KNAPPERS FAEM. on Examining Materiasome Th F Eo L Fro Ludovir Mm C Mann's Excavations at Knappers Farm, Near Clydebank (Nat

GROOVED WARE FROM KNAPPERS FARM, NEAR GLASGOW, AND FROM TOWNHEAD, ROTHESAY Y REAB . . R Y MACKAY, F.S.A.SCOT. KNAPPERS FAEM. On examining materiasome th f eo l fro Ludovir mM c Mann's excavations at Knappers Farm, near Clydebank (Nat. Grid Ref. 26/505713), some pottery fragments have come to light which were first described by Mr J. M. Davidson in 1935,3 but in view of recent developments they may now be worthy of further discussion and illustration. The pottery concerned is that referred to as from "site No. 15," which is evidentl describes graveya i d an , belongins da flat-bottomea o gt d "urn" which was found in a very much broken state, some sherds being recovered e fragmentth riddliny f b o d blac XXVII e L ha e soil) k(P sgth On 3 ., 3 , material adhering to it which contained charcoal, and was reported as "suggesting alde other ro r pithy wood rather tha hare nth d woods like birch, beec r oak.ho " evidenco n Ther s crematioa ef wa eo n burial. Froe mth same site came some flint flakes smalo tw , l scrapers, "two small objectf so greenstone," and a lignite disc.* The "greenstone" objects, which were almost certainl e chipsax y , tracede cannob t w shoulI .no t - d re als e ob marked that the lignite disc was in definite association with the pottery, which would see mrepreseno t t leasvesselsa to tw t .

1 The Basque alboka closely resembles the pibgorn, and a very beautiful ivory specimen is in the Beaney Institute Museum, Canterbury, Kent. * The late A. H. Prere (1860-1931), the musical antiquary, expressed the belief that the pibgorn family, ranging from Ceylon to Wales, was intimately connected with the builders of megalithic monuments ther characteristie fo ;yar c instruments wherever such monuments exist nowherd an , e else. 1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixix. p. 362, site No. 15. • Ibid., fig. 3, No. 7. Mr Davidson suggests that it has been used as an implement for making the grooves. GROOVED WARE FROM KNAPPERS FARM. 181 Vessel1. No. The first vessel is represented by a single rim sherd with wall and base fragments (PI. XXVII, 3, 1-3), and three miscellaneous scored wall frag- e mentsamth f eo s material attempten A . d reconstructio s showi n n i n fig. 1,1. This vessel appear havo st e squa e beeth f nto "flower-pot" type x wit hsligha t convexit uppee th n ryo wall, whic inclines hi t ratheda steera p angle to the very slightly splayed base (cf. the "Horgen Type" at Rinyo. At Knappers the splaying would seem to be a mere constructional feature).

Pig. 1. (Scale, slightly less than

The pot has been well fired, in contrast to Skara Brae and Rinyo ware, and has a firm and compact texture. Colour varies from a light grey, through light khaki vera o t y, ligh amoune tth redd backinf o an t, vers gi y small,2 grite th st varbu yabouo t greatl . cm.)1 thesf t mm O size n yi 2 . eth ( e larger seem to consist of crushed igneous rocks, whilst the smaller are coarse water-rolled sli e sand. verps i Th y slight t timea , s being mor esmoothina g

casinseparably s i wale oan t e i fth n li ; y bonde wale th l o dfabrict 3 deeA .p groove bisect e internallth s y flattened rim. This doee t seeb no so m t exactly paralleled amon Southere gth n English material idee th a t occur,bu s at Sutton Oourtenay, in the "step bevel" at Rinyo,4 at Hedderwick 5 and t Skara a Brae.6 Good potting technique is evidenced by the thorough bonding of the material, wit e consequenhth t absenc f constructionaeo l weaknesses, often Proc. Prehist. Soc., vol. . ii190p . , fig. 4 . Southern I n English grooved war practicalls i t ei y absent t excessivbu , e characteristigrita e sar f co Skara Brae ware. Water worn backing from Rinyo (Proc. Soc. Ani. Scot., vol. Ixxxi. fig. 6, No. 16, and p. 37). Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. , Ixxrifig , Nos6 35 . an. 1 . p . , als d2 o vol. Ixxiii. PI. XXII. 1 . No , Ibid., vol. Ixxx. . 5 142 .p . , No fig , 1 . Childe, Skara Brae, London, 1931, . fig15 . 182 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1949-50.

markedly presen t Skara t a "Bra Rinyod decoratioe ean Th . addition n(i n internae th o t l groovrime th )n eseemo havo st e bee nseriea s of horizontal "grooves" which are neither so broad nor so shallow as true grooves, yet such scorings occur on the English ware.1 The lower section of the wall is decorated with a zone of horizontal scorings surmounted by rather flat triple chevrons; this syste mparalleles i t Clacton,da lesd s2an distinctlt ya Bourton-on-the-Water.3 Vessel No. 2. On what might be termed "applique ware," or ware decorated with applied ribs, etc., ther egeneran i seem e b o slighsla t t differenc techniquen ei , or rathe e appliefinisn i th r f o hd decoration n somI . e case ribe e th sar s simply moulded into union with the wall by the fingers, while in others they are trimmed with a strip of wood or a split-reed as suggested by Professor Childe at Rinyo. As a result the ribs are thinner, and are thrown into

bolder relief than4 most of the finger-moulded "applique ware." secone Th d vesse representes li singla y db e wall fragment (PI. XXVII, 3,4, and fig. 1,2). In firing and texture it is very similar to the sherds mentioned sligha t s firmlabovebu ha t t yI .bonde d slip wit hthina , well-executed applique decoration—the wall being only 7 to 8 mm. thick, and the applied strips some 2 mm. broad by 1-5-2 mm. thick. Whatever the actual design applique oth f e strips t probabli , y include elongaten da d lozeng triangler eo . Plain and ladder-pattern strips and a knot-like intersection of these are certainl basie yth c elements. The only other paralle thio t l s "knot r "stop-ridgeo " " seeme b o t s found amon Englise gth h grooved ware fro Woodhenge mth ee area,th d 5an general characteristics of this ware are very similar to the Knappers example except tha e wall th te ofte sar n even instancthinnee on n (i . re onlmm y2 thick). Whe compare nw e Knapperth e s features wit e Scottishth h grooved ware, it would appear that although trimmed ribs are common at Skara Brae, even the smallest are about double the size of the Knappers example, and that at Knappers the panels seem to be open, which is rare at Skara Brae. On the whole, the technique and superior finish is perhaps only met fragmene on y b t from Rinyo, therd a greate an 6s ei r resemblance th o et Rinyo war generan ei l tha thao nt Skar f o t a truBraee eTh ladde. r pattern (i.e. transverse incisions at right angles to the strip) may be considered one e characteristicoth f f Englisso h grooved ware 7 and, wit e exceptiohth f no

rathea r rough example from Skara Brae,8 this sherd woulde appeath e b o rt E.g.1 t Clactoa u (Proc. PreJiist. Sot., vol. ii. , pi3) . xlNo , Ibid.,» pi. 1 . . xliNo , 2 Ibid., . . 4 190p . , No fig , 4 . 4 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxiii, p.24. * Proc. Prehist. Soc., vol. xv. p. 124, fig. la. ' Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxiii. PI. XIX, No. 1. ' Proc. Prehist. Soc.,. . 1 190 p . . 195 volp d ,. SkaraNo ,fig ii . an , fig, 4 . 7 . Brae, pi. . 1 xlix . No , 8 GROOVED WARE FROM KNAPPERS FARM. 183 only example from Scotland. A related pattern, however, with broader oblique transverse slashings, does occur at Skara Brae l and Rinyo.2 Despite theabove, a correlation with Skara Brae and Rinyo seems possible. Vessel No. 1 may be related to the Class "C" technique, which belongs at Skara Brae almost totally to Period II. At Rinyo it would seem to belong to Rinyo I (although a thin-walled vessel with sharp incisions in a mechanical slip belongs to Rinyo II), which

is pre-Beaker in date at least in Orkney. Vesse3 l No. 2 seems to belong to Class B, and this technique is not later than Skara Brae II. At Rinyo it seem belono st Rinyo gt oI (e.g. oblique th e slashed rib thin so n ware comes

from the layer below " G"). Childe says4 that the lower layers of this period are contemporary with Unstan ware. tha e Knappere b th ty ma t sI pottery belong Skaro st o t ad Braan I eI uppee th r layer Rinyf f thiI so s . oI correlatio valids ni , the pottere nth y would be somewhat post-Unstan ware and pre-Beaker with reference to the chronology of Orkney at least.

TOWNHEAD, ROTHESAT, BlTTE. 191n I 9discovera y o Neolithifa c habitation sit t Townheadea , Rothesay, Bute, was reported in the Glasgow Herald and the Buteman for 1st August. It is hoped to describe this site in a later volume of the Proceedings. The pottery found (now in the Buteshire Museum, Rothesay) seems to be mainly of Western Neolithic type, although there are four sherds of one vessel of grooved ware. Fig. 1, 3 shows a reconstruction of this vessel (the rim, diameter, however, seems doubtful), whicbuf o t f goo o fd s hdi re war e with sparse large "groovese gritsTh . " are, likKnappere eth s vesse1 . No l (v. above), rather carelessly executed scratchings on the wet clay. Decorations on the wall consist of the usual lozenges (or chevrons). Two paralle interioe th n slightln l o groove ru re exterioe th on y n d beloso an r w the rim. On top of the rim (although slightly weathered) there seem to be small transverse slashes unusuan A . l featur slighe th s ei t inward curvf eo the wall near the rim—although this is not unknown.5 The nearest parallel seemthae b to t sfro m Knappers ) (Vesse1 . No l mentioned above. There is another sherd which may represent a second vessel of grooved ware from this site e lightlt (figbot th e war bu .d h, th y 1e4) an , stroked decorative lines, which are not real incisions into the surface, might possibly

belon vessea o g t Westerf o l n Neolithic type. Proc.1 Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxii. fig. 31, No. 2.

2 Ibid., vol. Ixxxi. PI. X, No. 4. 3 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxiii. PI. XXI. A , ' Ibid., vol. .4 Ixxi. .No PI, X . * Cf. Clacton, Proc. Prehist. Soc., , and 5 . 100vol. p . . Bourton-on-the-Water,No ii . , ibid., pi. 1 . . xltNo , 184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1949-50.

n conclusioI t mighni saie b t d that, apart fro e similaritmth e th f yo pottery, both sites present certain similarities. They both show the presence vesselo tw r groovef so o e oon f d ware amongs relativela t y larger amounf o t Western Neolithi pottere c th ware l Al y. from Townhea domestics di d an , at least one sherd of grooved ware (Vessel No. 2) and some of the Western pottery from Knappers non-sepulchral1s i . Imported Greenstone axes were present at both sites, while both Beaker and Peterborough pottery seem to be totally absent. The distribution of grooved ware in Scotland seems to be essentially coastal. The Knappers and Townhead sites might be regarded as providing a further geographical connection betwee groovee nth d ware e areath f o s south of England and the north of Scotland, which might confirm Professor Piggott's derivation of the northern wares from the southern. Sir Lindsay Scott has, however, maintained tha Orknee tth y resule wareth fresf e o t sar h movements along the Atlantic route from Iberia and southern France.2 The following is a list of Scottish grooved ware sites:— Orkney addition (i Skaro nt a Bra Binyo)d ean : Dingieshowe, near Deerness, Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxx. p. 142. Evie, ibid., fig. 1, No. 6. Unival, N. Uist, Proc. Prehist. Soc., vol. iv. p. 337; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. IxxxiiVIIL P . 26- .d pp . 8an Knappers Farm, Dunbartonshire (v. above). Townhead, Rothesay, But . above)e(v . Gullane Sands, East Lothian, Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xlii . 308-19pp . ; Proc. Prehist. Soc., . 200 p vol d . pi. ii . .an xli, 3 , d Nosan 2 . Hedderwick, East Lothian, Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxx . 142p . , fig, 1 . No. 5. Glenluce, Wigtownshire, ibid., pi. xxiv, Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Tentsmuir Sands, Fife. Unpublished t S Andrew n i : s University Museum. (Information fro Stevenson.r mM ) For permission to examine and publish the material from Knappers and from Townhea dI mus t than Ludovir kM c ManMarshal. MisM d . nan sD l respectively. My most sincer Professoo t e e thankdu e r ar sPiggott s hi leno e m twh , notes and drawings on the Townhead site, to Mr R. B. K. Stevenson for

having the photograph made, and to both for all their help. Proc.1 Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxxii . 234-7pp . . Proc. Prehist. Soc., vol. iv. p. 337; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. Ixxxii. p. 27. 1