Lewis, Bhaltos, Cnip
Burial Cairn(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Inhumation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Shell Midden (Prehistoric), Awl (Copper Alloy)(Early Bronze Age), Bead(S) (Jet)(Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Early Bronze Age)
Site Name Lewis, Bhaltos, Cnip
Classification Burial Cairn(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Inhumation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Shell Midden (Prehistoric), Awl (Copper Alloy)(Early Bronze Age), Bead(S) (Jet)(Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Early Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Valtos; Traigh Na Beirgh; Traigh Na Berie; Kneep
Canmore ID 4003
Site Number NB03NE 11
NGR NB 0997 3639
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4003
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Uig
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NB03NE 11 0997 3639
The cairn at Cnip was noted by R B K Stevenson in 1972 and again by W F Cormack in 1973 (see NB03NE 14). It may be one of the sites seen "near Berie Beach" in 1936 by Lacaille (1937), but his directions are vague. In 1972 only part of the cairn showed through the sand as an irregular oval of boulders, and this led Stevenson to suggest that it might be a Viking grave, and to recommend excavation before it eroded further.
It was excavated in 1976 and 1978 and proved to be a Bronze Age cairn of three periods, each associated with a burial, overlying a ploughed soil. The first burial was an inhumation in a short cist under an unusual D-shaped cairn with a well-defined kerb. This cairn was disturbed when a hole was dug through it for a small corbelled cist containg a cremation urn. Finally a kerb cairn with two concentric kerbs was built over the earlier structures. Within the central ring of the kerb cairn was an un-urned cremation burial.
J Close-Brooks 1995
Excavation (19 January 2009 - 24 January 2009)
NB 0998 3639 Several inhumation burials were recovered 19–24 January 2009 under the Historic Scotland human remains call-off contract. One of the burials was in a short cist that was eroding from the base of a large deflation hollow, close to the site of a previously excavated burial cairn and cist. A second burial site was discovered during the course of the fieldwork, when disarticulated bone was observed in the surface of a stone-covered mound 3m to the S. It consisted of the articulated and disarticulated remains of at least three
individuals. They had been placed on a sandy mound that was partially revetted by a stone kerb and were accompanied by two jet beads and a copper alloy pin. A third feature that was initially thought to be the capping of a long cist was investigated to the N, but it proved not to seal any burials. The form of the excavated burials and the artefacts suggest a date in the 2nd or 3rd millennium BC, consistent with the other finds in the vicinity.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report: RCAHMS and Western Isles SMR
Funder: Historic Scotland
Olivia Lelong – GUARD
Field Visit (15 November 2014)
A Bronze Age kerbed cairn was excavated in the 1970s. It was constructed on top of a ploughed soil. Three phases of burial were found during the original excavation; a D-shaped cairn with a well-defined kerb, containing an inhumation in a short cist, a later intrusive small corbelled cist containing a cremation urn, and a kerb cairn with two concentric kerbs, built over the earlier structures, containing a cremation burial. A further corbelled cist was found during excavations in 1992. Further work in 2009 uncovered a short cist containing an inhumation burial and a sandy mound partially revetted by a stone kerb which contained the remains of at least three individuals. A shell midden has been recorded in association with this cairn.
Visited by Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) 15 November 2015
Note (2020)
Cnip #1
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: 60064
CANMORE ID: 4003
Total no. graves with grave goods: 4
Total no. people with grave goods: 6
Total no. grave goods: 8
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 60032
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Pot; Materials used: Pottery; Current museum location: National Museum of Scotland; Museum accession no.: X.EQ 1109
Grave good: Lid; Materials used: Organic (Uncertain/Unspecified); Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 72332
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Pendant; Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Ivory], Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Tooth]; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74512
Grave type: Mound
Burial type(s): Inhumation, Inhumation
Grave good: Awl; Materials used: Bronze/Cu Alloy [Bronze]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Bead(s); Materials used: Jet/Lignite/Shale/Coal [Jet], Sinew; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Wrap; Materials used: Organic (Uncertain/Unspecified); Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74513
Grave type: Pit
Burial type(s): Inhumation
Grave good: Shell; Materials used: Coral/Shell [Shell]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Wrap; Materials used: Organic (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/
