Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016654
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016654
This cairn is of particular interest as it is the only neolithic tomb on Arran to have been excavated in recent times and, although not especially well preserved, it is still worth walking through the forest to visit such a classic site. Much of the mound has been removed, but it is trapezoidal on plan measuring about 13.5m from north-east to south-west by a maximum of 10.5m at the south-west end. The most prominent features visible today are the three-compartment chamber and some of the stones of the facade which lie at the south-west end of the cairn. Unlike the other Clyde-type long cairns at Cam Ban (no. 99) and East Bennan (no. 100), the forecourt is rather shallow and unsymmetrical, but the facade is well-built with panels of drystone walling (now buried) between the orthostats (uprights). These are roughly graded in height with the tallest standing at the centre, and the middle pair also form portal stones on either side of the entrance to the chamber. The side-slabs of the chamber are set in the characteristic overlapping plan with the compartments divided by septal slabs. At the entrance to the chamber there is a second pair of portal stones placed behind the facade stones and behind them there was a sill-stone, which was probably necessary to prevent soil creeping into the chamber. Bryce cleared out the chamber in 1901 but the only finds were a few tiny fragments of pottery and several chips of Arran pitchstone.
In 1961 Euan MacKie carried out further excavation on the cairn, this time concentrating on the forecourt. Here he found evidence for activity during the period of the cairn's use, comprising fires and 'occupation material' which is normally interpreted as the remains of ritual fires and feasting associated with the cult of the dead. Radiocarbon assays from the bottom and top of this material gave dates of about 3950 BC and 2940 BC respectively which, taken crudely, give a span of use of the cairn of about a millennium. It is, however, difficult to be certain of the true significance of these dates but we can be sure that cairns of this type could have remained in use over a long period. Once the community who built the cairn decided that no more burials were to take place, the forecourt (where all the important rituals had occurred) and the entrance to the chamber were deliberately blocked and filled in with earth and stone, thus sealing the cairn.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
