Archaeology Notes
Event ID 732560
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/732560
NR89NW 43 8319 9933 and 8319 9921.
(NR 8319 9933) Cist (NAT)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
This cist, believed excavated from an ancient cairn measures 3'9" x 2'4" - 2', axis NE. Its cover is 6'6" x 5'2" x 8". A possible cup mark on the upper surface of cover, noted by Craw (1930) is not now visible.
J H Craw 1930; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; Name Book nd.
As described. There is now no evidence of a cairn.
Visited by OS (IA) 1 May 1973.
The cist, generally as described, is embedded in a mound of stones 5.0m N-S by 4.6m and 0.5m high, which is possibly the remains of a cairn. Cist surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (TRG) 11 February 1977.
Gradual expansion of a sand and gravel quarry in the vicinity of a scheduled cist prompted a series of three excavations.
December 1982 (G J Barclay) Large scale trial trenching to test anomalies located by a magnetometer survey showed that they were natural. A cist was found c.10m NE of the scheduled cist. It was
c.1.00m long, c.0.50m wide and c.0.50m deep internally. The capstone was flush with the present topsoil and rested on the four side slabs forming the cist. The base was a large oval flat stone, the gaps between it and the sides filled by cobbling. No finds were recovered; the cist may have been disturbed.
April 1983 (J S Rideout) With the granting of Scheduled Monument Consent to the Landowner, the scheduled cist was investigated and proved to have been disturbed; the capstone had been replaced. The side slabs rested
on the undisturbed natural gravel and the top of the cist lay well above ground level. It may be that it had originally been covered by a cairn. The mound of stones surrounding the cist before excavation proved to be of recent date as did the fill of the cist, which measures c1.25m long, c.0.70m wide and c.0.70m high. As one of the conditions of Scheduled Monument Consent the cist was rebuilt at NR 8319 9921. About 60m S of the cist the remains of an inurned cremation were discovered by Dr J N G Ritchie. Only the base of the urn survived; the cremation contained a small burnt plano-convex knife. A small cist was found c.2m of the cremation. The capstone had been displaced by topsoil stripping. The cist was c.0.35m long, c.0.25m wide and c.0.40m deep and was filled with a dark soil containing charcoal and burnt bone. It appears to have been deliberately backfilled in antiquity.
August 1983 (R J Mercer) Four subsoil features were investigated c.30m W of the scheduled cist. A much damaged cist, c.0.90m wide, had apparently been emptied in the past. Only the E and W side slabs survived in good condition. No finds were recovered. A large pit, c.1.15m by c.0.75m, was located c.7m NW of the cist. It contained a dark soil with large quantities of charcoal and some fragments of burnt bone. Burnt stones in the fill and on the pit sides suggest burning in situ. Sherds of urn-type pottery were recovered from the E side of the pit.
About 2.5m NW of this was a sub-circular pit c.1.10m by 0.75m. The fill of the pit produced part of the rim of a flat-rimmed vessel. A fourth feature, a pit com NE of this pit, measures c.0.55m by 0.50m and c. 0.10m. deep. Its function is uncertain.
Sponsor: SDD(AM) - CEU.
G Barclay et al 1983.
In 1993 planning consent was granted to extend the quarry northwards, necessitating excavation of the adjacent area which measured approximately 190m by 70m (Phase I of the quarry extension). The excavation was carried out by Scotia Archaeology Limited working to terms of reference set by the Strathclyde Regional Council archaeologist in the planning consent, the funding being provided by the quarry operator M & K McLeod Ltd.
Two cists were located, 12m apart. One, measuring 0.5m by 0.35m and 0.45m deep internally, appeared to be intact although it may have been disturbed in recent years. At its base was a complete beaker but no other artefacts. The other cist, which measured 0.75m square and 0.35m deep, had been disturbed on at least two occasions and was devoid of artefacts or evidence of burial or cremation.
Further N was a large, sub-circular pit, 6.8m by 6.2m and 1.8m deep. This was filled with redeposited gravel subsoil and overlain by a 0.25m deep accumulation of peat containing numerous fragments of timber. Near its top was a mass of large boulders, presumably used for levelling. A ring of fourteen pits, typically 0.75m diameter, surrounded this crater. One of these pits contained numerous cremated bones.
Two concentric arcs of larger pits (comprising twelve and sixteen pits, up to 2.2m diameter) cut across the line of the ring of pits and extend northwards beyond the area of excavation. Two flint flakes, including a large blade, were recovered from one of these pits. Most of them contained charcoal.
Nearby were two parallel, linear groups of eight and ten pits which also continued beyond the limits of excavation. These pits measured typically 2m in diameter.
located towards the E end of the site were three narrow, curvilinear ditches, or gullys, which may represent boundaries of some sort. Two of them had been truncated by the quarry edge; the third extended beyond the trench edge.
Sponsor: M &K McLeod Limited.
A Radley 1993
NR 832 993 A second season of excavation by Scotia Archaeology Ltd in advance of quarrying on a gravel terrace to the NW of the village of Kilmartin (Radley 1993) revealed a timber circle, measuring 46m in diameter, and numerous other features relating to prehistoric ritual and funerary activities.
The circle survived as 31 post-pits, each 3-5m apart, and was slightly elongated on its N-S axis. On its S side was a ring of small post-holes surrounding a large pit. An avenue of two near-parallel lines of pits led southwards from the SE corner of the main circle. To the E of the latter was a complicated arrangement of features, towards which the avenue appeared to open out. These included an array of intercutting pits, perhaps graves, surrounded by small post-holes; and several linear post-settings, provisionally interpreted as the bases of mortuary platforms.
Three cists have been uncovered, nos 1 and 2 to the S (A Radley 1993) and no 3 to the NW of the timber circle, the latter containing a crouched inhumation from which a well-preserved skull was retrieved. Running along the base of the ridge to the W of the timber circle was a palisade trench.
Features still to be excavated include a large three-sided arrangement of posts, partly contained within the timber circle and extending northwards from it, beyond the limit of excavation. This feature, possibly a cursus-type monument and perhaps associated with the post-ring and pit on the S side of the circle, may represent the earliest activity on the site.
Although a sequence of construction and dating awaits radiocarbon results, it is suggested that the site contains an early Neolithic cursus monument embellished with a timber circle which was given over to funerary activities in the Bronze Age.
Sponsor: M & K MacLeod Ltd.
J Terry 1997
NR 8320 9935 The excavation of a timber circle (DES 1997, 19-21) and a sub-rectangular enclosure first discovered in 1993 (DES 1993, 75) was completed. The Upper Largie Quarry contained a large circle, 47m in diameter, defined by large post-holes, set upon the central ridge of an outwash gravel terrace overlooking the Kilmartin Valley. No dates are yet available, although an early prehistoric date is postulated. The sub-rectangular enclosure was also defined by a series of large pits and measured some 45m wide at its N end. The lateral extent of the enclosure has not been fully revealed and it is probable that the enclosure continues into the field to the N of the quarry. A cist containing an inhumation, fragments of pottery and possible flakes was located on the W edge of the central ridge outside the enclosure.
Sponsor: M & K MacLeod Ltd.
C Ellis 2000
