Sligachan, looking toward the wondrous conical Glamaig, an overwhelming vision of natural form. TMA'ers, however, may be interested to know that the right hand peaks Sron a' Bhealain (cNG 504 284, unerringly highlighted by the power lines), and Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach (approx NG514 273, rising above) both possess cairns marked upon my old 1:25K OS map in antiquarian typeface. Their inspection entails a fabulous outing for those perhaps spooked by the sheer perpendicularity of Glamaig itself.
Sites on Isle of Skye
Images
Glamaig – without any cairn – towers overpoweringly above the cairn at the summit of Sron a' Bhealain (cNG504 284). Not saying it is ancient.... just suggesting.
Like the example upon nearby Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach, this cairn at the summit of Sron a' Bhealain (cNG 504 284) looked perhaps a little too 'bonded to the earth' to be a mere modern walker's cairn. But a wondrous spot to intern a burial between the overpoweringly steep cone of Glamaig and the brutal mass of Sgurr nan Gillean and The Black Cuillin (as seen here)? Perhaps.
Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach (approx NG514 273) – the cairn is not held to be of ancient origin... (although my ancient 1:25 OS map depicts the site in 'antiquarian' typeface... for what it's worth)... but tellingly does not stand at the summit of the peak (a pathetic heap of stones marking that can just be seen far top left). What's more, I discerned an earthfast footprint. Intriguing. Bla Bheinn is the mountain peeking from cloud beyond.
There are not many large cairns to be found upon The Red Cuillin... fewer still (if any?) upon The Black. This example, upon Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach (approx NG514 273), although not cited as being of prehistoric origin by the relevant authorities (to my knowledge), nonetheless possesses an intriguing footprint. Worth another opinion? The wondrous Glamaig towers beyond to left, Beinn Dearg Mhor to right... both cairnless.
Articles
Geologists have found evidence of a 60 million-year-old meteorite impact on the Isle of Skye.
https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/
I have spent some time examining this database, which was released into the public domain in June 2017, most particularly with respect with the area I am most familiar with: The Isle of Skye.
You would have anticipated that, following five years in its compilation, this atlas would be fully comprehensive. Despite claiming to be an atlas of hillforts, the 51 entries for Skye consist of an eclectic mix of hillforts, promontory forts and brochs. In total there are actually over 90 such sites on the island known to me, though to be fair, the Atlas does include seven entries that are not indicated on the OS maps, and which are new to me.
The actual selection of sites shows remarkable inconsistency. Along the east coast of Sleat, at the south of Skye, are the sites of at least ten known promontory forts yet the Atlas includes only four! In Waternish in the north, brochs Dun Gearymore and Dun Hallin are included yet Dun Borrafiach which lies between them is not. In Duirinish, Dun Colbost is included while the much more deserving Dun Boreraig is not. The latter is a particularly fine example of a coastal broch. These selections defy reason.
And most curious of all, just across the water on the mainland, the Atlas lists Eilan Donan Castle, apparently on a whim, because it: "may have occupied the site of an earlier fort" (something that has not been established).
Personally, I'm mightily disappointed. Canmore is far more comprehensive and will remain my primary source of information on hillforts. It is to be hoped that other areas within the British Isles have been much more carefully compiled, and provide the user with all the information they require.
http://archaeology.org/news/3822-151022-mesolithic-skye-nutshells
Hazelnut shells have been uncovered at a Mesolithic site on the Isle of Skye by archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands, members of the Staffin Community Trust, schoolchildren, and volunteers. “We have found lots of fragments of charred hazelnut shells in the lower soil samples. They are the ideal thing to date as they have a short life span and were a Mesolithic favorite,” archaeologist Dan Lee told BBC News. The team also recovered flints and a piece of bone that may have been used as a toggle or a bead.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-17537147
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-14509160
A cave thought to have been occupied by people as early as 3BC was still being lived in this year, it has emerged.
A new hearth for a fire and stacks of wood cut for kindling were found in the L-shaped fissure at Leitir Fura, Kinloch, on Skye.
Its present day occupation is noted in the former sea cave's entry on Highland Council's historic environment record database.
The cave is 6m deep and stretches to 3m at its widest sections.
Forestry Commission Scotland commissioned archaeologist Martin Wildgoose to make a fresh assessment of a township abandoned during the Highland Clearances and the nearby cave.
His report was published earlier this year and is among new additions uploaded to the online database of Highland archaeological and historic sites.
Excavations of the cave in May 1996 uncovered evidence that the cave was occupied at periods of time from at least 3BC.
When it was first discovered tools, pottery, a hearth and a shell midden were found suggesting people had lived in it during the late 18th or early 19th Century.
But according to its historic environment record entry, the site remains in regular use.
From BBC News website:
The latest find is thought to be even older than the six burials previously found.
First published 23/12/09.
More on:
AN ANCIENT rubbish tip – inhabited nearly 2,000 years ago – is disappearing into the sea, archeologists have warned.
The Iron Age midden on Skye's west coast has so far yielded bone fragments, stone tools, a button manufactured from horn and the top of a human skull.
But experts are battling the elements in a race to save the 1,900-year-old treasure trove from the elements.
The manmade tools and fragments are already under attack from lashing waves and strong winds, with significant amounts of material already lost to the sea. A report published by Highland Council's Historic Environment Record said that at the current rate of erosion, the site will not last beyond 2010.
The settlement is thought to have been inhabited from 80AD, about the time the Colosseum was built in Rome.
It was discovered by local archeologists Martin Wildgoose and Steven Birch in 2005.
Excavations last year and this year have uncovered a number of fascinating objects. Among the tools and animal bones, archeologists found the remains of a human skull with a small hole drilled into the top.
Experts have speculated that the hole could have been made while the victim was still alive as a primitive form of surgery. Known as trepanation, the procedure was a common remedy in many cultures thought to cure seizures and mental ailments.
The rock shelter and midden, known as Uamh an Eich Bhric, or Cave of the Speckled Horse, is about 3km south-west of the village of Fiskavaig.
It is extremely difficult to get to the site by land, with excavators having to negotiate a steep 100 metre descent of high grass and heather to the shore below.
Access by sea is only possible in calm conditions, due to the hazardous landing on a boulder and pebble beach.
The site was uncovered when a huge talus, or pile of broken rock, that had protected the cave from the sea was partially breached during the winter storms of 2005.
Since then, the tides have exposed the site and continue to wash out new material on a regular basis.
When it became clear that time was against the archeologists, Historic Scotland sponsored the excavations to recover as many artefacts as possible before the site was destroyed. A spokeswoman for Historic Scotland said: "From the evidence gathered it was clear that an important and unusual site was at severe risk from continuing erosion.
"A campaign of excavation was quickly organised, with funding from Historic Scotland and others.
"The excavations have revealed that during the Iron Age, people used this location as a temporary home."
Details of those who lived in the cave were yet to emerge, she said, adding that from ongoing analysis there was strong evidence of metal-working.
She said it was hoped the discoveries would allow archaeologists to further explore the history of the inhabitants, with important implications for the understanding of Scotland's west coast during the Iron Age.
She added: "Although the site will continue to be eroded by the sea, the archaeologists have rescued an enormous amount of data and the gains in knowledge are likely to be very significant."
Skye, known for its abundant historical finds, has had several important discoveries in the past few months.
Last Thursday, 47-year-old Graeme Mackenzie discovered a Viking anchor while digging near his home in Sleat.
The find was hailed as further evidence that Norse raiders never returned to their native land, choosing instead to settle on Skye and many other places along Scotland's north-western seaboard.
And in November, house builders near Armadale pier uncovered six richly decorated prehistoric graves, one of the most significant archaeological finds yet made in the Highlands.
news.scotsman.com/scotland/Tide-turns-on-Iron-Age.5903400.jp
More information and the subsequent later archaeological excavations are here, with lots of interesting photos...
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1467854?UserKey=
Archaeologists believe they have uncovered the first Iron Age burial on the Isle of Skye.
The skeleton from about the 1st millennium BC is thought to be that of a young female. It was found recently in an open stone-lined grave as the archaeologists worked to re-open the blocked entrance to the High Pasture Cave.
The discovery is extremely rare. Iron Age burial sites have been found in several locations on the east coast of Scotland, but this is among the few occurrences along the country's Atlantic seacoast and the first on Skye.
"The discovery of the human remains at the High Pasture's site is a very important find and will provide a unique opportunity to study a wide range of aspects of Iron Age life and death in the region," said George Kozikowski, a member of the High Pasture Cave Project.
This article: heritage.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=1907512005
Also see the news item below, and the website at
I heard some folklore today, unprompted, and I hope the person who told it won't mind me retelling it here. He said that when his father was young (this might be about 60 or more years ago) he lived on Skye for a while, and he'd gone on a long walk over the Cuilleans, accompanying a local man. It took them five hours to get across the mountains and his father then assumed they'd walk the flat way back, along the road. But he was very surprised when his guide said 'well goodbye then' and made to set off the way they'd come. It transpired that the short route home went past a green mound (where, my narrator said, there were, as we would say, fairies, but it was a bronze age burial mound) – and the guide was under no circumstances about to walk past it now that the dusk was falling. He would rather take the five hours back over the mountains in the dark. Which, according to the tale, he did.
The pattern of distribution of monuments near the Red Cuchuillin mountains is very striking, when viewed on the map, for their locations draw a curve around the southern and eastern sides, the monuments roughly equally spaced and delineating the edge of the mountains perfectly. The Red Cuchuillins, then, seem to be of central significant in the positioning of these sites. They are the easternmost part of the Cuchuillin range, the creation of which is described in folklore thus:
"When all the world was new, there was a great heather-clad plain between Loch Bracadale on the west and the Red Hills on the east. It was a dark and lonely place and the Cailleach Bhur (= Hag of the Ridges, i.e. Winter), whose home was on Ben Wyvis, often lived there when she came west to boil up her linen in her washing pot, dangerous Corryvreckan. She was a very powerful and fearsome person who had made Scotland by dropping into the sea a creel of peat and rock which she brought with her from the north. When her clothes had boiled well, she would spread them to bleach on Storr, and while she was in Skye no good weather was to be got at all. Now spring hated her because she held the maiden he loved prisoner (until the girl should wash a brown fleece white) and he fought with her, but she was strong, stronger than anyone else within the four boundaries of the earth, and he could do nothing. He appealed to the Sun to help him and the Sun flung his spear at Cailleach Bhur as she walked on the moor; it was so fiery and hot it scorched the very earth, and where it struck, a blister, six miles long and six miles wide, grew and grew until it burst and flung forth the Cuchuillins as a glowing, molten mass. For many, many months they glowed and smoked, and the Cailleach Bhur fled away and hid beneath the roots of a holly and dared not return. Even now, her snow is useless against the fire hills.
- Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, pp. 20-1.
(for more on the Cailleach Bhur in Skye see also Rudha nan Clach)
The Cuchuillins are also noted, in mythology, for the "school for heroes" run by Skiach, "goddess or mortal no one knows which, but undoubtedly a great warrior. Some say she took her name from a Gaelic name for Skye, others that Skye took its name from her" (see Swire pp. 21-3). The Irish hero Cuchuillin, for whom these mountains are named, heard of Skiach and her school, and with three strides travelled from Ulster to her school. After defeating every one of her students, Skiach finally allowed him to fight with her daughter, whom he also vanquished, after two days. Furious, Skiach descended from her heights to fight Cuchuillin herself. After two days of fighting "on the mountains and on the moors and in the sea" the combat was exactly equally matched, with neither able to gain the upper hand. At this stage Skiach's daughter offers both her mother and Cuchuillin a meal of deer stuffed with roast hazelnuts. Each thinking that "the hazels of knowledge" would teach them how to overcome their opponent, the two of them sit down to eat. From the hazels they learn that they are exactly matched, and that neither will ever win over the other. They therefore make peace, and swear that each will answer the other's call, "though the sky fall and crush us". Skiach named the mountains where they had fought in Cuchuillin's honour.
Swire (Ibid., p. 23) records one further curious piece of folklore with regard to the Cuchuillins:
"In the Cuchuillins, too, though exactly where must not be said, is a cave of gold. Unlike all other treasure caves, there are no barriers here between men and untold wealth. No magic word is required. No fearful monster guards the entrance. He who finds the cave may take as much gold as he needs and return as often as he desires more, but each time he enters the cave, and each time he uses the gold, he will become a little more evil and a little more evil, until he loses his soul. That is the price."
"Many people believe that it is from her wings* and her Gaelic name, Eilean Sgiathanach (Winged Isle), that the name Skye comes. Ptolemy of Alexandria (A.D. 200) refers to the island as Sketis, while the ancient Celtic name 'Skeitos' has become Sgiath in modern Gaelic. Adamnan knew it as Scia. This 'wing derivation certainly sounds very probable, more probable than the other version which claims that 'Skye' is Scandinavian, derived from a norse word Ski (cloud). This school of thought takes its stand on the fact that cloud or mist is what would first and most forcibly attract the notice of any stranger visiting the isle**, whereas to notice the 'wings' requires a map. Obviously this school has never tried (as the early Scandinavian settlers most certainly did) to sail around the despised wings. Of course, many place-names in Skye undoubtedly are Scandinavian, but they date from a later time than Ptolemy – four or five centuries later. A third suggestion, once seriously put forward by certain Celtic antiquaries, was that in Skye stood the temple, known to Greek fable, of Apollo among the Hyperboreans, and that the Gaelic name of the island refers to the wings of the Greek god! The name may, in fact, belong to some old forgotten pre-Celtic tongue."
- Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, pp. 72-3.
* The "wings" are Skye's various promontories, for example Trotternish, Waternish and Duirnish.
** Skye is also known as Eilean a' Cheò, meaning "The Misty Isle".
"Strath appears to have been a great religious centre ever since prehistoric times. The remains of several stone circles are still to be seen there, in close juxtaposition to a number of ancient churches now in ruins. It seems generally agreed that before St. Columba brought Christianity to Skye the pagan religion of the island was that mysterious cult which has come to us only in the form of stone circles (believed to have been places of worship), monoliths (which in Skye seem to have been frequently connected with graves or burial mounds), and sacred wells and woods, the latter usually hazel groves. St. Columba never attempted to destroy the sacred places of paganism nor the firm belief in the virtues of certain harmless practices he found: instead he blessed them and gave them Christian symbolism, as in the story of St. Turog and the wells at Flodigarry. This is very clearly illustrated in Strath, where five old churches or chapels, now in ruins, stand each beside or near a stone circle, and the graveyards all contain some prehistoric stones as well as having tradition that they were first pagan burial-grounds and later Christian."
- Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, pp. 217-8.