Glasgow, Cathcart

NS56SE 48 c. 580 607

For nearby (NS 5777 6080 and NS 5772 6084) Cinerary Urns, see NS56SE 38.

Case 35. Reconstruction of a Short Cist of the Bronze Age, found at Newlands, near Cathcart (within 2 3/4 miles from the Royal Exchange, Glasgow). It shows the actual soil, grave slabs, and the skeleton of a person, probably a female of about 23 years, lying on its left side and doubled up, all as in the original positions. A knife of black flint was found close to the right side of the neck of the skeleton, where the hand bones lay. The skull is short and broad, like the majority of skulls recovered from short cist burials of the Bronze Age. The knife is shown in a small glass-topped box, in cotton wool, placed within the cist, some of the cap-stones of which are removed to one side to allow the contents to be seen. Mr George Anderson discovered the burial; and, with Professor Bryce and Mr J A Balfour, assisted in its restoration in the Prehistoric Gallery.

In July 1904, a few yards distant, Mr Anderson found two groups of Cinerary Urns [NS56NE 38] of flower-pot shape, containing burned human bones, as described by Mr Mann some time thereafter in [PSAS].

Exhibited by courtesy of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell.

Palace of History, 1911.

A cist, containing the crouched inhumation of a young female, accompanied by a flint knife, was found near Messrs Weir's Works (centred NS 580 607) at Cathcart.

L M Mann 1918.

The discovery noted by Mann is presumably to be identified with that described in Palace of History. The absence of any reference to it in Mann's account of the discovery of the Cinerary Urns [NS56SE 38] found nearby suggests that the cist was found between 1904/5 and 1911.

Information from Mr T Cowie (RMS), 22 November 2000.