Cairn of Achnacree
The cairn of Achnacree is a remnant round cairn on the northern edge of the Achnacree moor northeast of Oban Airport in Argyll and Bute in Scotland , which Audrey Henshall classified in 1972 as a Clyde Tomb- type passage tomb and excavated by JN Graham Ritchie.
The Cairn, deprived of the mass of its stones, hid, like most in the region, a passage tomb, of which, however, only six bearing stones of the pear-shaped chamber and two of the four gang stones could be found in the excavation of Ritchie. It seems to have been built in two phases. Three chambers belong to the early period, the construction technology and plan of which correspond to a Clyde Tomb, which was covered with a small stone mound. Much later, a corridor appears to have been built over the original chambers and the east chamber added. The small central chamber, made up of five bearing stones, was older and had no cap stones.
According to the Scottish Royal Commission from 1974, the Cairn has a diameter of 24.4 m and a height of around 3.4 m on the south and 4.1 m on the north side. Originally it should have been about 4.6 m high. It consists of small and medium-sized stones interspersed with boulders. A grassy platform of mound material about 1.0 m high has a total diameter of about 40.0 m and extends around the base of the cairn. The access to the east chamber, consisting of upright stones, is on the east side. The outer pair is about four feet apart.
The 6.4 m long corridor, which was still in existence in 1871, was 0.6 m wide and made of upright slabs of slate about 1.0 m high . It led to three interior chambers made of monoliths and drywall , each roofed over by a single capstone. The wall panels were constructed in such a way that a narrow edge remained free, on which white quartz pebbles lay. A capstone of this chamber can still be seen in the disturbed crater of the cairn.
The finds consist of flint tools and flakes, as well as shattered Neolithic ceramics and a complete bowl of the Beaker ware . Datable material was not found.
It must have been a very large, impressive hill before the stone robbers laid hands.
To the south is the chamberless cairn “Lochan Nan Rath” (also called “The Baron's Cairn”) and 700 m east of the cairn of Achnacreebeag, which was also excavated by Ritchie .
literature
- Donald A. Davidson, Stephen P. Carter: Soils and their evolution. In: Kevin J. Edwards, Ian BM Ralston (Eds.): Scotland after the Ice Age. Environment, archeology and history, 8000 BC - AD 1000. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2003, ISBN 0-7486-1736-1 , pp. 54-55.
Web links
Coordinates: 56 ° 28 ′ 22.3 " N , 5 ° 22 ′ 31.5" W.