Monument record MHG465 - Burial Cairn, Kinlochaline

Summary

Site of late neolithic-bronze age burial cairn which contained fragments of burnt bone and pottery.

Location

Grid reference Centred NM 6922 4740 (16m by 16m) (Buffered by site type)
Map sheet NM64NE
Old County ARGYLL
Civil Parish MORVERN
Geographical Area LOCHABER

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

Cairn (NR) (remains of)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Two cairns, situated together, 335m SSW of Kinlochaline farm.
The larger of the two, orginally about 6m in diameter, has been severely robbed of stone, the N and E sides being totally destroyed. Only the kerb-stones on the SW perimeter survive intact, standing to a height of about 0.6m, but very little cairn material is visible within the line of the kerb. The smaller of the pair, 1.5m to the W, was partly excavated by the RCAHMS in 1974 (Ritchie and Thornber 1977), but was found to have been previously robbed by means of a shaft dug into its centre. Excavation revealed, however, that it measured 3.1m in diameter and that there had originally been nineteen kerb-stones, though a number of these had slipped out of position, with an inner filling of stones, earth and several scatters of white quartz. Some of the stones of the cairn material were of considerable size, including one measuring 0.9m by 0.85m and about 0.2m in thickness. The basal layer within the cairn contained tiny fragments of cremated bone; a few sherds of indeterminate pottery, now in the NMAS, were also recovered.
J N Ritchie and I Thornber 1977; RCAHMS 1980, visited 1974.

The remains of a cairn situated on a shelf. All that survives is the SW arc of eight contiguous kerb-stones, c. 0.5m high, suggesting an original diameter of c. 5.0m. No cairn material is evident.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 11 June 1970.

Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)

An incomplete circle of stones (3 shown on OS 6" map) about 2 1/2' high.
Name Book 1872.

Sources/Archives (3)

  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Ritchie and Thornber, J N G and I. 1977. 'Small cairns in Argyll: some recent work (i) Cairns in the Aline valley, Morvern, Argyll', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 106 1974-5, p.15-30. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 15-30. 22-4.
  • --- Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1980. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona). . 57-8, No. 45; fig. 27.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Name Book (County). Object Name Books of the Ordnance Survey. Book No. 71, 104.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Apr 10 2008 4:26PM

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