North Uist, Tigharry
Cist (Early Bronze Age), Inhumation (Early Bronze Age)
Site Name North Uist, Tigharry
Classification Cist (Early Bronze Age), Inhumation (Early Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Tighary
Canmore ID 10124
Site Number NF77SW 4
NGR NF 70836 72016
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10124
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF77SW 4 c. 7084 7202
An inhumation in a short cist was found by a crofter in his garden at Tighary. The grave was cleared of its contents, which included 'a skull so vast that when placed on his (the finder's) own head it covered his shoulders'. The bones were later re-interred.
J V S Megaw and D D A Simpson 1963; J V S Megaw 1963.
Approx. NF 7084 7202. Mr Macdonald (L Macdonald, Tighary) stated that the skull and cist were uncovered by his grandfather, about 100 years ago, close to a spot where he himself dug up a skeleton, of no great age, in 1956. There is no evidence of a cist to be seen at the site.
Visited by OS ( J T T), 24 June 1965.
Field Visit (24 June 1965)
Approx. NF 7084 7202. Mr Macdonald (L Macdonald, Tighary) stated that the skull and cist were uncovered by his grandfather, about 100 years ago, close to a spot where he himself dug up a skeleton, of no great age, in 1956. There is no evidence of a cist to be seen at the site.
Visited by OS ( J T T), 24 June 1965.
Desk Based Assessment (22 April 1966)
NF77SW 4 c. 7084 7202
An inhumation in a short cist was found by a crofter in his garden at Tighary. The grave was cleared of its contents, which included 'a skull so vast that when placed on his (the finder's) own head it covered his shoulders'. The bones were later re-interred.
Information from OS (SW) 22 April 1966
J V S Megaw and D D A Simpson 1963; J V S Megaw 1963.
Field Visit (30 May 2012)
An upright slab, measuring 0.7m high by 0.45m broad and 0.12m thick, and leaning slightly to the N, stands in a field of pasture immediately SW of the cottage at Tighary. The present occupant of the cottage, who recalls that the stone lay fallen when found, believes it to have once formed part of a cist, although no comparable stones are visible.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ATW), 30 May 2012.
Note (2020)
Tigharry
This burial site in Western Isles was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 2200 BC and 1501 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60142
CANMORE ID: 10124
Total no. graves with grave goods: 1
Total no. people with grave goods: 1
Total no. grave goods: 1
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 72362
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Inhumation
Grave good: Pebble
Materials used: Stone (Uncertain/Unspecified)
Current museum location: Unknown
Further details, the full project database and downloads of project publications can be found here: https://doi.org/10.5284/1052206
An accessible visualisation of the database can be found here: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grave-goods/map/
