This is one of the first and oldest monuments in Kilmartin Glen and reminded me a bit of West Kennet Long Barrow back home in Wiltshire. It had been re-used and rebuilt at least twice.
Information taken from the Interpretation Board.
The tomb was used for burial about 4,300 years ago when Beaker pots and flint arrowheads were placed with the dead inside the chamber. A few generations later, in the Early Bronze Age, the monument was remodelled and converted into a circular cairn like the others along the valley bottom. Two stone graves or 'cists' containing the remains of important people were added.
See plan of the tomb - this is what was found:
1. Flint, unburnt human bones, ox bones.
2. Pottery, unburnt human bones, ox bones.
3. Three beaker pots, cremated human bones.
4. Slab covering cremated human bones.
5. Empty stone grave with unburnt bones and pottery nearby.
6. Neolithic bowl.
7. Burnt human bones, broken quartz pebbles, flint knives and arrowheads, a cow tooth.
The next stop off on my solo walk around the Kilmartin sites. It was bliss to have the whole place to myself and not have the children in tow. I could stop and look and spend as long as I wanted at whatever I wanted.
The sun was getting low in the sky and the shadows were getting longer. I clambered into the cairn and looked around and marvelled and pondered - all in equal measure. This really is a great site to visit.
I noticed on a post near the cairn that this was podcast number 6. I am sure that will mean something to you hip and trendy I.T. people out there! :)
My favourite cain in the group. The fact that you can climb inside made it special for me. I don't know why but visiting sites where you can climb inside seems very peaceful and somehow connects you to the past - moreso than 'surface' only sites. Easy to access but watch your ankles on the loose stones. Didn't stay as long as I would have liked as Dafydd wanted his bottle - which was in the car!! Cracking place to visit.
Access for wheelchairs and/or buggies, like most of the high profile monuments in Kilmartin, is pretty good, no awkward kissing gates, decent going on the paths.
Beware wary if encouraging small children to stick their heads out of the gap at the front of the chamber to shout hello at their Mum. My daughter did this, and nearly gave the fella sitting on top of the cairn a heart attack.
The sun was just starting to melt the frost making this cairn glisten in the clear, bright morning sunlight. The chamber looks great.
I moved to a safe distance while a group of kids played around the chamber for 10 minute, and just took in my first taste of this incredible sacred landscape. Later on, in the pub, I overheard a group of local kids playing pool, talking about 'the tombs'. A mother of one of the kids, sat chatting with two american tourists, spoke of how 'the kids round here really love their stones!'
This is a neat little page about the cairn, with some photos and a description. The Web site also contains an interactive map of prehistoric sites in the Kilmartin area.
This site uses frames, so the link above is a bit of a cheat to get you to the relevant page. If you want to see the site with frames, follow this link.