Cairns from Tulloch of Assery

The two cairns of Tulloch of Assery (Cairn A and B) in Loch Calder , southwest of Thurso in Caithness in Scotland , were in 1961 (as well as Tulach an tSionnaich about 250 m away ) in advance of the elevation of the level of Loch Calder by JXWP Corcoran excavated. The Cairns were on the edge of Loch Calder at that time. The surface of the lake has increased in recent years, so that the water now surrounds the Cairns. The systems are variants of the Scottish passage tombs or the Stalled Cairns .

Scheme of Scottish Cairns - on the left a Stalled Cairn, similar to Tulloch B - on the right a cairn with one horn, similar to Tulloch A (which is, however, horned on both sides)

Tulloch A

The corridors, antechambers and chambers open from the paved forecourts of a north-south oriented short double-horned cairn with separate chambers in the north and south. Corcoran believes that Tulloch A evolved from a round cairn that was later converted into a double-horned one.

North chamber

The slightly curved corridor, more than 4.0 meters long and 1.0 m wide, leads into an almost two meter long antechamber made of dry masonry , which is about twice the width of the corridor and is delimited at the ends by plates, the axially uniformly wide passages set free. The chamber, mostly made up of plates, is about 2.5 m long and just as wide. In the chamber, the unburned bones were placed on a low stone platform at the side. The remains of the last burial were near the entrance to the chamber. There were no artifacts in the northern chamber.

Southern chamber

The corridor, which is over 2.0 meters long and around 0.8 m wide, leads into an almost two-meter-long antechamber made of dry masonry, which is three times the width of the corridor on one side. It is limited at the ends by plates. The chamber, made up of mostly plates, is about 2.5 m long and just as wide. Evidence of extensive faults, including one in the 19th century, explains the almost complete emptiness of the southern chamber. The only recognizable artifact was an arrowhead of the type Petit-Tranchet from flint , which was found in the southern chamber.

Tulloch B

A large round cairn covers a long, narrow curved corridor of orthostats that opens to the southeast and opens up a three-way, rectangular, slightly bulbous Camster- type chamber , which is probably later than Tulloch A. The side walls of the chamber are made of dry masonry, stabilized and divided by large panels.

The passage, which is over 7.0 meters long and around 1.0 m wide, leads into a chamber that is around 5.5 m long and around 3.0 m wide in the middle. The end walls and two pairs of orthostats protruding from the wall help form a drywall vault (likely a barrel vault ). Unburned human bones lay on a discontinuous pavement beneath which was a depot of burned bones, charcoal, and undecorated shards of Neolithic pottery. Before the excavation, it was a grassy round mound about 33.0 m in diameter and over 3.6 m high, with no signs of a chamber. Finds from the excavations are kept in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).

literature

J. Anderson: On the horned cairns of Caithness . In: Memoirs Anthropological Society London 3, 1869, ZDB -ID 206771-7 , pp. 221-25.
James L. Davidson, Audrey S. Henshall: The chambered cairns of Caithness. An inventory of the structures and their contents . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1991, ISBN 0-7486-0256-9 .

Individual evidence

↑ ( Scottish Gaelic gift of God is a name of medieval Scottish origin and comes from a place near Dingwall on the Firth of Cromarty or from another smaller place, which is named with the Gaelic element "Tulach" (hill). The variants are Tullo, Tullock and the Tullochs Tulloh. Lybster are the northeast hills and Struturen of which a Broch could belong )
↑ A late Mesolithic arrowhead in northwestern Europe, in which a blade is broken into trapezoidal pieces, with the breaking edges at the ends forming different long sides with sharp cutting edges. Also known as the cross-edged arrowhead.

Web links

photos
Entry on Cairn B in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Entry on Cairn A in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Description Engl. and sketches

58.534886 -3.602903Coordinates: 58 ° 32'5.6 " N , 3 ° 36'10.5" W.

[1] ( Scottish Gaelic gift of God is a name of medieval Scottish origin and comes from a place near Dingwall on the Firth of Cromarty or from another smaller place, which is named with the Gaelic element "Tulach" (hill). The variants are Tullo, Tullock and the Tullochs Tulloh. Lybster are the northeast hills and Struturen of which a Broch could belong )

[2] A late Mesolithic arrowhead in northwestern Europe, in which a blade is broken into trapezoidal pieces, with the breaking edges at the ends forming different long sides with sharp cutting edges. Also known as the cross-edged arrowhead.