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A TWO-STOREYED GRAVE AT LITTLE AST A, SHETLAND. 69

III.

NOTES ON (1) A TWO-STOREYED GRAVE AT LITTLE ASTA, SHET-

LAND; (2) CERTAIN PREHISTORIC RELICS FROM SHETLAND;

AND (3) A VIKING BROOCH OP SILVER FROM SKAILL BAY,

ORKNEY. BY J. M. CORRIE, F.S.A.ScoT.

1. TWO-STOREYED GRAVE AT LITTLE ASTA, SHETLAND.

During the summer months of this year a party of workmen under

the charge of Mr Andrew Hall, road foreman, Westerhoull, Scalloway,

was engaged in quarrying for road metal on the east side of the public

road not far from Little Asta, in the parish of Tingwall, Shetland, and on

Tuesday, 2nd June, they came upon an interesting two-storeyed grave

constructed of slabs of stone. As soon as he realised that a cist had been

disclosed, Mr Hall, with commendable restraint, decided to leave the

construction undisturbed until a careful examination of the structure

could be made. By a fortunate coincidence Mr G. V. Wilson, F.S.A.Scot.,

of H.M. Geological Survey of Scotland, happened to pass soon after, and

he was appealed to for guidance. Mr Wilson at once undertook to notify

the Director of the National Museum of Antiquities by wire, and he

arranged with Mr Hall to have the grave provisionally protected. On

receipt of the telegram Mr Callander advised me to get into touch with

Mr Wilson, and I had the privilege the following day of being associated

with him and his assistant, Mr Strachan, in making a careful examination

of the grave.

The district in which the discovery was made is, from an archaeological

point of view, one of particular interest. It is believed that in former

years other cists have been discovered at various places in the neighbour-

hood, but unfortunately no record of these finds seems to have survived.

Several constructions, however, still remain in the vicinity to testify to

the occupation of the district in early times. Barely a mile to the south-

wards from the grave is a large but much-broken mound, popularly called

the Soldier's Knowe, and only a short distance to the northwards, at the

south end of the Loch of Asta, is one of the most complete mounds to be

seen in Shetland. Farther north again is a fine standing stone, the Law

Ting Holm, and a group of interesting mounds at Grista.

The Little Asta burial (fig. 1) was deposited at an elevation of 50 feet

above sea-level, but there was no superincumbent mound or cairn to

mark the position of the interment. This was located in forced soil

mixed with rotten rock at a depth of from 3 feet 4 inches to 3 feet

6 inches below the present surface of the ground. It seems likely that a

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, DECEMBER 14, 1931.

supporting slab for the large cover-stone (A in figs. 1 and 2) liad been

removed before its real significance was noticed, for it was not until

Fig. 1. Section of Two-storeyed Cist at Little Asta, Tingwall, Shetland.

Mr Hall had examined the cavity and found the fragments of an urn

and some decayed human remains that the real nature. of the con-

Fig. 2. Cover-stone, Upper Compartment of Grave at Little Asta.

struction was realised. Mr Hall tells me, indeed, that there appeared

to have been a slab of limestone at the south end of the upper compart-

ment of the grave, but it had rotted away, and was in such a friable

A TWO-STOREYED GRAVE AT LITTLE ASTA, SHETLAND. 71

condition that it was hardly recognisable from the other disintegrated

rock of the quarry.

The first procedure was carefully to remove the earth from the

covering slab, and, when this had been done, to photograph the con-

struction with the stone in position. Fig. 2 shows the grave as then

disclosed. It lay with the major axis north and south. The covering

slab was found to be a fine large piece of imported schist of irregular

form, measuring 5 feet 2£ inches in length. At its northern extremity

it measured only 17 inches in width, but at its widest it was 2 feet

10 inches in breadth, and 1£ inch to If inch in thickness. At two points

on the west side it had been tooled at the edges to provide two small

but carefully made notches. It is not very clear for what purpose these

had been intended. They may possibly have been associated with the

lifting or transportation of the stone. 1

On removing the covering slab it was at once apparent that at some

former time the grave had been, perhaps unknowingly, disturbed. It

will be seen that there was another slab (B in figs. 1, 2, and 3) over-

hanging the cover-stone at the north end of the cist. This measured

2 feet 3 inches in length by 1 foot 8^ inches in width and 1J inch in

thickness. It had roughly trimmed edges, and had clearly formed a

part of the original structure although it was obviously not in its true

position. Its proper setting could not be definitely determined, but later

investigation showed that there was no support for the cover-stone on

the east side of the grave, and it may be that this slab came from there.

This is all the more likely in view of the fact that the east side of the

construction practically encroached upon the ditch of a former line of

roadway, where disturbance was likely to be frequent. The north end

of the cavity (No. 1 in fig. 1), which measured about 1 foot in depth,

seemed to have been roughly constructed. Here there was only some

loose packing, and this, in part, had given way. Two urns without con-

tents of any description, and some much-decayed human remains, were

found at the north end of the cavity resting on a slab of stone which

formed part of the covering for the lower compartment of the grave.

The larger urn was broken into fragments, and it cannot on that account

be definitely stated whether the smaller urn had originally been enclosed

within it or simply deposited alongside it. Two small fragments of the

cap of a skull showing an eye ridge and very open sutures served to

indicate that the burial had been that of a young person.

In the bottom of the cavity three irregularly shaped slabs, measuring

1 A similar feature has been noted in another two-storeyed grave at Newbigging, near Kirk-

wall, Orkney (Proceedings, vol. vi. p. 411 and pi, xxiv.). It has been observed also in North-

umberland (Greenwell's British Barrows, p. 418).

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, DECEMBER 14, 1931.

respectively 10£ inches, 14 inches, and 13 inches in width, were laid

horizontally, one against the other, to form the covering for a carefully

constructed lower compartment or cist (No. 2 in fig. 1 and fig. 3), which

measured 2 feet 10 inches in length, 1 foot 4 inches in width at the north

end and 1 foot 7 inches at the south end, and 1 foot 5 inches deep at the

north end and 1 foot 3 inches at the south end, the main axis again lying

exactly geographical north and south. This cist was provided also with

a thin slab for a floor. Fig. 3 shows the compartment as finally exposed.

Fig. 3. Lower Compartment of Grave at Little Asta, Tingwall, Shetland.

It was found to be partially filled with earth and a mixture of burnt

and unburnt bones, the burnt remains being those of an adult and the

unburnt remains those of an infant. The calcined remains had evidently

been well fired, and pieces of vitrified material—known in Orkney and

Shetland as " cramp " : —still adhered closely to them. When found, inter-

mixed with earth, they had a glutinous or pulpy feeling in the hand.

It is unfortunate that the urns (figs. 4 and 5) were broken, but most of

the fragments were recovered, and it has been found possible to recon-

struct the vessels. Both were made from an open-grained and easily

fractured micaceous steatite. The larger of the two (fig. 4) is bowl-shaped,

with the mouth nearly circular, and it measures externally 11 inches in

1 On this substance, see Proceedings, vol. Ixii. p. 266.

A TWO-STOREYED GRAVE AT LITTLE ASTA, SHETLAND. 73

diameter at its mouth, llf inches at the widest part of the wall, from

7 inches to 7f inches across the base, and from 8f inches to 9 inches in

J 1 Inches.

Fig. 4. Steatite Urn from Grave at Little Asta.

height. The walls are 1£ inch in thickness. The smaller vessel (fig. 5) is

of rectangular shape, measuring 4f inches by 4f inches across the mouth,

4 inches by 3| inches across the base,

and from 3 inches to 3£ inches in

height. The walls vary from T 7 T inch

to | inch in thickness.

A day or two later a small, flat,

water-worn pebble, measuring 2|

inches by l^f inch by £ inch, abraded

at both ends and showing signs of

polishing on the flat faces, was

turned up only a few feet from the

north end of the grave, but no other

relics have been recovered.

So far as I have been able to

3 Inches

Fig. 5. Steatite Urn from Grave at Little Asta.

ascertain, this is the first occasion on which a grave of the two-storeyed

type has been recorded for the Shetland Islands, but examples are not

unknown in other districts of northern Scotland. At least four instances

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