Nether Largie South
Nether Largie South is a Clyde Tomb- type megalithic complex accompanied by two stone boxes. It is one of several cairns arranged in a straight line near Kilmartin in Argyll and Bute in Scotland .
In 1864, the excavator William (Canon) Greenwell (1820–1918) reported that the cairn had a diameter of about 40 m and had already been disturbed to use the mound material for other purposes. Today it is a misshapen grass-covered stone mass approximately 34 mx 27 m. Originally it was a round hill 34 to 40 m in diameter and more than four meters high. In 1864 Greenwell excavated the cairn and also examined the two secondary stone boxes.
description
The north-east-south-west facing four-fold chamber is located in the center of the stone hill, with the entrance at the north-east end. It is built from massive orthostats and dry masonry . The trapezoidal chamber is 6.1 m long, 1.9 m at the entrance and about one meter wide at the southwest end. The four areas are separated by upright panels. Greenwell records, it can be seen that the dividing plates, which now protrude only slightly above the gravel floor, are about 0.8 m high and the original floor level was lower. The system is still covered by seven of what was once eight cap stones.
The areas
The front 1.9 m wide area has access in the gap between two portal stones about 0.9 m apart, one of which is 1.85 m and the other (once usually the same height) has broken off and is still 1.4 m high . The threshold stone between them is just sticking out of the ground. The access itself is partially blocked by two flat slabs and dry stone walls that are part of the original grave seal. The area is 1.2 m deep with the side battens reaching the level of the capstone of the chamber. Only the end plate of the system is higher. In the rest of the area, the capstones are about 1.7 m above the current floor level on dry masonry. The panels on the southeast side partially overlap each other like roof tiles. On the northwest side, apart from the two end plates, the upper part of the wall is made of dry masonry, in which a large polygonal plate was built that extends 1.37 m above the floor level. The stone on the floor of the third section is possibly the fragment of a fall. At the end of the chamber, a plate about 0.3 m thick was wedged between the side walls and the end plate at a current height of about 0.3 m. Greenwell wrote that the stone, about three feet above the chamber floor, rested on upright stones at each end. Henshall believes that the stone has a static meaning.
Finds
The excavation report provides information about the dumps on the chamber floor.
Back area (4)
In the south-east corner of the rear area, a small stone box made of four side plates, a capstone and a base plate was found. The stone box was open, the lid was nearby. Greenwell assumes that the shards of a drinking cup and scattered unburned bones were part of the original contents of the box. Several layers of filling were found beneath the stone box. To the north of the stone box, at the level of the base plate, another plate covered a mortuary embankment. A carefully laid trail of small pebbles about eight inches wide, with flat stones at each end, ran through the center of the area; beneath it lay a dark layer of earth with cremated bones. The larger bones lay between the silica trail and the chamber walls. This layer contained three intact and two broken arrowheads, several flint tools , a large number of broken quartz pebbles, and a bovine tooth. The black layer of earth covered a second trail of pebbles on the floor of the area. The fragment of a drinking cup (the remaining shards of which were found in the third area) was discovered on the black layer of earth to the west of the stone box. A round-bottomed Neolithic container was found under the undisturbed black earth layer to the north of the stone box near the chamber wall.
Area 3
The third area also contained a dark layer of earth with cremated bones resting on a pebble trail. On top of this layer were fragments from three drinking cups including a fragment of the container found in the fourth area. The landfill in the third area was spread over poorly preserved layers. Human and bovine bones were also found, as well as fragments of a rough, dark-colored urn devoid of any pattern.
Areas 2
The second area contained no finds
Front area (1)
The front area also contained scattered unburned bones and pottery in the upper layer. Two flints were discovered in the floor of the chamber, but there were no traces of burial.
The stone boxes
Two secondary stone boxes were found within the mound material. It is possible that the cairn was enlarged to cover these later burials. A box is no longer visible today. It was about seven meters north of the center of the cairn and measured 1.6 m in length, 0.94 m in width, and 1.2 m deep. Although the top plate was in situ , only fragments of a container were found but no traces of the burial. The second stone box is located 8.5 m south-southwest of the chamber. There are four massive slabs under its large capstone. The empty box found measures 1.15 m by 0.8 m and is 0.83 m deep.
The finds are in the British Museum , London.
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. 21-23, (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 ).
- Jeffrey G. Scott: The stone circles at Temple Wood, Kilmartin, Argyll Glasgow Archaeol Jour, Vol. 15, 1988-89. Pp. 55, 85 and 86
Web links
- Entry on Nether Largie South in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database
Coordinates: 56 ° 7 ′ 28.5 " N , 5 ° 29 ′ 42" W.