Laser Scanning
Date 5 March 2015 - 6 March 2015
Event ID 1026866
Category Recording
Type Laser Scanning
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1026866
NR 745 268 (NR72NW 3) A laser scan survey of the horned long cairn of Gort na H-ulaidhe, was undertaken, 5–6 March 2015, for conservation management purposes. The survey was undertaken using a Trimble FX laser scanner, the survey was controlled using spherical targets, located using a Trimble S6 total station working on a local grid. Interpreted detail was surveyed in the field using the Trimble S6 total station, on the same grid as the control survey, allowing interpretation to be overlain on the laser scan data.
The façade, at the E end of the cairn comprises a crescentic arrangement of orthostats 10m N/S by 5m E/W, six of which remain in situ; a seventh stone has fallen out of place on the S horn of the cairn. The main chamber is c6m long, composed of four large upright slabs; a septal stone separates the first and second slabs into two chamber compartments. A rubble hollow to the W of the chamber is probably the result of robbing or digging. The main chamber is encased in a roughly circular rubble mound, standing to over 2m in height. Several large slabs immediately to the W of the chamber may be displaced cap stones.
A second chamber is located 7m S of the main chamber, it is 4m in length and entered from the S side of the cairn. The orthostats stand to 1.1m in height. The cairn surrounding chamber 2 has been heavily robbed and little cairn material survives in situ; a curving bank on the N side of the cairn between chambers 2 and 3 is probably the result of quarrying the cairn body, although it is also possible that the level terrace created by this bank represents the remains of a later building.
Chamber 3 is also accessed from the S side of the cairn and comprises five upright orthostats. It is likely that the N end comprises a further small chamber entered from the N side of the cairn suggested by one fallen and one standing orthostat. Chamber 5 is comprised of two large threshold orthostats forming an entrance into a chamber 2.5m in length, accessed from the N. The E side is formed by one large slab 1.2m in length but the W side of the chamber is missing.
The edges of the cairn are relatively clear, though surrounded by rubble spread, and on the S side at the W end of the cairn a short length of low coursed walling, probably the original kerb is visible. Rubble mounds surround the cairn on the N and S sides, probably largely collapse or debris from stone robbing. However, a small mound 10m SE of the cairn contains some earthfast stones and may be a satellite feature. A small ruinous farmstead and enclosure (NR72NW 39) is located 100m to the W, and may account for much of the stone robbing of the cairn.
Archive: National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) intended
Funder: Forestry Commission Scotland
Graeme Cavers – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES, Volume 16)
