Digital copy of a drawing of chamber in cairn with measurements annotated 'No. 3' and labelled 'Chambered Cairn Yarhouse. Discovered by F T Barry in Horned Cairn 1900'. Verso: drawing of chamber with ...

Description Digital copy of a drawing of chamber in cairn with measurements annotated 'No. 3' and labelled 'Chambered Cairn Yarhouse. Discovered by F T Barry in Horned Cairn 1900'. Verso: drawing of chamber with measurements annotated 'No. 2'

Date 1900

Collection Papers of John Nicolson, antiquarian, Keiss, Caithness, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 876405

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 36360 CN

Scope and Content Watercolour of a chambered cairn at Yarhouse (Yarrows), Caithness, Highland Yarhouse, also known as Yarrows, is a landscape in eastern Caithness rich in archaeological remains. Within a small area there are numerous chambered cairns, great mounds of stones covering one or more burial chambers. These monuments were used many times for the burial of dead. This watercolour by John Nicolson (1843-1934) shows a chambered cairn at the site of South Yarrows South. The site was excavated on numerous occasions throughout the 19th and early 20th-centuries. Although the site had been excavated previously by Joseph Anderson, Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907) and Nicolson investigated a tiny chamber in 1900. The watercolour depicts the back of the chamber and illustrates the construction of the tomb. The chamber consisted of horizontal walling, edge-set slabs and a large back slab. Like many Caithness cairns, the chambers were divided into compartments and the monument had two distinct 'horns' at each end, possibly used for ceremonies. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/876405

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap