Drawing showing cinerary urn from Grimbister, Parish of Firth, Orkney.

Description Drawing showing cinerary urn from Grimbister, Parish of Firth, Orkney.

Date 1/11/1859

Collection Records of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number DP 297429

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of DC 63606

Scope and Content Watercolour drawing of urn and a pencil sketch of an unidentifed object on page 2 in sketchbook by George Petrie. Cinerary urn found inverted over a cremation deposit, amongst stones on the farm of Grimbister. Captioned: '1 Nov 1859. scale of 1/4 insh to the inch. Drawn by G. Petrie. Cinerary Urn of burnt clay found embedded in clay and surrounded by a large collection of Stones of which may have originally formed a Barrow or grave mound on the farm of Grimbister, Parish of Firth. The Urn was not as is usually the case enclosed in a Cist. It was 15 inches in diameter at the widest part - xx at the rings, 8 inches in diameter at the narrowest part or bottom and 15 inches in height. It was placed mouth downwards on a flat stone, and on the bottom which was broken the fragments being in the inside a stone was placed. Probably the bottom when entire had been perforated by a small opening which was covered by the stone. Inside the urn on the stone was a considerable quantity of xxx or vitrified substance having fragments of bone embedded in it, a considerable quantity of the stone lay in the clay around the Urn and a fragment of the jawbone of a horse was said to have been xx xx in a caxx state. Fragments of a human skull xx on the xx[stone?]'.

Accession Number 1975/12

External Reference SAS 487 (3)

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1793260

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap