Menhirs of Nether Largie
The menhirs of Nether Largie are oriented about northeast-southwest, in the fields on the west side of Kilmartin-Burn about 250 m southeast of the stone circles of Temple Wood in Argyll and Bute in Scotland .
They mainly consist of four groups. At the ends of the rows of stones there is a pair of stones, with four and five stones in between. A single menhir ( English standing stone ) is 100 m northwest of the row. In 1973 the stump of another stone was found about 300 m west of the arrangement, but covered again.
The southern couple
The southernmost pair of stones (A, B) is roughly oriented northwest-southeast, and the longitudinal axes of the stones have the same orientation.
- Stone A is 2.75 m high, measures 0.8 m × 0.5 m at the base and tapers towards the top.
- Stone B is 2.8 m high and measures 0.8 m × 0.37 m at the base. The stone has straight sides and slopes from northwest to southeast at the top. On its northeast side are three small bowls (cupmarks) with a diameter of 70, 60 and 50 mm; all are 15 mm deep.
The four-stone group
The four-stone group is roughly square, located about 24 m north-east of the southern pair (A, B). The stones C and E are about 4.4 m apart, the longitudinal axis is also parallel to the main arrangement of the row, but the Stone D differs from this.
- Stone C is 0.92 m high, measures 1.05 m × 0.2 m at the base, has straight sides and a broken tip.
- Stone D is 0.75 m high and plate-shaped. It measures 1.3 x 0.15 m at the base and has straight, slightly tapered sides and a flat tip.
- Stone E is a 0.4 m high plate that measures 0.68 m × 0.2 m at the base. It has straight sides and a broken top.
- A fallen stone seems to complete the row of stones. He's just stepping out of the lawn. It measures 0.53 m in length, its cross-section is unclear.
The five-stone group
The five-stone group is arranged somewhat diffusely and is only about 6.5 m northeast of the four-stone group. It comprised a large main stone (F), which is flanked by two pairs of stones (G, I, J, H), of which only three are in their original position. There is no evidence that they belong to a distant cairn .
- Stone F is 2.8 m high, measures 0.95 m × 0.2 m at the base and rises slightly humped sides to an irregular point. On the southwest side there are about 40 cupmarks, a cup-and-ring marker, and two damaged cupmarks in a case with a radial groove.
- Stone G leans a little towards Stone F and measures 0.83 m in height and 0.9 m × 0.3 m at the base.
- Stone H is only 0.3 m high and measures 0.9 m × 0.2 m at the base.
- Stone I is 0.6 m high and measures 0.7 m × 0.15 m at the base.
- Stone J is a 1.0 m high fallen slab with a cross section of about 0.6 m × 0.2 m.
The northern couple
The northern pair (K, L) lies 34 m further to the northeast, in the arrangement it corresponds to the southern pair (A, B).
- Stone K is 2.85 m high, measures 0.96 m × 0.38 m at the base and has straight sides that rise to a roughly round point from which a piece of the southeast side has been broken off.
- Stone L is a 2.7 m high cuboid measuring 1.1 m × 0.4 m at the base. Its sides are slightly curved outwards and rise to a flat point. On the southwest side there are three cupmarks at a height of about 1.5 m, between 40 and 50 mm in diameter and up to 15 mm deep. A fourth marking can be a bowl or a natural indentation.
The stones lying apart
- Stone M is 100 m to the northwest. It used to be about 1.8 m high, has straight sides and measures 0.55 m × 0.3 m at the base.
- Stone N is the stump of a menhir. It was discovered in 1973 about 300 m west of the main series and 260 m southwest of Temple Wood. It was three feet long and appears to have been a relatively thin slab that has broken and is just below the current level of the ground.
literature
- The Royal Commission on the Ancient and historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS): ARGYLL, Volume 6 Kilmartin 1999. ISBN 1-902419-03-0
Coordinates: 56 ° 7 ′ 46.5 ″ N , 5 ° 29 ′ 30.5 ″ W.