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Notes on Ornamental Stone Balls, with Reference to Two Specimens Presented to the National Museum by Mr Andrew Uequhart. by Robe

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Notes on Ornamental Stone Balls, with Reference to Two Specimens Presented to the National Museum by Mr Andrew Uequhart. by Robe 290 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 11, 1907. IV. NOTES ON ORNAMENTAL STONE BALLS, WITH REFERENCO TW O ET SPECIMENS PRESENTE E NATIONATH O T D L MUSEUR M Y B M ANDREW UEQUHART ROBERY B . T MUNRO, M.D., LL.D., F.S.A. SCOT. In 189 4I presente e Nationath o t d l Museum behaln o , f Andreo f w Urquhart, M.A., Headmaste f Eosehalo r l Puhlic School, Sutherland- shire, an ornamented stone ball, made, apparently, of hard sandstone and having six projecting discs symmetrically arranged on its surface, which he had picked up from the soil of a newly-dug grave in a neighbouring churchyard. Recently he has sent me another stone ball e Nationafoth r l Museum, also ornamented wit x discshsi , whicd hha been surface founth cultivatea n do f e o d fiel Boss-shiren i d mads i t I e. of diorite, and differs from the former in having the discs only slightly raised abov e interveninth e g triangular spaces d als n havinan ,i o e th g whole surface greatly weathered. As to the precise circumstances in which these balls were discovered r UrquharM , t write follows a s s :— firse "tTh stone balintermenn a pickeI lt a p du Achnesn i t s bury ing- ground, Sutherlandshire s peculiaIt . amonry la shape e eartt i gth s ha , of the newly-opened grave, first drew my attention. Judging from the remark e onlookersth f so t wouli , d have been reverently re-interredd ha , t falleno t ni into sacrilegious hands! burying-groune "Th situates di lefe th t Casslee bann do th f ko y river, about a mile above its confluence with the Kyle of Sutherland. The falls, from whic e placth h e take s namit s e (Gaelic Ach-an-eas fiele th , d of the waterfall), are close by. Adjoining is a. small chapel, now in ruins, and within a hundred yards is the broch of Achness, now much broken down. " The second stone ball, which I now send for presentation to the National Museum founs wa , d casualle surfacn arablth a n f o yo e field e far th f Contullichm o n o mileo tw , s e villagnortth f f Alnesso ho e , Ross-shire. The farm is situated in a slope on both sides of the Boath NOTES ON ORNAMENTAL STONE BALLS. 291 road, and the Gaelic name (Cunntulaich, ' con,' together, and 'tulaich,' a hillock accuratels )i y descriptive. This stone, unlik e Achnesth e s one, visiblo n d eha association wit n intermentha n spitI f .weathe o e d an r the friction of farm implements, it has well maintained its six-sided character." When a novel object, presumably a relic of bygone days, comes into the hands of a skilled antiquary, it becomes instinctively his duty to ascertain when, where, and why said object was manufactured. If it is absolutely new to him, he begins by searching museums, catalogues, . Ston2 d Fiirsean Ball1 . s from Contullich, Ross-shire Achnessd an , , Sutherlandshire. books d othean , r archaeological records, wit e vieth h f findinwf o i t ou g analogous object beed ha sn discovered e elsewhereproceedh , so o f t I s . examine them individuall collectiveld yan theio t s yra resemblanced san differences e techniquth , t manifeste ar d styl f an eo e n theii d r manu- facture circumstancee th , whicn si h each specime discovereds wa n , and, above all, the character of the relics (if any) with which they were associated. If, after a judicious and intelligent application of these methods e fail h ,o relegat t s s newlhi e y discovered s propeit reli o t c r position amon e alreadth g y classified remain f antiquityo s , o thern s i e alternative but to place it among the category of undetermined objects which awai e resultth t f furtheo s r discoverie researchesd san . Objects 2 29 PROCEEDINGS OF'THE SOCIETY, MARC , 190711 H . thus held in suspense may sometimes continue to be isolated groups, often numhering many specimens r longefo , r shorteo r r periods before their archaeological meaning becomes fully understood. Also, their distribution both in space and time often varies much. While one confinee b e grounarro th y o pma t dw limit a provinc f o sislandn a r eo , another may embrac e greateth e e Europear th par f o t n continents A . e mentionen b example a forme th y f ma e o polishere th d d stone implements know s "Shetlana n d Knives, o whict " I hdirecte d your attention last session (Proc.. Scot.,A . S illustration a xl. 162)s p . A . n of the more widely distributed objects of unknown use, but cognate in structure and function, there is no more remarkable group in existence than those curious wooden machines—the so-called otter and beaver- traps—which I brought under the notice of this Society in 1891 (Proc. Scot.,A . S vol. xxv.). Shortly afte attentioy m r directes nwa themo dt ,I collecte compared dan detaile dth f somo s e specimensn ninte r eo f o l al , which were disinterred from peat-bog t differena s t widelyn timesi d an , - distant localities. Two or three in North Germany were variously describe otters da r fish-trapso - specimea ; n foun Walen di regardes swa d as a kind of musical instrument; another from Ireland was variously fish-trapa e helb o dt pumpa , cheese-pressa , machina d an r makin, fo e g peats; while three newly discovered specimen n Itali s y were described as models of prehistoric boats. At the present time their number exceeds forty, and their geographical distribution embraces Carniola, Lombardy, Germany (several localities), Wale d Irelanan s d (three localities). Although -their peculiarity has attracted the attention of many archae- ologists ther generao n eves ei w nno l agreemen theio t s ra t functione Th . late Carl Deschmann, Curator of the Laibach Museum, labelled the two specimens unde chargs hi r Biberfalle;s ea Irelandn i t bu w , whicno s hha yielded nine specimens, no remains of the beaver have been found in its post-glacial deposits thao e s beaver-tra, th t p theory cannot e applth o yt . Irish machines. t stilBu l more interesting, especiall o Scottisyt h antiquaries s thai , t large group of ornamented stone balls, now under consideration, which for NOTE ORNAMENTAN O S L 3 STON29 E BALLS. upward half so centura f hels y ha conspicuouda s positio e categorth n i y of unexplained objects. Their numbe e presenth t a r t time cannoe b t far short of two hundred, three-fourths of which, including casts, are in the National Museum, and the rest in other museums and private collections. All these have been found within the Scottish area, with e exceptio th e sai o havon t d f eo n been foun t Ballymenaa d , Ireland. Previou 1874o st , when Dr John Alexander Smith contribute o thit d s Society his exhaustive monograph on the subject (Proceedings, vol. xi.), both Sir Daniel Wilson (Prehistoric Annals, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 194) and Sir John Evans (Ancient Stone Implements, p. 376) had taken notice of the special characteristics of the Scottish stone balls, so far as they were then known to exist. It appears that before 1851 there was only one specimen in the Scottish Museum (Proc. S. A. Scot., vol. xxxvi. p. 16), but when the second edition of Wilson's Prehistoric Annals was published (1863), the author had a good few specimens to deliberate upon, among them being that most remarkable carveth l dal f stono e e balls hitherto known, viz. that found on the Glasshill in the parish of Towie, Aberdeenshire e vicinitth n f severao y"i , l large tumuli.t I " presents four rounded facets projecting fro e surfacm th centraa f o e l ball, thre f whico e e highlar h y sculptured with incised pattern f spiralso s , circles, and zigzag lines analogous to the ornamentation characteristic of e Bronzth e e variouAgeTh . s design n thio s s stone have been more recently (1897) . examineJ Romill r M y s verdicb dhi Alien d s i tan , that "the Towie stone ball clearly e belongBronzth o t es Age" (Reliquary, N.S., vol. iii. p. 105). According to Sir Daniel Wilson, the circumstances under which the stone balls occur leave no room to doubt that they belonprehistorie th o gt c period wer,d "an e hel n esteedi y mb e primitivth e race Britain.f so informe H " thas wero u s tw te showo t n 1850n i m , hi "a e contents th par f a ciso t f to s recently openee th n i d course of farming operations on the estate of Cochno, Dumbartonshire, one of which was made of highly polished granite, a species of rock unknown in that district." He also quotes from the N. Stat. Ace. of Kirkcudbrightshire (vol. iv. 332 p .recor e )th f anothedo r highly polished 294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 11, 1907. bal f flino l t foun larga n di e Moo th cair f Glenquickenn o ro n , under followine th g exceptionally interesting circumstances :— " When the cairn had been removed, the workmen came to a stone coffin1 of very rude workmanship removinon thelid and ,y gthe foun skeletothe d nof f uncommoo n ma a n e bone sizeTh .s wer n suci e ha stat f decompositioo e n that the ribs and vertebras crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them.
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