The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-21 00:00:00

Anthropological Society.

At the ordinary meeting of the society yesterday
evening the table was covered with skulls and bones,
and with implements of stone and bronze, the most
perfect of which had been found in the bed of the
Thames, near Kew-bridge, and were exhibited by
Mr. Clayton and explained by Captain Tupper and
Mr. Carter Blake ; but the greater quantity had
been discovered in cairns in the Orkney Islands
and in Caithness, and were exhibited to illustrate
two papers connected with those places of burial
and with what are called Picts' houses. The first
paper was contributed by Mr. George Petrie, of
Kirkwall, who distinguished the " broths" from
what are commonly called Picts' houses. The
brochs are oircular towers, varying from 50 to 70
feet in diameter, and are supposed to have been 40
feet high, but the height of those ruins yet ex-
amined does not exceed 17 feet. The Picts' houses
are much smaller ; they are conical, and about 10
or 15 feet in height. The brochs appear to have
been fortified places, but most of the defences do
net seem to have belonged to the original struc-
ture. The date of their erection is not known. Seve-
ral implements have been found among the ruins,
comprising stone vessels of different sizes, a stone
lamp, a drinking-cup formed of a vertebraeof a
whale, a few fragments of earthenware, a bronze
pin, and an iron knife. There are the ruins of at
least 40 brochs in the Orkney Islands, and they are
found in several of thenorthern counties in Scotland.
They generally stand in commandingpositions, near
the sea-shore. A Pict's house resembles a bowl-
shaped barrow, and consists of solid masonry,
covered with a layer of turf, a foot or more in
thickness, and has a central chamber surrounded
by several smaller cells. Mr. Petrie stated that he
had never discovered any implement or utensil in a
Pict's house, while such articlesare invariably found
in brochs. He was of opinion that the Picts' houses
were never intended for places of residence, but that
they were tombs or chambered barrows. He ad-
duced many facts in support of that opinion, espe-
cially the discovery of several skulls and other hu-
man bones in them.

The second paper was a report " On the Ancient
Remains of Caithness," by Mr. J. Anderson, who,
with the aid of funds contributed by some members
of the Anthropological Society, had prosecuted re-
searches in that part of Scotland, in which he was
accompanied by Mr. Shearer. Their investigations
were directed to the examination of the grey and
green cairns which abound in Caithness, the former
being externally mounds of stones grey with age and
a scanty covering of lichen ; while the green cairns
look like tumuli, and are covered with earth. The
internal structure of the two classes of cairns are
different, and the grey cairns mostly occupy the
tops of the highest hills, while the green cairns are
generally found along the sea-shore or on the banks
of rivers. The differencess in the structure and the
contents of the two classes of buildings seem to con-
firm the popular belief, and in the report a minute ac-
count was given of objects found within several that
had been examined. In the grey cairns there was evi-
dence of three distinct modes of sculpture, viz., crema-
tion, the doubling up of the body in a sitting pos-
ture, and extended. Among the manufactured im-
plements in the green cairns were found a polished
bone needle with a round bevelled eye, a deer's horn
handle sawn at one end and a fragment of a bronze
implement. The most remarkable kind of structure
described was the horned cairns, some of which are
250 ft. long, with projections at four corners, from
which they derive their name. One part of the in-
terior of these cairns was divided into separate cham-
bers with large flag-stones, being evidently intended
for places of sepulture. Bones and articles of pot-
tery were found within them, and in one an iron
knife and a nodule of iron ore.

Mr. HUNT, the president of the society, stated,
from his own observation in Caithness, that these
grey cairns form most remarkable objects in the
landscape, being visible on the tops of the hills for
many miles. He said the subject would be fully
considered at the next meeting, when it was ex-
pected that Mr. Laing would attend, and the ques-
tion whether these remains indicate a pre-historic
period would be discussed.