Clava Cairn
Clava Cairns are a localized form of end neolithic megalithic complexes in Scotland . Twelve of these 50 or so artificial round hills are in the county of Inverness-shire . The most famous and eponymous are the three not particularly large ones from Balnuaran of Clava , east of Inverness . The Cairn of Carmahome on the Isle of Arran is a stray phenomenon .
The gravel hill, reminiscent of the layout of later Breochs , was erected within a circle of megalithic curbs . Inside is the round chamber formed by means of megaliths, to which a contained corridor leads. Clava Cairns are regularly surrounded by an outer stone circle, which surrounds the Cairn at a distance of 10-15 meters. The height-graded stones of this circle formed from relatively few stones have their greatest height compared to the entrance to the cairn, which points to the south-west. These features also appear in the Bronze Age Ring Cairns found in the same area. It is therefore assumed that the structural similarity points to a timely emergence. Another context exists with the stone circles on the River Dee , which are also graduated in height.
The stone mounds of the Balnuaran of Clava are flat and the corridors are therefore uncovered , unlike the Corrimony Cairn . Corrimony is a well-preserved specimen, in a circle of eleven menhirs , which lies near Cannich a few kilometers west of Loch Ness . There is also a stone with cup-and-ring markings here . Some of the stones on the grounds at Clava in Lagmore West and at the Cairn at Gask are also provided with bowls . Avielochan , about 17 kilometers northeast of Grantown-on-Spey ( Morayshire ) and "Cairn Urnan", northeast of Muir of Ord are less recognizable specimens of the clava type because of the vegetation.
literature
- Richard Bradley : The moon and the bonfire. An investigation of three stone circles in north-east Scotland. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2005, ISBN 0-903903-33-4 .
- Jörg Lindenbeck: Investigations into late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age grave forms in south-west Scotland. In: Archaeological Information . Vol. 11, No. 2, 1988, pp. 228-232.
- Anna Ritchie, Graham Ritchie: Scotland. To Oxford archaeological Guide (= Oxford Archaeological Guides. ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-288002-0 .
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
