unknown, but probably Scottish; one from Clova, Aberdeenshire, formerly in the Sturrock Collection; and two from Hillockhead, Towie, Aberdeenshire. These last two examples were found in a cairn along with other bronze relics, which have been lost; amongst these was a bronze ring, 6 inches in diameter. A cist containing an urn and bones was also found in the cairn, but apparently the bronzes were not associated with it. A similar harness ring and several balls of shale, slightly flattened on one side, were found at Crichie, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, under a large stone.1 The shale objects were about 14 inches in diameter, and in the centre of the flattened side there were still the remains of iron fastenings. Rev. John M'Ewan, F.S.A. Scot., Dyke,

near

Forres, has another harness mounting of the same type, which was found on the Culbin Sands, Morayshire. It is slightly imperfect, a piece of the thin portion of the ring having been broken or worn off. The Sheelagreen example is thus the eighth specimen of this special variety of harness-mountings recorded from Scotland.

III. A STONE MOULD FOR CASTING FLAT BRONZE AXES AND BARS FOUND AT PITDOULZIE.

was

This mould, which was found some years ago, during agricultural operations, on the farm of Pitdoulzie, in the parish of Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, like all the other recorded Scottish flat axe-moulds, unfortunately not associated with any other object. It is made of grey sandstone, and is roughly rectangular in shape, with rounded corners, or it might be called a rectangular oval. It measures 111 inches in length, 6 inches in breadth, and from 2 to 3 inches in thickness. It is pretty much weathered, but seems to have borne five

matrices.

On the obverse the chief matrix is for a flat axe with expanding cutting edge; it measures 62 inches in length, 33 inches across the cutting face, 13 inches across the butt, and § inch deep in the middle, getting shallower towards the butt and cutting ends. This matrix occupies the centre of the stone. Across the top and at right

1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 111.

3

angles to the main axis of the axe, at a distance of inch from the butt end of the axe, is a matrix for a bar 5 inches long, to inch broad, and inch deep. To the left of the axe matrix, and running parallel to its main axis, is a matrix for a bar 3 inches in length, 3 inch in breadth, and inch in depth. Across the bottom, in front of the cutting edge of the axe, is what seems to have been the matrix for a smaller axe, but it is so much abraded and weathered as not to be quite distinguishable. On the reverse of the mould there is part of a matrix for a flat axe still clearly defined for a length of 4 inches. The breadth of the butt end is 11⁄2 inches, but, the whole of the other end of the matrix having been worn away, it is impossible to say what had been the original length of the matrix or the breadth of it at the cutting edge. Judging from the breadth of the butt end, and seeing that there was apparently only one matrix on this side of the stone, it is probable that it had been larger than the one on the obverse.

This is the eighth example of a flat axe-mould recorded from Scotland, and like the other seven, as pointed out in my paper to the Society two sessions ago, comes from the north-east part of the country. Not only is this so, but it was found in that particular district of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire which has already produced four specimens, and like three of these four it bears matrices for bars as well as for flat axes. It resembles other six of the Scottish flat axe-moulds in being made of the favourite material, sandstone.

IV. Two STAR-SHAPED BEADS OF GREEN PORCELLANEOUS PASTE

FROM ABERDEENSHIRE.

These two star-shaped beads were found a good many years ago in adjoining parishes in Aberdeenshire, and they are made of a vitreous, porcellaneous paste, much resembling the material used by the ancient Egyptians in the manufacture of beads and other small grave-goods.

The smaller example of the two was found on the farm of Darnabo, in the parish of Fyvie. It is in the shape of a star of six points, with a large hole in the centre. The points of the bead are not at quite so

regular intervals as to form a perfect circle. It is of a light green colour, and was picked up in a field during the working of the land.

The larger and finer example was found on the farm of Camalynes, in the parish of Auchterless. In colour it is a lightish green. The bead has six points placed at regular intervals, forming an almost perfect circle.

Unlike nearly all the other known Scottish prehistoric beads, this specimen was found directly associated with other remains, by which we are enabled to date it. A boy threw a stone at what he thought was the rounded edge of a boulder projecting from the side of a mill-lade. He got a fright when the supposed stone broke and a lot of bones fell out. Having run home and told his folk about it, they went and examined the place, and found this bead amongst the bones. Although none of the bones or fragments of the urn have been preserved, it is extremely likely that it was the remains of a cremation deposited in a cinerary urn, in which case the bead will date back at least to the end of the Bronze Age.

Professor Gowland, of the Royal College of Science, London, who analysed the material of one of three star-shaped beads in the collection of Mr Ludovic M'L. Mann, F.S.A. Scot., reported that it was a crude enamel, coloured by copper."

With the exception of the one of six rays from Blair-Drummond Moss, Perthshire, star-shaped beads had hitherto been recorded only from the Glenluce Sands and the Culbin Sands, areas which, though far apart, have produced so much in common in the way of prehistoric remains. The recovery of these two beads from Aberdeenshire, goes to show that many of the smaller and more perishable prehistoric relics, such as bronze pins, small fibulæ, and various kinds of beads, which, as a rule, are found on, and which we are perhaps accustomed to associate with sandy areas like Glenluce, Shewalton, and Culbin Sands, have been in use, and all over the country. A small bronze or glass object has less chance of surviving intact, and of being discovered, on land that is continually being subjected to farming operations, than on sandy areas

common,

like the places just named, where they lie undisturbed until the sand is removed from them, and they are exposed by the action of the wind. Thirteen star-shaped beads have been recorded as found in Scotland : one of six points was found in Blair-Drummond Moss, Perthshire, and is in the collection of antiquities at Blair-Drummond; three perfect having nine points (as fig. 11), one with five points, and two imperfect specimens from Glenluce Sands, and one imperfect example from the Culbin Sands, are in our Museum; three from Glenluce, one of eight points being perfect, are in Mr Mann's collection; and the two beads. of six points just described.

Such beads, as mentioned by Mr Geo. F. Black, have been found in Ireland. Mr W. J. Knowles, of Ballymena, informs me that star

shaped beads, as well as flat beads of the same material, are termed quoit-beads by Irish archæologists. In a list of ancient Irish beads compiled in 1891 by Rev. Leonard Hassé, seven quoit-beads are mentioned, but how many were of the star pattern is not specified.2 Three of the seven were in the collection of Mr Knowles, who has since received a fourth example: two of the four are star-shaped, and two are without points.

In England, two rings resembling the Irish quoit beads without rays, but provided with a loop on one side, have been recorded as found in barrows, in Sussex.3 One of these is described as an "annular pendant

1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxv. p. 510.

2 Proc. Roy. Soc. Antiq. of Ireland, vol. xxi. p. 361.

3 Dr Thurnam in Archeologia, vol. xliii. p. 497, fig. 192.

or amulet of greenish porcelain, 1 inch in diameter, with loop for suspension. This ornament resembles in its texture Egyptian porcelain, and was found in an urn with burnt bones in a tumulus, in the Downs near Brighton." "1

In recording such a varied list of prehistoric relics, I should like to draw the attention of the Society to the great number of rare and interesting antiquities which are hidden in private collections throughout the country, where their value to Scottish archaeology is neither recognised nor appreciated. Some of these objects will probably come to the National Museum in time, but in many cases the circumstances of their discovery, even their provenance, will be lost at the death of their owners, as so few private collections are catalogued. Some years ago Dr Anderson and Mr Black visited the different Scottish museums, and recorded in our Proceedings the various antiquities contained in them—a very necessary work, when one considers the slipshod and careless fashion in which many of the curators of these museums care for, and catalogue their specimens. The Fellows of our Society might supplement that work by recording, in such a way that the object might afterwards be identified from their description, any fine or uncommon relic which they might happen to see in any private collection.

1 Kemble, Hora Ferales, p. 200, fig. 9.