White Cairn
The White Cairn (also called Glentrool School) is a heavily disturbed megalithic complex of the Bargrennan Tomb type , which was excavated by Stuart Piggott (1910–1996) and TGE Powell (1916–1975) in 1949. The facility is located in Minngaff, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland . It is one of many monuments named White Cairn in this region. Another is just 1.2 km northwest.
description
The excavations have been left open and the large round boulders are partially overgrown with grass and bracken. The oval cairn measures 17.6 × 15.3 m and is still 1.4 high. Structures of the chamber and a paved corridor have been preserved near the center. There is a structural difference between the widening corridor and the roughly rectangular chamber about 2.0 m long and 1.1 m wide. There are three side stones of the chamber, the capstone and six largest slabs that belong to the corridor, which was partially found with preserved plaster. There is evidence of a curb ring. Scratches, some of which form rectilinear designs on the southwest chamber, may be old. Shards of Neolithic pottery and flint are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
The construction of a stone base in 1999 required the excavation of an area of one square meter. A blue whinstone, about 50 × 60 cm, was found immediately below the lawn. It is unclear whether this is the top of a natural outcrop or a plate that has been deliberately deposited. Four marks on the top of the stone define a square with a side length of 30 cm. Several smaller fragments of blue whinstone were also found in the topsoil.
In 2004 a trench was dug in the corridor in the south of the Cairns. The paving stones discovered by Piggott and Powell have been removed, but no significant finds have been found underneath. Some late Mesolithic pieces were found under the cairn. A shaft grave containing a large urn and cremated bones was discovered west of the Ganges.
literature
- C. Cummings, C. Fowler: From cairn to cemetery: an archaeological investigation of the chambered cairns and early Bronze Age mortuary deposits at Cairnderry and Bargrennan White Cairn, south-west Scotland. Oxford 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Whinstone is a name for igneous rocks (basalt and diabase) or sedimentary rock. The name "whin" comes from the sound produced by striking a hammer. It is used for grit and drywall .
Web links
- Description with pictures, engl.
- Entry on White Cairn in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database
- Canmore basic plan
- Description Engl.
Coordinates: 55 ° 4 ′ 20.9 ″ N , 4 ° 34 ′ 55 ″ W.