Dairsie

Cist Burial.

In July 1886, a cist burial was covered at Dairsie, on a slightly elevated knoll overlooking the valley of the Eden. The following detailed description of the find was contributed to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in December of the same year (1). "The cist, which was about 2 feet 6 inches under the present surface, lay nearly north and south, and measured 3 feet 6 inches in length internally, by 1 foot 10 inches in width. It was formed of large and massive slabs of the sandstone of the district, and, when cleared of the infiltrated sand was found to be paved at a depth of about 2 feet with rounded water-worn pebbles. The interment was unburnt, but the bones of the skeleton were sorely wasted, only the more solid portions of the shafts of the long bones and a part of the skull remaining undecayed. The skull was found at the south end of the cist, and beside it and close to the east side of the cist the fragments of the bottom part of the urn. On the same side of the cist, but near the north end, and close to where the feet would have been, were four arrow-heads of flint. . .. They lay close together, with the points towards the north end of the cist, as if the four arrow-shafts had been laid alongside of the body. The urn was of the tall thin-lipped form, with bulging sides, and finely ornamented with a rather uncommon combination of bands of zigzags and chequers. It measures 7 inches in height and 5 ¾ inches in diameter at the mouth".

The relics are now preserved in the National Museum.

RCAHMS 1933

(1) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxi (1886-7), pp. 132-3.