A Bronze Bowl from the Rhinns of Galloway

Abstract

The bowl was found inverted in the soil while ploughing. It is a simple bowl of hammered bronze, made from a single sheet of metal without ornamentation. The most distinctive feature of the Awhirk bowl is a small circular perforation surrounded by a finely incised circle in the centre of the rounded base. The bowl is thought to be a clepsydra, or water-clock; and as such is in a separate category from the other cauldrons in Scotland, which in all likelihood were intended for culinary purposes or brewing. The clepsydra was at first a very simple affair '” a plain bowl with a\r\nsmall perforation in the base, which could be floated on water and gradually filled by percolation till it finally sank '” an attendant noting the time taken to fill, and the number of refills needed in a given period.