Archaeology Notes
Date - 1977
Event ID 697441
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/697441
NR89NW 16 8254 9711.
(NR 8254 9712) Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
The New Statistical Account notes 'urns' found in cairns in the Kilmartin Valley.
NSA 1845.
Cairn, Ri-Cruin: This very much spread cairn, c.6' above the marsh, was excavated in 1870 by Mapleton. Three cists, all with grooved side-slabs were found, containing fragments of inhumed bone. Cist (1) measured 4'5" x 2'1" x 1'8": 2), 21' S of (1), was partly destroyed when making a lime kiln, only the side-slabs remained, 6' and 5' long. (3), 5' S of (2), was 6'5" x 3'4" - 2'2" x 3'4". It contained slabs sculptured as illustrated by Mapleton, the slab with axe-carvings is still in situ; the other was lost in a fire at Poltalloch, but a cast is in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland [NMAS].
R Mapleton 1871; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964
Generally as described. The cairn has a maximum diameter of 20.0m. Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (IA) 26 March 1973
Carvings, visible only in favourable light, have been noted on the W edge of the cover slab of the northernmost cist at this cairn. They seem to consist of shallow grooves, some double, some apparently multiple, forming chevron or lozenge markings pendant from the upper edge of the slab, over a distance of c.60cm.
J G Scott and Mrs Scott 1974
Ri Cruin Cairn (DoE nameplate) is as described in the previous information. The carvings mentioned by Scott and Scott are as described but indistinct.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (TRG) 15 February 1977
