Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 108

NR 997705. Excavation of this multi-period Clyde cairn revealed a simple axial chamber within a round cairn, to which were added two lateral chambers set in an oval cairn. The whole was then enclosed in a trapezoidal cairn with a straight façade and a forecourt on which fires had been lit before the final blocking. No burials survived, but pottery included Beacharra and Rothesay style vessels. A 14C date was obtained from burnt material beneath a side-slab of the axial chamber. A two-tiered cist, containing an enlarged food vessel, and a medieval corn-drying kiln represent later insertions into the cairn. J G Scott discusses in detail the Rothesay style of Neolithic pottery. A R

NT 035453. A slab-built cist contained a flexed inhumation, two beakers of Clarke's Developed Northern (N2) and Late Northern (N3) groups, and a small flint knife. A R

NF 872537. An oval corbelled cist was built in a pit cut into earlier Beaker midden deposits and covered by a low mound of sand. The crest of the mound was defined by a circle of stones laid flat to form a kerb. The cist contained one male and two female inhumations, a decorated biconical urn and a possible pendant of limestone. Beyond the kerb were two small cists, one containing a plain pot. AR. See also 80/6721.

NJ 665565. An enlarged food vessel urn containing a multiple cremation deposit (one adult female, one child and one infant) had been inverted on to a stone pavement in a small pit. Grave goods included a stone pendant, a pottery ball decorated with incised concentric circles, and a plano-convex flint knife. A R

HY 302228. A typical Orcadian barrow cemetery consisting of at least ten small mounds, of which four were excavated. They measured 5m-8.5m in diameter, each with a rough stone kerb, and three had cremation burials in central stone cists. Three stone ard-shares were found on the kerb stones. A flat cremation cemetery of thirty-three burials in small pits clustered on the NE perimeter of Knowe 1; some had been deposited before and during the construction of the mound. A thermoluminescence date from burnt stones within Knowe 1 and four 14C determinations from cremation samples gave results in early 1st millennium BC. AR

It is suggested that cohors I Fida Vardullorum was the garrison of Castlecary in Antonine I, when it had a detachment serving elsewhere, and cohors I Tungrorum the Antonine II garrison following the return of its vexillation from Noricum. Cohors I Baetasiorum is proposed as the Antonine I garrison at Bar Hill and the Antonine II garrison at Old Kilpatrick. The altar found in 1969 at Old Kilpatrick may point to the arrival of reinforcements for the army of Britain from the Danube in the early 160s, supporting existing evidence for such moves in the 150s and 160s. RIB 2152 and 2335 may refer to one or two milliary cohorts raised in Britain by Antoninus Pius. D J B

NM 287245. Traces of pre-Benedictine activity, including post-holes, demonstrated that 'St Columba's Shrine' preceded the 15th century tower abutting its E end. The 'Shrine' is likely to have been a free-standing chapel, which was later incorporated into the Benedictine plan. Six graves were associated with its use, two containing the remains of wooden coffins. The finds include Iron Age and medieval pottery, a fragment of an inscribed 8th or 9th century grave-slab, and part of a cross-base. Report on skeletal material. A R

The decoration depicts a seated David with his harp surrounded by animals carved in Pictish style, and the fragment, tongued to fit another grooved member, is likely to be part of the St Andrews tomb-shrine or of a similar work. A R

Leather guns were a 17th century experiment in gun manufacture that began in Switzerland and was adopted in Scotland. Their advantage was lightness: a relatively thin metal barrel was tightly wound with rope, wire or cord and encased in leather. Twenty-three such guns exist in Scotland, representing six types, and as a whole are distinguished from other European examples by several special features. James Wemyss in Fife was the principal Scottish maker, and a full discussion of the historical background is provided. A R

Three earthenware vessels found in 1829 are reinterpreted as medieval kiln-props, and similar vessels have been recovered from the kiln-site at Colstoun, E Lothian. The type appears to belong to the later 13th and 14th centuries. A R