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The Parish of Rosskeen. 333
an interesting place of sepulture. Whilst trenching waste land
on the farm of Dalnavie in 1847, the workmen came upon a number
of urns at a uniform depth of about sixteen inches. They were
surrounded by a low circular turf fence about eighteen yards
diameter. In the centre was a large one, whicli would contain
about a gallon, and a beautifully formed stone axe was found be-
side it. The central urn was surrounded by fifteen other urns,
which would contain about half-a-gallou each. Through carelessness
the urns were all destroyed. I understand the axe was sent
to the Antiquarian INIuseum in Edinburgh.
Stittenham.—About half-a-mile north of Dalnavie a large
cairn was removed in 1847-48. It was 108 feet diameter, and
20 feet high. In September 1880 a search was made for the cist,
when a very interesting discovery was made. Having been engaged
in the search, I am in a position to give a correct description of it.
A grave was dug in hard boulder clay 12 feet long, 7 feet 9
inches wide, and 8 feet deep, rounded at the corners. The whole
of the bottom was coverecl with a layer of flags, on which was
formed a cist of thick flags, 8 feet long, 2^ feet broad, and 2
feet deep. The covers were large—one weighing about half a ton.
Around and above the cist was filled with stones to a height of about
5 feet from the bottom. From the stones to the natural surface
of the ground was filled with a portion, the clay turned out. Over
this, and extending about 6 feet beyond the cutting all round, was
a layer of tenaceous blue clay in the form of a low mound, 2 feet
thick in the centre, and over the blue clay a layer of black earth
18 inches thick. From the form of the cist it is clear that the body
was laid at full length in it. The body was wholly decomposed;
only a small quantity of carbonate of lime and black animal
matter remained adhering to the bottom flags. A few crumbs
of decayed oak having been found at the head and foot of the
cist suggests that the body was encased in a coffin. The only
relics found were three beautifully formed arrow-heads, and a
thin circular jiiece of shale about two inches diameter, apparently
a pei-sonal ornament. About 150 yards south-west of
this cairn, the workmen employed at trenching the moor in 1847
found what was evidently a smelting furnace, and among the
debris turned out two beautifully formed sets of moulds for casting
bronze spear-heads. They are preserved in a cabinet in Ardross
Castle. The material is steatite, of which a vein exists in the
banks of a burn flowing by the Ardross Estates Office.
Knockfionn.—On the face of the hill, called Knockfionn,
above Easter-Ardross, there is a large cairn, which has not been
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