Slewcairn
Long thought to be stone chamberless, Slewcairn is a long cairn on the slopes of the Meikle Hard Hills , west of New Abbey and Kirkbean in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland .
The approximately 22 m long and maximum 13 m wide trapezoidal cairn made of rubble reaches a maximum height of around 1.0 m. The excavations, which were not yet completed between 1973 and 1975, revealed an exedra at the wider northern end , which includes a concave forecourt. The removal of the stones on the north side of the Cairn has exposed a chamber structure on the basal layer similar to that of Lochhill- Cairn, 5.7 km away .
The investigation at Lochhill, near New Abbey, revealed a primary wood structure based on three large post pits, with a shallow concave orthostatic exedra. The wooden structure was burned down and the cairn may have been erected in two stages. An uncalibrated 14C date from the late 4th millennium BC. BC comes from the floor of the wooden structure. Connections to the mostly English Longbarrows and the Clyde tombs of the region are obvious.
Only low stone walls are currently recognizable, but they seem to belong to a rectangular chamber about 8.0 m long and 1.25 m wide. Many cremated bones, burned wood and two burned flint knives were found here. The dry masonry chamber begins about 8 m north of the south end on one side and overhanging orthostats on the other. The end is formed by four menhirs on the axis of the cairn. Immediately to the south is a paved area of 2.5 × 1.0 m. Its southern end is the remainder of a chamber separation and is marked by a menhir and a large lying block. The finds consist of Neolithic ceramics and leaf-shaped arrowheads .
literature
- Frances Lynch: Megalithic Tombs and Long Barrows in Britain (= Shire Archeology. 73). Shire Publications, Princes Risborough 1997, ISBN 0-7478-0341-2 .
Web links
- Entry on Slewcairn in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Coordinates: 54 ° 56'9 " N , 3 ° 40'51.2" W.