Monuments in Dumfries & Galloway - i) Cairnholy I and II

Here's my first post on the wonders of Dumfries and Galloway.  I'm going way back into prehistory for this one, an introduction to the Neolithic chambered cairns of Cairnholy I and II.

Both monuments are located very close to one another, lying just 150m apart.  Cairnholy I is more visually arresting, with its tall facade:-

 

[Please don't ask me to explain the purpose of the garden tags and golf tees that are scattered around the place - I thought someone might have been doing a geophysical survey in the recent past, but a) the layout's too random, and b) why leave the tags in after you've finished?  It's probably just a random piece of minor vandalism - doesn't do much damage, I suppose, but this is a Scheduled Ancient Monument!!  Sticking stuff into it like this without the prior permission of Historic Scotland breaks the law...]

I digress.  These monuments function in a similar fashion to West Kennet Long Barrow. The activities which took place here would have involved ceremonies undertaken in the forecourt area by those able to interact with the ancestral dead who resided in the chambers behind the facade.  The imposing facade is itself a later addition to what was, originally, a much simpler monument. 

It's been excavated, and the remains of at least six fires uncovered in the forecourt area, along with fragments of pottery ( I can't tell you what kind of pottery, but Grooved Ware's probably a good bet!) and a fragment from a jadeite axe.  Jadeite axes are gorgeous - some day I'll try and post a picture for you, but I'll doubt I'll ever be able to do these artefacts justice.  You have to see them in the flesh to appreciate them.

This is a cairn, as opposed to a barrow.  As usual, the different terminology reflects a detail of classification.  Cairns are composed of stone instead of earth, and they're common in Scotland, no doubt because there's so much stone kicking around in this part of the world.  The Cairnholy cairns represent a West of Scotland form called the Clyde cairns, characterised by the overlapping slabs of the chamber and the so-called 'septal slabs' that divide the chamber into sections.  Here's a view of the chamber at Cairnholy I:-

 

Cairnholy II isn't quite as imposing as its neighbour, but it's impressive nonetheless:-

Excavations in the outer compartment of its two-celled burial chamber revealed a number of finds, including a flint knife, a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead, and fragments of Beaker pottery.

And a close-up of the burial chamber, with its intact capstone:-

Originally, this would have been buried beneath cairn material, but its covering has been robbed away during the intervening centuries to make the neighbouring farm buildings and drystone dykes.

Well, it's taken me half the day to complete this post.  Either something odd's happening at LJ, or the Ancestors really don't want the world to know about Cairnholy I and II...  The information in today's post was researched using the Dumfries & Galloway volume of the Exploring Scotland's Heritage Series by Geoffrey Stell, published by The Stationery Office.

Monuments in Dumfries & Galloway - i) Cairnholy I and II

Here's my first post on the wonders of Dumfries and Galloway.  I'm going way back into prehistory for this one, an introduction to the Neolithic chambered cairns of Cairnholy I and II.

Both monuments are located very close to one another, lying just 150m apart.  Cairnholy I is more visually arresting, with its tall facade:-

 

[Please don't ask me to explain the purpose of the garden tags and golf tees that are scattered around the place - I thought someone might have been doing a geophysical survey in the recent past, but a) the layout's too random, and b) why leave the tags in after you've finished?  It's probably just a random piece of minor vandalism - doesn't do much damage, I suppose, but this is a Scheduled Ancient Monument!!  Sticking stuff into it like this without the prior permission of Historic Scotland breaks the law...]

I digress.  These monuments function in a similar fashion to West Kennet Long Barrow. The activities which took place here would have involved ceremonies undertaken in the forecourt area by those able to interact with the ancestral dead who resided in the chambers behind the facade.  The imposing facade is itself a later addition to what was, originally, a much simpler monument. 

It's been excavated, and the remains of at least six fires uncovered in the forecourt area, along with fragments of pottery ( I can't tell you what kind of pottery, but Grooved Ware's probably a good bet!) and a fragment from a jadeite axe.  Jadeite axes are gorgeous - some day I'll try and post a picture for you, but I'll doubt I'll ever be able to do these artefacts justice.  You have to see them in the flesh to appreciate them.

This is a cairn, as opposed to a barrow.  As usual, the different terminology reflects a detail of classification.  Cairns are composed of stone instead of earth, and they're common in Scotland, no doubt because there's so much stone kicking around in this part of the world.  The Cairnholy cairns represent a West of Scotland form called the Clyde cairns, characterised by the overlapping slabs of the chamber and the so-called 'septal slabs' that divide the chamber into sections.  Here's a view of the chamber at Cairnholy I:-

 

Cairnholy II isn't quite as imposing as its neighbour, but it's impressive nonetheless:-

Excavations in the outer compartment of its two-celled burial chamber revealed a number of finds, including a flint knife, a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead, and fragments of Beaker pottery.

And a close-up of the burial chamber, with its intact capstone:-

Originally, this would have been buried beneath cairn material, but its covering has been robbed away during the intervening centuries to make the neighbouring farm buildings and drystone dykes.

Well, it's taken me half the day to complete this post.  Either something odd's happening at LJ, or the Ancestors really don't want the world to know about Cairnholy I and II...  The information in today's post was researched using the Dumfries & Galloway volume of the Exploring Scotland's Heritage Series by Geoffrey Stell, published by The Stationery Office.