Kilmartin Glen

Kilmartin Glen is an area in

The most visible feature of the Kilmartin Glen is the linear arrangement of cairns, running over three miles (five kilometres) south-by-southwest of the village. There are five remaining cairns in the alignment, although cropmarks and other traces suggest that there may originally have been more. The burial cairns are of Bronze Age origin, with the exception of Nether Largie South cairn, which is a Stone Age structure, rebuilt in the Bronze Age.

Glebe Cairn

The most northerly cairn, Glebe is situated immediately to the west of Kilmartin Village. The cairn was excavated in 1864 by the antiquary Canon

This cairn was first excavated in 1929, shortly after much of the stone had been reused in roadbuilding. It is around 30m across, and was formerly 3m in height. Kerbstones, which formed the boundary of the cairn, can still be seen. Inside two cists were found, with grooved joints between the stone slabs. Cup marks, and a carving of an axehead, can be seen on the southern cist.[5]^[6]

Nether Largie South Cairn

Nether Largie South is the oldest monument of the linear cemetery. It is a Neolithic

This is the most southerly cairn in the linear cemetery, believed locally to be the possible burial place of a King. It was built between 2200 BC and 1950 BC, and was more recently used as a lime kiln. Three excavations took place at the site: By Reverend Mapleton (1870); Craw (1929); and V. Gordon Childe (1936). All traces of the lime kiln were removed following a reconstruction of the site.[9]

Standing stones

Ballymeanoch

Temple Wood

Nether Largie standing stones

Nether Largie standing stones are located southeast of Temple Wood stone circle and are composed of four

that there are reasonable grounds for doubting that the Kilmartin Stones were deliberately orientated on the occurrence of any type of astronomical phenomena, for the following reasons:

(i) the Barbreck Stones do not indicate any of the same declinations of celestial bodies as the Kilmartin Stones;
(ii) the Barbreck Stones do not unambiguously indicate the declinations of any significant celestial body; and

(iii) the Barbreck Stones do not indicate any prominent notches that can be used for investigation into the orbital variations of the Moon.^[10]

Cup and ring marks

Kilmartin Glen has "a remarkable concentration of some of the most impressive cup and ring decorated rock surfaces in Scotland".^[11] The purpose, and even the precise date, of cup and ring marks is uncertain. They are found on natural rock surfaces at Achnabreck,^[11] Cairnbaan,^[12] Ballygowan,^[13] and Baluachraig near Kilmichael Glassary.^[14]

Carving depicting animals

In May 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of prehistoric ancient deer carvings thought to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age inside Dunchraigaig Cairn. They are the first of their kind to be found in Scotland. Depictions were contained two male red deer with full-grown forked horns, which were considered to have been the largest deer species in Scotland during this time.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Bruach An Druimein

Two kilometers south of Kilmartin and one kilometer south of the Nether Largie South Cairn is the site of Bruach An Druimein. Excavated in the 1960s in advance of gravel quarrying, archaeologists discovered the remains of a Bronze Age cists cemetery, the remains of two round houses from the Iron Age, the first certain Iron Age roundhouses to have been discovered by excavation in Argyll, and a standing stone of a fairly recent date, the 19th century. The archaeological materials were examined shortly after the excavation but has since been reexamined in the 2000s and that has led to different interpretations of the site. Stone tools that were originally thought to be from the Mesolithic period, ending 3000 BC, are now believed to be from the neolithic or Bronze Age, but not related to the cist burials. Two medieval glass beads were found that have similar chemical compositions to those found at Dunadd, leading the archaeologists to believe the site was associated with Dunadd.^[19]

Use in cultural productions

In 2007, Kilmartin Glen was the setting for Half Life, a piece of landscape art and performance created by the Scottish theatre company NVA in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland.^[20]

See also

• Ballochmyle cup and ring marks

References