Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 77

The great storms of 1940 blew the sand from the wall-tops of another complex of structures at Freswick. Excavation exposed a single complex of buildings, obviously\r\nrepresenting more than one architectural period. The earliest phase of the complex is represented by a "long house" the centre of which was occupied by a long fire represented by a bed of peat ash. The house was subsequently added to with other rooms. Three phases of construction were identified. Bone and stone whorls, loomweights, a net sinker, a bone pin, part of a rotary quern, a gaming piece and some pottery were recovered.

A flat slab lying on top of a short cist was found to be carved. it was not the original capstone. On one face are incised five symbols lightly scribed, the markings\r\nbeing not more than mere scorings, which might have been engraved by the rounded point of a small nail. At the top of the stone is a crescent symbol with downward horns. The central portion has a geometrical design of curved lines, which is balanced on each side by another pattern of spirals. There is also a v-rod, a crescent, an elephant, a mirror and a comb.

A catalogue of more than thirteen hundred is presented. Only those tokens which are of special rarity or interest have been illustrated. The transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century produced no immediate change in the form, material, or design of the communion token. Some congregations, refusing to be influenced by changes in fashion, deliberately retained early shapes and styles down to the twentieth century. As the nineteenth century went on, however, the tendency, already noticeable at the close of the previous century, away from earlier simplicity and irregularity towards elaboration and mechanical exactitude of design,\r\nbecame more and more marked. The crude productions of country craftsmen were despised as inelegant, and, with the improvement in communications and the increasing mechanisation of industry, it became easier and cheaper to order quantities of tokens from city die-sinkers than to have them made locally. The results were the loss of a great deal of the individuality and variety which make the older tokens so attractive, and, by the middle of the century, a widespread limitation in design to standardised commercial types.

A description of the long and picturesque roll of an early seventeenth-century Scottish funeral procession is presented. According to the backing the procession is that of the funeral of George, 1st Marquis of Huntly, June 1636. A brief history of the life of Huntly is included. However, there is not a single emblem which can be relied on conclusively identifying this roll with the funeral procession of either this or any other Marquis or Earl of Huntly, or indeed with anybody at all, a point which emphasises the historical importance of heraldry, and the unfortunate results of neglecting to depict it with at least a reasonable attempt at accuracy. It is argued that the heraldry is deliberately indefinite, has no reference to any particular person, family or funeral, and that the conventional order of funeral procession for a nobleman in Scotland, at or about the beginning of the seventeenth century is presented.

The hoard consists of eight socketed axes, two leaf-shaped swords, seven spearheads, and a corrugated bronze tube. All the objects were covered with a beautiful patina, but they were deeply corroded and broken. It seems almost certain that all the objects, save perhaps the swords, were already damaged before their deposition in the earth; the hoard in fact belongs to the class, so common in the Late Bronze Age, known as founders' hoards. The axes are all of distinctly Irish type. The hoard represents the first accurately located Late Bronze Age objects, to be reported from the eastern shore of Loch Fyne.

The arrowhead was discovered in 1899 among the roots of an upturned tree. It is shouldered but not barbed, and has a tang for insertion in a shaft. The shoulders are slightly rounded and form obtuse angles with the tang. The source of material is likely to be one of the groups of rhyolitic lavas in the Pentland Hills.

The capstone of a small cist was discovered during ploughing. The vessel within was protected by a cist of slabs, built apparently after the urn was set in place rather in the manner of a house of cards. The substructure of the cist was an irregular pentagon formed of five principal slabs. The urn contained the burnt bones of an adolescent.

The results of excavation are presented. The passage is cut into the steep slope on the north side of the castle, with which it has no direct communication, the upper end opening in a small triangular platform of ground between the edge of the slope, the north curtain wall and the north-east tower. Access to this platform was obtained from the castle by a postern, secured with a portcullis and covered by the tower.