Archaeology Notes
Date - 1977
Event ID 696648
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/696648
NR89NW 9 8330 9893
(NR 8331 9896) Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
The New Statistical Account notes 'urns' found in cairns in the Kilmartin Valley.
NSA 1845
The Glebe cairn at Kilmartin was excavated by Greenwell in 1864. Heavily robbed on one side, it measured 110' in diameter by 13'6". It covered a central cist of boulders, 7'6" x 3' x 3', which contained an inhumation and a tripartite food vessel - now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS - Accession no: HPO 8). In the SW section of the cairn, only part opened, was a double ring of boulders, 8' from kerb at nearest; outer ring 37' diameter, inner, 27' diameter, surrounding a cist of slabs, 3'5" x 2'4" x 1'9", containing an Irish Bowl food vessel, buried in gravel with a jet necklace laid above it. The food vessel is in the NMAS (Accession no: HPO 9), but the jet necklace, of 28 beads, was lost in a fire at Poltalloch.
W Greenwell 1868; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964
NR 8331 9893: Generally as described. This cairn measures up to 34.0m in diameter and 2.0m in height. There is now no cist visible.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (IA), 26 April 1973.
Glebe Cairn (name verified) is as described in the report above.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (TRG), 14 February 1977.
