Kintraw
Kintraw is a multiple site of ancient monuments on the northern edge of Kilmartin Valley in Argyll and Bute in western Scotland . It is located on a terrace at the mouth of the Bealach Mór, about 200 m southeast of the Kintraw Farm, within sight of the bay of Loch Craignish.
The monuments consist of two circular cairns , a prehistoric enclosure and a menhir ( English standing stone ). The stone mounds were excavated in 1959-60. After the menhir fell, its foundations were examined in 1979.
The menhir
Between the stone mounds stands a menhir about four meters high with a rectangular cross-section. The excavation of its stand hole showed that the stone was set one meter below the surface. The stone has been set up again and founded, although its original axis alignment was not maintained.
The big hill
The larger cairn, which was restored after the excavation, is 15.5 m in diameter and stood up to a height of 2.6 m. It was set in large curbs that rested on the old surface and were staggered in size. The largest was in the west. In the southwest, three curbs formed an object that resembles a false portal . The two approximately 1.3 m high projecting posts of the portal were arranged at right angles to the edge of the circle and are flanked by curb stones of similar dimensions. The three stones of the portal stood in holes about 0.45 m deep. The space between the protruding posts was filled with layers of charcoal and small stones. 2.5 m in front of it there is a large stone with its broad side on the old surface.
The hill was built of stones, with the larger formats at the bottom. The excavator interprets the predominance of quartz at the edge as the remains of a white covering layer of the stone mound. The only burial under the cairn was in a stone box near the edge to the northwest. It contained corpse burn and charcoal. The finds consist of the teeth of cattle and sheep or goats, as well as mussel shells made of six fluted pearls and a bronze buckle that were deposited on the surface of the hill and got between the stones. In the center of the hill there was a post of unknown function, which apparently, starting from the old surface, rose through the hill material to a height of at least one meter above the hill surface.
The little hill
The remainder of a circular stone mound about 7.3 m in diameter, which used to stand up to a height of 0.46 m, is about 8.5 m southwest of the larger one. Only three curbs were in situ . The only content was a small stone box of 0.2 m², which was built on one of the curbs. Fragments of charcoal were found in it. After the excavation, the cairn was only partially refilled.
The enclosure
The small remainder of a circular enclosure 17.0 m in diameter lies northwest of the other monuments. The low wall made of earth and stone is up to two meters wide. The date and purpose are uncertain. All monuments can be seen on a drawing by Edward Lhuyd (1660–1709) from around 1699 and it is clear that the enclosure was already considered old at that time. The old drawing also shows a round stone setting within the enclosure. None of the four stones have survived.
Nearby is the Dunan Aula stone box .
See also
literature
- Kilmartin. Prehistoric and Early Historic Monuments. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinburgh 2008, ISBN 978-1-902419-03-9 , pp. 29–31, (first published in: The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS): Mid Argyll Cowal. Prehistoric Early Historic Monuments (= Argyll. Vol. 6 = Report. An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 24). HMSO, London et al. 1988, ISBN 0-11-493384- 7 ).
Web links
Coordinates: 56 ° 11 '15 " N , 5 ° 29' 46" W.