Unchambered long cairns (sometimes also chamberless long cairns) are found in Scotland and
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...
, and form a group of non- or semi-
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic monuments. There are about 28 long cairns in north Scotland and 21 in south Scotland that show no evidence of internal stone chambers. However, proving the existence of wooden chambers under a
cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehi ...
is not possible without excavation work. The exact classification of this group of monuments is therefore not easy. Three particularly noteworthy examples of these cairns are:
*Dalladies in
Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the Stewartry"), is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and ...
, with
cup and ring mark
Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, Northern England, Scotland, France (Brittany), Portugal, and Spain (Galicia) – and in Mediterranean Europe – Italy (in Alp ...
s
*Slewcairn in
Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...
.
*Lochhill in Kirkcudbrightshire.
All have narrow rectangular chambers whose positions are marked by wooden posts. The last two are especially interesting, because stone chambers were built into the mound at a later date. These make the connexions and overlaps of ideas clearly visible, something which can otherwise only be imagined from their classification by type.
Although none of the northern cairns has been excavated, their existence is significant for the architectural history of Scotland. The north is a region where
passage tombs in circular cairns are especially common (the
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
-Cromarty type). Sites that span several periods of time, such as
Tulach an t'Sionnaich, demonstrate that both forms were used by the same communities. Several round cairns, like those of
Camster had long cairns built over them, so that the round mound here retains its older shape. Many chamberless cairns and those with stone chambers have concave forecourts which are reminiscent of those that had been built earlier of wood (Haddenham and
Street House) in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
.
See also
*
Long barrow
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repre ...
References
General references
* Frances Lynch: ''Megalithic Tombs and Long Barrows in Britain.'' Shire Publications Ltd. 1997 .
Megalithic monuments
Tumuli in Scotland
Tumuli in England
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