl r examplfo s e fro l Canning'mAl s Cross and Scarborough usually are bent out at the lip again or just have straight sloping sides; we might conjecture, however, that our Aberdeenshire bowl represents a degenerated or "ultimate Hallstatt" version of such bowls.2 From Central Europe the Hallstatt Culture spread westwards by the Rhine valley and the Netherlands and so across the narrow seas to Britain. It is note- worthy that the Sundayswells bowl is quite different from the barrel or bucket- shaped pots which have been recovered from Old Keig, Loanhead of Daviot, and Foulerto Aberdeenshiren ni wels a ,othes a l rnorte siteth Scotlandf n hso i e Th . latter type of vessel is thought to have reached us from Ireland, where similar "ultimate Hallstatt" ware is found. Our Sundayswells vessel from its shape, finer texture despite thickness, and very even firing seems rather to point to direct overseas contact wit continente hth than I .t cas t woulei d affor curiouda s parallel to the far older B-beaker also found on the same hill—since it is agreed that such beakers are an importation from the Rhineland and Northern Holland. So little is know f Earlno y burialIroe nAg Scotlann i s d tha t i cannot e b t asserted that the cist is not contemporary with the vessel found in it. W. DOUGLAS SIMPSON. Bberte Se 1 , Reallexicon der Vorgeschichte: fro Lowee mth r Rhineland, vol. viii, platd an , e9 158. No , plate 161, e; also from Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, vol. vii, plat Nos, , 103 e80 , ; 2 . from Koherstadt, S.W. Germany, vol. ; viiifro20 m,, plat Wurtemberg19 Nos, , e86 10 . , Encycl. Brit., 14th ed. ,. 256 volp . ,ii . No frod . 4man ; France (Jogasses), Revue Archaeologique, ser , vol.v. xxvi . 136p . , Nos, 82 fig , 22 . 49 . 2 For Scarboroug Archceologia,e hse vol. Ixxvii a fin . 190r p e. fo sharpl, ; fig32 . y in-turned bowl from West Harling see Archceol. Journ., vol. xci. p. 26, and plate III, 1. .