Robert Munro

“ For upwards of half a century the present farmer has been raising splendid crops of grain, not only from the whole area of the dried-up lake, but over the very site of the crannog. And as for the size of the trees which formerly grew here, I question if there is an oak now growing in the whole of Ayrshire from which a dug-out canoe, having dimensions as large as the one found at Loch Buston, could be made. ”

“ Trees of enormous dimensions have grown spontaneously in many parts of Britain, where it would baffle the ingenuity of man to rear a tree to the tenth part of the size. The mosses in all parts of the island abound with trees of much greater dimensions than any now to be found growing in this country. The late Mr. Browning found an oak-tree under a moss in his lands of Benthall, in East Kilbride, of such size and preservation as to floor a garret 20 feet long by 16 wide. The boards, more than an inch in thickness, may still be seen at Benthall. ”

“ The Irish crannog, great or small, was simply an island, either altogether or in part artificial, strongly staked with piles of oak, pine, yew, alder, or other timber, encompassed by rows of palisading (the bases of which now usually remain) , behind which the occupiers of the hold might defend themselves with advantage against assailants. Within the enclosure were usually one or more log-houses, which no doubt afforded shelter to the dwellers during the night-time, or whenever the state of the weather necessitated a retreat under cover. ”

“ In searching back through the successive stages of human civilisation we arrive at a period when both written history and traditions fail. This prehistoric period, up to the commencement of the present century, was entirely lost in the thick veil of darkness which surrounded everything pertaining to the past history of the globe. ”

“ In the absence of any historical knowledge as to their age there is no prima facie reason why some at least should not be contemporary with the former, as it cannot be assumed that the crannog-builders made wood a sine qua non in the structure of islands. There were, no doubt, certain stagnant marshes and small lochs in which a wooden foundation was essential for the formation of an island, owing to the softness and yielding nature of the mud ”

“ The island is covered first with a thick layer of peat moss and heather, beneath which lies a mass of branches, chiefly of the mountain pine and the dwarf birch. The island is very little raised above the water, and must have been very liable to be overflowed. The foundation appears to consist of boughs of pine-trees with their branches turned inwards. Small piles are driven in to keep them together, and, on the side of the lake, a number of stronger piles, or the remains of them, may be seen, amongst which lies a quantity of woody débris. ”

“ The soil below is a deep white clay, where has formerly been a forest. The oak is perfectly fresh; the other kinds of timber are rotten. The stumps in general are standing in their original position. The trees are all broken over at about the height of 3 feet, and are lying from south-west to north-east. So, wherever you see a stump, you are sure to find a tree to the north-east. How an oak-tree could break over at that particular place, I never could understand. But we may be allowed to form a conjecture, that before the tree fell, the moss had advanced along its stem and rotted it there. ”

“ I do not think that the weight of the island and its superincumbent mass would press so heavily on the bottom of the lake as to cause it to sink much, since the enormous amount of wood-work, of which it consisted, being lighter than water, would have a corresponding buoyant effect, and so help to counteract the weight of the aërial portion. Nor has any great compression of its substance taken place from decay, because in the course of making the deep section under the log pavement, we found the contour of the large trees quite symmetrical and perfectly round ”

“ To this bill of fare the occupiers of Lochspouts crannog, being comparatively near the sea, added several kinds of shell-fish. In all the lake-dwellings that have come under my own observation, the broken shells of hazel-nuts were in profuse abundance.
From the number of querns and the great preponderance of the bones of domestic over those of wild animals, it may be inferred that, for subsistence, they depended more on the cultivation of the soil and the rearing of cattle, sheep, and pigs, than on the produce of the chase. ”

“ It is thus more than probable that a circular platform of wood, presenting a breastwork some 3 feet high, surrounded the central log pavement, except at its southern side, where no traces of the raised horizontal beams were found, and where also the uprights were mostly formed of thick boards, suggesting rather the idea of a division between the wooden pavement and the refuse-bed. On the west side the segment left between the side of the rectangular oak pavement was also covered with logs of wood, but much rougher, and made of a softer wood than oak. ”

“ A second crucible, neatly formed and quite whole, was found in the débris wheeled out from the lowest stratum of the refuse-heap. It is of the usual conical form, with a three-cornered mouth about 3 inches in circumference, and measures 1 inch in depth. Particles of a yellowish metal, like brass or bronze, are seen mixed with a kind of slag, near one of the corners. The outside has a glazed appearance, as if it had been subjected to great heat, and to the apex of the cone there is a small bit of cinder still adherent. ”

“ Round the island could be seen driven piles, to which were attached strong transverse beams, and upon making a cut 6 or 7 feet wide into the side of the island to ascertain its structure, we found a platform of about 4 feet in depth raised by transverse beams placed alternately across each other, and kept in position by driven piles. These last were generally self oak trees, but dressed and sharpened by a metal tool, some of them mortised at the heads where a transverse rail or beam could be fixed. The transverse beams, of various sizes, were chiefly of birch wood.... ”

“ The inhabitants also fed upon domestic animals—the horse, short-horned ox, and domestic hog, and in all probability the dog, the bones of the last-named animal being in the same fractured state as those of the rest. Fragments of pottery were also found. The accumulation may be inferred to belong to the late rather than the early Bronze Age, from the discovery of a socketed spear-head. This discovery is of considerable zoological value, since it proves that the urus was living in Britain in a wild state as late as the Bronze Age. ”

“ Several portions of deer horns, consisting of tines and thick portions of the body of the horn, together with a few of the roe-deer, presenting sometimes marks of a saw and sometimes those of a sharp-cutting tool, were found in the refuse-heap. The few worked objects I have to record were all made from horns of the former animal. One large antler, having portion of the skull attached to it, and the entire lateral half of the skull of a roe-deer with the horn still adherent, show that the horns were not shed ones, but those of animals actually caught and killed. ”

“ In draining a lake at the east-end of the parish, an artificial mound appeared within a few yards of the shore, about 60 feet in circumference, and 5 feet in height. It was formed of alternate strata of stones, earth, and oak; piles of oak being driven in the ground were kept strongly fixed by transverse beams of smaller size. Over these were round stones, and on the surface some inches of fine black mould. Some fragments of brass rings, pieces of potteries, and the bolt of a lock, of no ordinary size, were found on the mound. ”

“ The centre of the log pavement was occupied by a mass of ashes, charcoal, and stones, forming a bed about 21⁄2 feet thick, being nearly the entire depth of the mound above the wood-work, and a little to the west of this, and situated between two large square-shaped uprights, there was a thin bed of charcoal and burnt straw, together with some flat stones covered with a quantity of slag. On the east side, near the circle of piles, conclusive evidence of another fireplace was observed, but no well-formed hearths were anywhere met with. ”

“ But if, from internal evidence, a presumptive case is made out in favour of the Celtic origin and occupation of these lake-dwellings, it is greatly strengthened when we consider that the neighbouring Celtic races in Scotland and Ireland were in the habit of erecting similar island abodes, while there is not a particle of evidence in favour of the idea that such structures originated with the Roman conquerors of Britain or its Saxon invaders. ”

“ Independent altogether of any chemical changes going on in the sediment, however gradually formed, its own weight must have acted very considerably in pressing the lower strata into less bulk. Its accumulated depth, however, is far from giving a correct indication of the rise in the bed of the lake; in fact, 10 feet of silt might not raise the latter to half this extent. Another thing, which must not be forgotten in this discussion, is the subsidence which takes place after bogs and marshes are drained. This is a fact well known to those conversant with the effects of drainage. ”

“ In no other way can the association of works of art of a very high order with rude and rough instruments of daily use be accounted for. In that respect, therefore, the Victoria Cave affords as true and vivid a picture of the troublous times of the fourth and fifth centuries as the innumerable burned Roman villas and cities ”

“ To the two nations of the Picts and the Scots were now added two other invading tribes—the Saxons, who had already made themselves known and dreaded by their piratical incursions on the coast; and the Attacotti, who, we shall afterwards find, were a part of the inhabitants of the territory on the north of Hadrian's wall, from which the Romans had been driven out on its seizure by the independent tribes. They now joined the Picts in invading the province from the north, while the attack of the Saxons must have been directed against the south-eastern shore ”

“ A large oak plank, some 10 feet long, showing the marks of a sharp cutting instrument by which it was formed, was found lying on edge at its west side, and beyond the line of piles, but otherwise no remains of a platform were seen. All the beams and stakes were made of oak, and so thoroughly bound together that, though not a single joint, mortise, or pin was discovered, the whole fabric was as firm as a rock. No relics were found in any of the excavations along the line of this gangway. ”

“ On digging beneath this log pavement large beams and brushwood were generally encountered, but the voluminous gushing up of water prevented reliable observations from being made regarding these deeper structures. Occasionally ashes and charcoal were turned up, and in one spot, near the centre, and under my own inspection, the men succeeded in digging downwards more than 2 feet below the log pavement before the water oozed up, in the course of which nothing was turned out but pure ashes, bits of charcoal, and large quantities of the shells of limpets and common wilks. ”

“ Fringe-like Objects.—Another object which has excited considerable curiosity is an apparatus made like a fringe by simply plaiting together at one end the long stems of a kind of moss (Fig. 151) . Portions of similar articles were found in three different parts of the crannog, and all deeply buried. [134] The one figured here, and the most neatly formed, was found in the relic-bed; another about a couple of yards north of the fireplace, and others at the south-west side, a little external to the area of the log pavement. ”

“ At other times the only evidence of a crannog consists in fishing up oak beams from the bottom of a lake, or their discovery under its surface inextricably mortised into others, as at Loch Lomond, Lochmaben, Loch Lochy, etc., while in drained lakes and morasses the chief indications are the tops of upright piles surrounding a flat mound. ”

“ I have already remarked that no remains of wooden islands have been found in the south-east of Scotland. This, however, may be due to want of research on the part of antiquaries, and other causes, which so long kept us altogether in the dark regarding the phenomena of lake-dwellings in this country; and, indeed, some curious indications have already been supplied by independent observers as to their existence, not only in the south-east of Scotland, as at Balgone in East Lothian (see footnote, page 249) , but in several parts of England and Wales. ”

“ The most common plan adopted by the constructors of these ancient dwellings was to drive numerous piles of wood, sharpened sometimes by fire, sometimes by stone celts, or, in later times, by metal tools, into the mud near the shore of a lake; cross-beams were then laid over the tops of these piles, and fastened to them either by mortises or pins of wood, so as to form a platform. ”

“ The social or military exigencies that led people to construct artificial islands would also lead them to take advantage of such natural ones as would be found most suitable, and we may reasonably infer that it is in the absence of the latter that the former would be resorted to. We have therefore no prima facie grounds for dis-associating chronologically the artificially-formed islands of wood or stone, either from each other or from such natural islands as may furnish evidence of early occupancy. ”

“ The great characteristics of the tribes believed to be indigenous were found to exist among them. They fought in chariots, and to their arms of the sword and shield, as described by Tacitus, they had now added a short spear of peculiar construction, having a brazen knob at the end of the shaft, which they shook to terrify their enemies, and likewise a dagger. They are said to have had community of women, and the whole of their progeny were reared as the joint offspring of each small community. ”

“ Having fixed on such a locality, the next consideration would be the selection of materials for building the island. In a lake containing the soft and yielding sediment due to decomposed vegetable matter, it is manifest that any heavy substances, as stones and earth, would be totally inadmissible owing to their weight, so that solid logs of wood, provided there was an abundant supply at hand, would be the best and cheapest material that could be used. ”

“ The advantage of carefully recording every fact, however trivial or obscure, has never been better illustrated than in this very article (that on the Lochlee crannog) , as, with the more recent light thrown upon the subject, there can be no doubt that these structures, as well as the mortised beams (one of which contained three holes) lying on the western margin of the crannog, were some of the radial beams of an encircling girdle, still in situ, which surrounded and knit together the island in a precisely similar manner to that at Buston, as described at page 197. ”

“ About 4 feet deep the stuff at the bottom of the trench was so soft that a man could scarcely stand on it without sinking ankle-deep. It was not nearly so heavy as ordinary soil, but more adhesive, and of a nutty brown colour, which, on exposure, quickly turned dark. Notwithstanding the flabbiness of this material, the piles felt quite firm, and this fact, together with the experience derived from our examination of the deeper structures of the island, led to the supposition that the piles would be found to terminate in some more solid basis than had yet been made apparent. ”

“ Bronze age settlements were almost peculiar to western and central Switzerland, while the iron [15] age is scarcely represented beyond the lakes of Bienne and Neuchâtel, so that it would appear that the lake-villages commenced to decrease in number towards the close of the former. Of the vast quantity and variety of relics found on their sites, illustrative of the culture and social organisation of their occupiers, it is impossible here to give even the barest description ”

“ Two or three are seen farther off, then about twenty at a place where the gangway seems to have widened to nearly 12 feet, and beyond these are two other pairs, the last being about 100 feet from the shore. Beyond that the piles have rotted away through exposure to the weather in dry seasons. There are decayed remains of timber at various places round the shore.
While we were digging at the crannog, Sir Herbert Maxwell, who is an experienced observer of lake-dwellings, explored the whole circuit of the loch, and reported that he had found some logs laid like a corduroy road. ”

“ Amidst the abundant traces of struggling humanity, by which the whole line of this hazy vista is characterised, we see the remains of these lake-dwellings. The topographical features and environments of Loch Buston, when the crannog-builders commenced their structural operations, were totally different from what they are now. Then a stagnant lake, deeply encroached upon by a marginal zone of aquatic plants, and surrounded by a forest of oaks [46] and other indigenous trees, occupied the site of the present fertile basin ”

“ Thus, adopting Skene's division of the four kingdoms into which Scotland was ultimately divided by the contending nationalities of Picts, Scots, Angles, and Strathclyde Britons, after the final withdrawal of the Romans, we see that of all the crannogs proper, none have been found within the territories of the Angles; [41] ten and six are respectively within [249] the confines of the Picts and Scots; while no less than twenty-eight are situated in the Scottish portion of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. ”