Field Visit
Date September 1976
Event ID 1123464
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1123464
NT 003 496 - 004 500. There is a concentration of small cairns on the summit of the broad ridge W of Hare Law. The almost level S portion of the area has been under rig-and-furrow cultivation, and a few cairns, trimmed by ploughing, lie in the furrows. At the NW end of this area there are the remains of some turf-and-stone enclosures which may be contemporary with the cultivation. During recent pasture improvements a few of the existing cairns have been used as convenient dumps for large boulders and some new "cairns" formed.
The majority of the prehistoric cairns, which are roughly circular on plan and are composed of medium-sized boulders and earth, measure between 2.3m and 4.0m in diameter and between 0.2m and 0.5m in height, although a few (e.g. A, C, D and H) are over 6m in diameter. At least two (E and F) have large stones around their perimeters, possibly belonging to a kerb.
Two of the larger cairns in this area (B and C), each about 6m in diameter and 0.6m in height, were excavated by the RCAHMS in 1968-9; no structures or artifacts were found, but chemical analyses revealed a high level of phosphorus consistent with the former presence of human remains (cf NT05SE 3). (Cairn 'D' and enclosure G' on plan are described on NT04NW 24 and 29 respectively.)
RCAHMS 1978, visited 1976
