The Eagle Stone

Nestling among the houses on a quiet hillside there is a small fenced off patch of grass, in the centre a modest standing stone with ancient carvings – this is the famous ‘Eagle Stone’, also known as the Clach an Tiompain or ‘Sounding Stone’

The stone is featured in one notable prophesy by the Brahan Seer – he foresaw a great tragedy that would befall the area should the stone topple over three times, over the years it has been known to have fallen twice and superstitious locals have ensured it moves no more by cementing it in place.

Local legends have claimed the stone was erected after a skirmish between the Clan Munro and the McDonalds of the Isles on the way to the battle of Harlaw in 1411 – a sort of practice friendly on the way to the knockout stages. Recent evidence has proven it to be much older though.

Although almost certainly Pictish in origin one famous folk tale links the stone again to Clan Munro, who’s crest symbol also depicts an eagle, the Eagle of Foulis.

On a high ridge on the other side of the valley lies the remains of an iron age fort known as Knockfarrel (literally ’stone fort’). The very first chief of Clan Munro lived here as the clan established its presence in the area. Around the fortification a small village or ‘clachan’ grew. The valley has lush farmland, ideal for grazing and growing all manner of crops, sheltered from the worst of the weather.

Knockfarrel is easily approached via a gently sloping trail up the side of the ridge but treacherous cliffs fall steeply away to one side – high on a rocky pinnacle in these cliffs a great eagle had made its nest. whether the Munro clan took their symbol from this eagle or it was just a remarkable coincidence we do not know but the clansmen saw the eagle as a good omen and were happy to share the valley with this magnificent creature. Even when the bird would lift a young lamb or goat kid they would take this as just an acceptable loss and the chief forbade anyone from doing harm to the eagle.

All was peaceful in the valley until one summers evening. It had been a beautiful day and the womenfolk worked preparing the evening meals and sewing. The children laughed and played between the small houses, outside one house towards the edge of the village one small boy sat, Lachlan, barely a toddler he rested on the grass and watched as his mother busied herself around him.

All at once a great dark shadow was cast across the valley and a terrible screeching was heard, In a blur of feathers and claws the huge eagle swooped down from its nest and caught the poor child in its massive talons. Before anyone could react he lifted the boy high into the air and carried him up the cliffside.

The cries of alarm went up throughout the village and the wailing of the grief stricken mother alerted young Hugh, the chieftain of the clan. When Hugh arrived at the scene he realised that he had to act and act quickly. He called for a length of rope and set off up the cliffside in pursuit. Not entirely sure what he would face when he reached the pinnacle.

Higher and higher Hugh clambered up the sheer face, as the village fell away below he heard a beating of wings and a rush of air – the great eagle was bearing down upon him. Holding onto the rope for dear life he tried to fend off the angry bird. The eagle soared away again and Hugh pressed on. In the fading light he caught a glimpse of a tangle of branches above him and with one last effort he hauled himself up and into the eagles nest.

Lying in the centre of the nest lay baby Lachlan. cooing away to himself as if nothing had happened. Hugh was relived that the boy despite his ordeal had barely a scratch on him but he realised that the hardest work lay ahead. No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the huge eagle appeared again – even angrier than before. Hugh grabbed a large branch and swinging it like a club tried to fend it off, time and time again the eagle pecked and clawed and Hugh soon became exhausted. His clothes torn and his body bruised and bloody from the ferocious attack.

All this time little Lachlan laughed away thinking it no more than a silly game for his own amusement.

Munro Clan Crest

As the eagle made one more pass Hugh decided on an other tactic; he ducked under the thrashing wings and grabbed at the birds legs. Unsettling the creature just for a second he was able to pull it towards the nest and turn it over onto its back. With the advantage of surprise he reached up and got hold of the bird by the throat and squeezed with all his might.

Gradually the bird began to loose its grip on life, the struggle began to die and with one last effort Hugh squeezed the life from the mighty creature.

Meanwhile far below the cliff the villagers looked up, not knowing if the poor boy or Hugh for that matter were alive or dead. They had heard the terrifying shrieks of the bird and feared the worst. Then suddenly the distant figure of Hugh appeared, holding the corpse of this massive Eagle in his hand. They cheered and shouted and Hugh tossed the bird down, A gust of wind caught the feathers and the eagle’s broken body wheeled and glided down to the valley below, coming to rest at the edge of the village. Where the eagle fell the villagers placed a stone – the Eagle stone in recognition of the brave deeds of their chief and from respect to the noble creature that was such a powerful symbol of their clan.

The post Hugh Munro and the Eagle appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The Beaker Pots were decorated with impressions made with a cord.

These early people buried their dead with a beaker full of liquid to ease the journey to the next life (well this is one theory).  There is evidence of beer and mead within some of these jars. Exactly why they used beakers is not fully understood.

The style of graves was also similar – all being round barrow graves. Unlike the Neolithic settlers, they buried their dead in individual graves, a practice which has remained ever since.  This shift to individual burials shows a change in beliefs and social systems. Individual graves had personal belongings added – this was also new.  Men and Women were mostly treated the same, interestingly the only difference was that men were buried tending to face the East, and women facing West. So one had sun rise and the other sun set.

Reconstruction of a Beaker burial, (National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid)

the Upper Mains of Catterline cist

Pottery was only one small aspect of their ingenuity and craft, The Beaker People have been credited with introducing metalworking to Britain, being the first metal-smiths, working first in copper and gold, and later in the bronze which has given its name to this era.  Also spreading the Indo-European language group and building Stonehenge and other stone circles.  Some stone circles were earlier which suggests that the Beaker People and their descendants took over or adopted many of the beliefs and customs of the earlier Neolithic inhabitants.  Historical studies found that the Beaker people appeared to be of a different physical type than those earlier populations in the same geographic areas. They were tall, and heavier boned compared to the earlier people.

The Beaker folk were farmers and archers, wearing stone wrist guards to protect their arms from the sting of the bowstring.  They are said to have brought the plough, wheeled vehicles and even the woolly sheep and breeds of cattle.    Populations grew on the richer farmable land.

Authors Neil Curtis, head of museums at the University of Aberdeen, and Neil Wilkin, curator of the British and European Bronze Age collections at the British Museum have been part of a new study ‘The Beakers and Bodies Project’, looking at The Beaker People in Scotland.  They were particularly interested in the unusual clusters between Inverness and Aberdeen and down the East Coast.

New evidence was found that shows that the Beaker period was shorter in Scotland than that elsewhere in Europe.  This poses new questions, tree rings have shown a dramatic temperature drop which lasted a year after a volcanic eruption in Iceland.  There is evidence in England of abandoned homes at this time.  Could this be one influence?

The team was able to get radiocarbon dates and stable isotope analyses from all surviving skeletons.  This has shown that they didn’t move far in their lifetimes.  This would mean a close and happy community who were able to find reliable sources of food. Interestingly their diet was also able to be studied and although close to the coast they didn’t eat much sea-food.

Surprisingly the Bronze studied in Scotland from this area was found to be produced earlier than in other areas of Britian:

‘We were also able to look at links with metalworking and monuments, discovering that the distinctive Recumbent Stone Circles were probably built at about the same time as Beakers were being made and the earliest bronze being made,’ Mr Curtis said.

‘It seems as though North-East Scotland was one of the first places to made bronze in Britain, drawing on skills from the Netherlands and beyond, copper from Ireland and tin from Cornwall.’

The study also shows that beakers found in many of the graves were decorated with a white powder made from ground up bones – something that appears to be unique to the North East.  Whether animal or human is unknown.

Unlike other places the Beaker People in this area built new monuments, stone circles, and a lot of them. Aberdeenshire has an unusal large number of stone circles –  around 30. None to the scale of Stonehenge but still fascinating. (see The Stone Circle Trail (pdf) >).

‘Much to people’s surprise, these megalithic monuments were not neolithic, but a younger and local development contemporary with the region’s Beaker burials,’ the authors said.

‘Elsewhere in Britain people spent great energy on building barrow mounds and funerary monuments, such as the Clava Cairns in the neighbouring Moray Firth region.

‘But in north-east Scotland, communities focused their collective and ceremonial attentions on recumbent stone circles.

‘Suddenly, there was an exciting new dimension to the puzzle of how and why north-east Scotland adopted new and international customs.’

So  many new questions have been raised from this study; why were the Beaker burials in these areas of Scotland so popular and why so exclusive and separate from other traditions in this region?  Why such a shorter time span? How did bronze come first to Scotland?  Also why an apparently unique addition to their burial ceremony, animal or human ash on the beakers?

Examples of Beaker burials in Scotland include the case of ‘Ava’, the name given to a woman whose remains were discovered at Achavanich in Caithness in 1987 during road works.  A young women between 18 and 22.

Artists reconstructed Ava:

Ava – This Bronze Age woman died more than 3,700 years ago

The post The Mystery of the Aberdeenshire’s Beaker people appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.