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Sculptured Stones Of Caithness
A survey by Tim Blackie and Colin Macaulay
The aim of this survey was to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive list of The Pictish and early Christian sculptured stones which have been found in the modern county of Caithness, and to provide brief details about the stones which might be of interest to the general reader. More detailed notes may be found in the various sources listed for each stone under 'Other Documentation'; a guide to the abbreviations used is appended here. 28 stones are described with locations. This article is reproduced from the Caithness Field Club Bulletin at http://www.caithness.org/caithnessfieldclub/bulletins/sculpturedstones/index.htm
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These stones are very close to the road from Achavanich to Lybster and ΒΌ mile S. of Loch Stemster.
The stones set out in an incomplete oval measure 225 ft. long by about 100ft wide. About 40 stones set upright averaging 5 feet in height and made of Caithness flagstone look as if they may have formed a complete oval but there is no evidence for this. Probably about one third of the original stones are missing. Set about 8 feet apart the broadest sides are towards each other. A cist is to be found at the most northern stone. The monument is probably Bronze Age.
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ameilai Pannet, archaeologist sets out her paper on the Grey Cairns of Camster starting as follows - The Neolithic archaeology of Caithness is little known to most people outside northern Scotland, despite the wealth of evidence that litters the landscapes. This is no doubt a consequence of the relative lack of archaeological investigation in the area since the 19th Century when distinguished antiquarians such as Anderson and Rhind carried out ground-breaking excavations of many chambered cairns and Brochs. Here in lies the irony; the centre of antiquarian exploration is now considered by many as peripheral to studies of British Prehistory (Mercer 1992). That said, however, fieldwork carried out by Henshall, Corcoran and Masters, amongst others, has provided an invaluable corpus of data from which we can move forward and try to bring Caithness in line with the rest of British archaeology.......more
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The stone rows at Tormsdale, Fig. 1, were first recorded as a result of an archaeological survey carried out by the Archaeology Branch of the Ordnance Survey in 1982 (Discovery Excav. Scot. 1982, 49). The site (NGR ND 148 497) lies on the 69m contour, approximately 3km SE of the bridge of Westerdale and 100m from the E bank of the River Thurso. To the NW is the broch of Tulach Beag, with the broch of Tulach Mor to the S. 2.8km to the SW are the stone rows of Dirlot (Thom 1971, 95) and 0. 9km to the SSE a burnt mound has been identified. The stone setting covers an area of approximately 60m x 60m and is on ground which rises only very gradually to the SE. The area is grass covered for the most part and has been colonised by soft rushes which make it difficult to identify the full extent of the rows of stones visually, since many of the stones protrude only a small distance above the surface and others appear as small hummocks on the surface where grass has grown over them........more
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The only theory which has been published on the purpose of these stone alignments is that of Professor Thom (Thom 1971). Of necessity, the explanation is couched in mathematical terms although this does not mean that the builders of the rows had the same mathematical knowledge that we have today. It is quite possible for the rows to have been set up solely by observation and experiment without any knowledge of the underlying mathematics........more
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Of the known settings of stone rows in the north of Scotland plans of accurate surveys have been published of only about a third of them. Most of these are the results of the work done by Professor Thom. It intended in this article, and the following one, to give a description of the sites with available plans including those of Thom together with the results of recent surveys carried out by the authors which have not been published recently.
From an analysis of the diameters of circular stone settings, obtained by accurate survey........more
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At a number of sites throughout Caithness and Sutherland are to be found multiple rows of small standing stones. The stone usually protrude not more than 1m above the surface, and in some cases they are either barely visible or have become submerged by the growth of peat or other vegetation. They are arranged in rows, often fan-shaped in the form of a truncated cone, or, less commonly, the rows may be parallel. Such settings of stones are often inconspicuous, sometimes hidden by heather, and may be easily overlooked.................more
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Apart from the stones in the rows knoan as The Hill O Many Stanes there are several otherfan shaped rows up the hill from the Cairn of Get monument. they were uncovered after a heather fire just a few years ago. They do not appear on any maps or are in any books. The Caithness filed club members measured them out and have diagrams of their layout.
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The archaeology section of the Caithness Community Web site has a growing list of articles and directions to sites in the county of Caithness. There are pages on groups that have an interest in archaeology and history in the area. Caithness Field club is supplying articles from its annual bulletins. Many photogrpahs of brochs and other sites are being added to the web site.
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