Field Visit

Date June 1981

Event ID 1101481

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1101481

RCAHMS County Inventory; Argyll Volume 6 (Mid-Argyll and Cowal, Prehistoric and Early Historic Monuments)

This chambered cairn is situated at the centre of a linear setting of cairns at Kilmartin (see RCAHMS 1988 Nos. 62, 67-8) a little to the S of Kilmartin Primary School and Nether Largie (Campbell and Sandeman 1964; Henshall 1972). In 1864 Greenwell reported that the cairn had a diameter of about 40 m and that it had already been severely robbed to provide material for walls and drains; it is now a grass-covered mass of stones measuring about 34m by 27m, and it is likely that in its final form it was a circular mound between 34m and 40m in diameter and over 4m in height. In 1864 Greenwell excavated the chamber and examined two secondary cists, and the following account is based in part on his published report (Greenwell 1865).

The chamber, which belongs to the Clyde type, is at the centre of the cairn and is aligned NE and SW with the entrance at the NE end. Built partly of massive orthostats and partly of drystone walling, the chamber comprises four compartments separated by upright slabs and measures 6.1m in length by 1.9m in breadth at the NE end and 1m in breadth at the SW end; Greenwell records that the septal slabs were about 0.8m in height, and, as they now protrude only a little above the gravel floor, the original floor level is clearly much lower.

The first compartment is entered between two tall portal stones some 0.9m apart, that on the NW being 1.85m high and that on the SE being visible to a height of 1.4m with at least another 0.4m below present ground level; the sill-stone just protrudes, and the entrance itself is partly blocked by two flat slabs and drystone walling, which may form part of the original sealing of the tomb. The first compartment measures 1.9m by 1.2 m with the side-slabs reaching to the height of the capstones of the chamber as shown on the section; only the back-slab is as tall, and the capstones are elsewhere supported on drystone walling on top of the orthostats at a height of about 1.7m above the present floor level. The slabs of the SE side all overlap one another, but on the NW side, apart from a basal slab in the rear compartment and the massive slab of the first, the walling is largely of drystone construction. A supplementary slab helps to support the SE side behind the second and third orthostats; it stands to a height of about 1.37m above floor level, but it is likely that it was originally masked by drystone walling. It is possible that the stone that is embedded in the floor of the third compartment is a fragment of a broken lintel. At the end of the chamber a slab about 0.3 m in thickness is wedged into position against the back-slab at a height of about 0.3m; Greenwell described this stone as being ?2 feet 7 inches from the bottom? of the chamber (about 0.8m) and resting on ?two upright stones, one at each end? (Greenwell 1865). Henshall comments on the unusual relationship of the slabs at the end of the chamber with the back-slab which necessitated this bracing stone (Henshall 1972).

Greenwell's excavation provided detailed information about the deposits recovered from the chamber. In the rear compartment a small cist composed of four upright slabs, a capstone and a basal slab was found in the SE corner; the cist had been rifled and the cover was lying nearby, but Greenwell considered that sherds of Beaker pottery and unburnt bones found scattered around probably represented the original interment. Several layers of filling were encountered beneath the cist. Just to the N of the cist and on a level with the basal slab, a further slab covered a cremation deposit. A carefully laid 'pavement' of small pebbles about 230 mm wide and with flat stones at each end ran down the centre of the compartment; beneath it there was a layer of dark earthy matter with cremated bones, the bones 'becoming more thickly spread in the space between the pavement and the sides of the chamber'. This layer also contained three perfect and two broken barbed-and-tanged arrowheads, several other flint implements, 'great numbers of broken quartz pebbles' and a bovine tooth. The black layer covered a second pebble pavement on the floor of the compartment. Several vessels were recovered: a fragment of a Beaker (several other sherds of which were found in the third compartment) was discovered on the black layer to the W of the cist; a round-based Neolithic vessel was found to the N of the cist and close to the side of the chamber, 'amongst the undisturbed layer of dark earthy matter'.

The third compartment also contained a deposit of dark earthy matter with cremated bones resting on a pebble pavement; on top of this layer were sherds of three Beakers including a fragment of the same vessel that was found in the end compartment. The deposits in the third compartment were not in well-preserved layers, but human and bovine bones were found as well as 'a few fragments of a rudely made, dark coloured urn, without any pattern on it'.

The outer compartment, which also contained unburnt bones and pottery in an upper deposit, apparently in some disarray, was distinguished by side-walls built against the main orthostats, with a space of some 0.66m as a central passage between the two blocks of masonry; some trace of this may still be seen in the floor of the chamber. Two flints were discovered, but there was no trace of any burial-deposit.

Two secondary cists were also found within the cairn material; one, no longer visible, was about 7m to the N of the centre of the cairn and measured 1.6m in length, 0.94m in breadth, and 1.2m in depth. Although the cover slab remained in position, no traces of burial were discovered, but fragments of a Food Vessel were found. The second cist may still be seen 8.5m to the SSW of the chamber beneath its substantial capstone; built of four massive slabs, it measures 1.15m by 0.8m and 0.83m in depth and was found to be empty. It is possible that the cairn was enlarged to incorporate these later burials.

All the surviving finds are in the British Museum, London.

RCAHMS 1988, visited June 1981.