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Stockie Muir

A Clyde Cairn?

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greywether, in one of your image posts you say 'This is a Clyde cairn'.

What's one of those? Is it a recognised genre? and if so what defines it?

Thanks.

Yes , the Clyde cairn is most definitely a recognised type :
Almost without exception of stone . Rectangular with side slabs often leading to a telescopic effect .
Very little corbelling - capstone usually directly on orthostats .
Transverse septal slabs half chamber height dividing it .
Floor sometimes cobbled or paved .
(cribbing from Megaw & Simpson's "Introduction to British Prehistory" )

Yes, jargon. When to use it? Scotland has several types of chambered cairn (Clyde, Bargrennan, Orkney-Cromarty-Hebrides, Clava). It can help to say which type it is but only if the terms are understood and TMA has no Glossary. So should they be used? Perhaps others have views.

Actually, 4W you will be interested in the Clyde group because of their affinities to Irish tombs especially court tombs. In fact, before it was refined, the classification started in the 30s and 40s as Gordon Childe's Clyde-Carlinford group.

The forecourt is one of the distinguishing features. It has a centrally placed axial chamber and there are often other lateral chambers in the sides of the cairn. The chamber is divided into compartments rather like the galleries of court tombs.

The cairns are generally long but a few are round.

Distribution, as the name suggests, is roughly SW Scotland.

http://home.t-online.de/home/dhobraasch/1-dolmen-origin.htm

Two new moons in Aries this year !