Abstract
One of the first remarks made by the editors,
of the Report on West Lothian of the Royal Commission
on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
(Introduction xvii) concerns the sparseness of prehistoric monuments in the Lothians. This fact may
partly be due to the heavily wooded and marshy state
of the land, which compelled settlers to live either
on the seashore or in forest clearances; and it is
possible on this hypothesis that more intensive cultivation of the country has swept away such prehistoric remains as existed; it is possible also that the
small number of monuments is due to the correspondingly small number of the inhabitants.
Whatever is the reason - and both suggestions may be true in part - the scarcity of monuments
is evident. There are a handful of flint implements,
and a number of large constructions. There are
three Cairns (Cairnpapple Hill, Earl Calrnie, and
Laughing Hill) and one group of standing stones (Gala
Braes, Bathgate); an early Iron Age grave has been
discovered at Blackness, and there are several fortified sites, at Craigie Hill, Peace Knowe, Bowden Hill,
and Cockleroy; one crannog has been listed, at Loch-cote, though it is probable that there was one also at Linlithgow; and two rocks with cup-markings, at
Craigie Hill and at Dalmeny, are cited in the Introduction
