Nether Largie Mid Cairn, Kilmartin, Scotland.
A Journey Through Scotland's Ancient Sites
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NETHER LARGIE
MID CAIRN
KILMARTIN
ARGYLL & BUTE
SCOTLAND
NETHER LARGIE MID CAIRN, IS THE HEART OF THE LINEAR CEMETERY ON KILMARTIN GLEN. FIVE CAIRNS OUT OF SIX PRESENTLY REMAIN. THIS LOCATION ON THE WEST COAST IS NOT JUST AN IMPORTANT SCOTTISH PREHISTORIC AREA, BUT ONE OF THE FINEST IN EUROPE. KILMARTIN VALLEY IS A MUST VISIT FOR ANY LEVEL OF HISTORIAN. THE CAIRNS ARE IN THE CARE OF HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND.
WITHIN A SIX MILE AREA IS MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, KILMARTIN MUSEUMS SURVEY WORK, HAS HELPED IDENTIFY THESE FEATURES. OUR NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE ANCESTORS WERE EXTREMELY BUSY CREATING, ROCK ART, STANDING STONES, STONE CIRCLES AND CAIRNS IN THIS LANDSCAPE WHICH THEY HELD DEAR.
WHEN THE NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE FINISHED THE CLIMATE BECAME COOL AND WET. THE KILMARTIN VALLEY AND ITS PREHISTORIC REMAINS WERE BLANKETED WITH PEAT UNTIL THE 1800S (LIKE CALLANISH ON THE ISLE OF LEWIS). VAST QUANTITIES OF PEAT HAD BEEN STRIPPED AWAY FOR FARMING AND FULE, THIS IS WHEN THE CAIRNS CAME TO LIGHT.
MOST OF THE CAIRNS WERE DEPLETED BY STONE REMOVAL FOR ROADS, DYKES AND FIELD DRAINS. SOME OF THE NETHER LARGIE MID CAIRN MATERIAL WAS LOST TO THIS. PRESENTLY THE CAIRN IS 1M, HIGH ORIGINALLY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 3M. A CAIRN ONCE EXISTED BETWEEN NETHER LARGIE MID AND SOUTH, WHICH WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED IN THE 1880S.
FROM NETHER LARGIE MID IS THE BEST VIEWING LOCATION OF THE 1.5 MILE LONG LINER CEMETERY, WHICH WAS IN USE FROM 3000BC TO 1500BC. TO THE SOUTH IS NETHER LARGIE SOUTH WHICH IS THE OLDEST CAIRN AND RI CRUIN. TO THE NORTH IS NETHER LARGIE NORTH AND GLEB CAIRN, WHICH IS SITUATED BESIDE KILMARTIN MUSEUM.
THE CIST IN THE SOUTHERN ARC IS INTERESTING AS IT HAS A FAINT AXE HEAD CARVING AND A SINGLE CUP MARK, ON ONE OF THE END SLABS. IT IS THOUGHT THESE AXE CARVING REPRESENT A PERSON OF WEALTH, WHO POSSIBLY WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THE MOVEMENT OF METAL FROM IRELAND THROUGH KILMARTIN, UP TO THE NORTH EAST OF SCOTLAND’S BRONZE WORK CENTRES.
BETTER EXAMPLES OF AXE CARVINGS CAN BE SEEN AT RI CRUIN. CUP MARK DESIGNS ARE MORE CLEAR AT NETHER LARGIE NORTH. THE SOUTH CIST CAPSTONE IS NOW SUPPORTED BY MODERN STEEL BARS TO ALLOW VIEWING INTO THE INTERIOR. A NORTH ARC CIST EXISTED, BUT WAS REMOVED AND IS NOW MARKED BY SHORT CONCRETE POSTS.
IN 1929 AN EXCAVATION TOOK PLACE BY JAMES HEWAT CRAW AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. HE FOUND TWO EMPTY CISTS BELOW THE BRONZE AGE CAIRN. THE ACIDIC SOIL HAD DISSOLVED THE BODIES. EACH CIST HAD BEEN DESIGNED TO BURY AN ELITE INDIVIDUAL, 4000 YEARS AGO. THE CAIRN HAS A DIAMETER OF 33M WITH THE OUTER KERB STONES MOST NOTICEABLE, IN THE SOUTH ARC.
INSIDE THE CAIRN BODY A STONE WITH FIVE CUP MARKS WAS FOUND. IN THE 1990S AN AVENUE OF HUGE WOODEN POSTS WERE DISCOVERED WHICH DATED TO 3,700BC. A TIMBER CIRCLE WAS ALSO FOUND WHICH WAS BRONZE AGE. BOTH THESE DISCOVERIES WERE FOUND AT THE GRAVEL TERRACE, AT UPPER LARGIE, WHICH OVERLOOKS THE GLEB CAIRN. THIS SITE WAS THEN QUARRIED AWAY.
A BIG THANKS TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS.
Nether Largie Standing Stones, Kilmartin, Scotland.
A Journey Through Scotland's Ancient Sites
Before Caledonia YouTube
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NETHER LARGIE
STANDING STONES
KILMARTIN
ARGYLL & BUTE
SCOTLAND
INTRO
THE NETHER LARGIE STANDING STONES WERE QUOTED BY ALEXANDER THOM, AS THE ‘MOST IMPORTANT LUNAR OBSERVATORY IN BRITAIN’. SITUATED SOUTH OF KILMARTIN, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ONE MILE LINE OF BURIAL CAIRNS. THE MEGALITHS ARE IN THE CARE OF HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND AND PARKING IS PROVIDED AT LADY GLASSERY WOOD.
OVER VIEW
FIVE BEAUTIFUL MEGALITHS MAKE UP THE X SHAPED NETHER LARGIE STANDING STONES SITE. TO THE SOUTH IS A SET OF MEGALITHS WHICH RESEMBLE A GATEWAY. AS YOU WALK NORTH YOU WILL COME TO A SMALL, BOX SHAPED, FOUR STONE SETTING.
JUST BEYOND THIS IS A SECOND FOUR STONE SETTING WHICH CONTAINS THE CENTRAL MEGALITH. THIS STANDING STONE IS COVERED IN ANCIENT CUP MARKS THAT RESEMBLE CIRCULAR DEPRESSIONS, THREE CUPS ARE ENCLOSED BY A RING.
IN THE YOUTUBE DOCUMENTARY ‘CRACKING THE STONE AGE CODE’ THERE IS FOOTAGE OF ARCHAEOASTRONOMER ALEXANDER THOM, AT THE CENTRAL MEGALITH EXPLAINING THE TOP OF THE STONE POINTS TO A NOTCH IN THE HILL WHERE THE MOON SETS AT THE NORTH WEST ON ITS MOST NORTHERN EXTREME POSITION.
PROFESSOR THOM ALSO FOUND ALIGNMENTS WITH THE STONES AND THE NEARBY TEMPLE WOOD CIRCLES. THE NETHER LARGIE MEGALITHS NO DOUBT HOLD MANY MORE SECRETS WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY COME TO FUTURE LIGHT.
IN RECENT YEARS ANALYSIS SUPPORTS THE THEORY THE MEGALITHS WERE POSITIONED TO LUNAR RISE AND SETS AT IMPORTANT TIMES IN ITS 18.61 YEAR CYCLE. AS YOU WALK NORTH, BEYOND THE CENTRAL STONE IS ANOTHER PAIR OF BEAUTIFUL MEGALITHS.
STONES
OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS ALIGNED THESE 3M HIGH MEGALITHS TO THE EQUINOXES WHICH FALL ON MARCH 20TH AND SEPTEMBER 23RD. THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN NIGHT AND DAY ARE AT EQUAL LENGTH.
THERE IS ALSO AN ALIGNMENT TO THE WINTER SOLSTICE SUNRISE (THIS ALSO HAPPENS AT THE NEARBY BALLYMEANOCH STONES) THIS DATE FALLS ON DECEMBER 21ST. THIS IS THE DARKEST DAY OF THE YEAR.
THESE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOX EVENTS WERE OF UPMOST IMPORTANCE TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS. THEY WERE NO DOUBT SKILLED IN LEARNING THE NATURAL MOVEMENTS OF THE CELESTIAL BODIES.
OUR ANCIENT PREDECESSORS WOULD HAVE CAREFULLY CHOSEN THIS LOCATION ON KILMARTIN GLEN FOR ITS LANDSCAPE AND OBSERVATION FEATURES.
A SMALL OUTLINER STONE CAN BE SEEN ONE HUNDERED METERS TO THE NORTH. ANOTHER OUTLINER ONCE STOOD TO THE WEST, THREE HUNDERED METERS AWAY WHICH IS NO LONGER VISIBLE.
OTHER INFO
IT IS THOUGHT THE STANDING STONES WERE ERECTED ABOUT 1,200BC WHICH WOULD MAKE THEM BRONZE AGE. THE CENTRAL STONE CUP MARKS ARE THOUGHT TO BE OLDER BY 1,500 YEARS, WHICH MAY INDICATE THE STANDING STONE WAS ORIGINALLY PART OF A DECORATED OUTCROP LIKE CAIRNBANN IN ITS ORIGINAL INCARNATION.
NETHER LARGIE SOUTH IS VISIBLE FROM THE STONES. A PLEASANT DAY OUT CAN BE HAD IN KILMARTIN GLEN WALKING UP THE LINER CEMETERY VISITING THE CAIRNS AND FINISHING AT KILMARTIN MUSEUM. THERE IS ALSO AN ABUNDANCE OF ROCK ART TO VIEW AT ACHNABRECK.
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS.
Nether Largie Standing Stones Kilmartin Glen Argyll Scotland
Nether Largie Standing Stones Kilmartin Glen Argyll Scotland
Kilmartin Glen is packed full of ancient archaeological sites. This is just one of the many stone circles, burial cairns etc which can all be visited in a day, preferably two.
Kilmartin Glen is often described as Britain's richest archaeological landscape.
bonniescotlandtours.com
Scotland | Part 6 of 'Standing with Stones'
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The overriding impression of monuments north of the border is that of a sense of purpose. If form follows function then the people here must have been on a mission -- but who knows what it may have been?
This is the sixth of a complete seven-part online edition of Standing with Stones. If you've ever dreamed of travelling through Great Britain & Ireland, visiting the standing stones and other fantastic monuments that our ancient ancestors left us, then you will love this film. Over two years in the making, Standing with Stones was made by just two men with great film making skills, a camper van and a passion for the monuments in stone left to us by Neolithic and Bronze Age ancestors. The result is a remarkable feature length documentary film that take the viewer on a journey of discovery, uncovering the true extent and variety of megalithic Britain and Ireland.
In this episode, Twelve Apostles, Cairnholy, Glenquicken, Achnabreck, Cairnbaan, Ballymeanoch, Great X, Nether Largie, Templewood, Leys of Marlee, Cothiemuir Wood, East Aquorthies, Loanhead of Daviot, Old Kieg, Midmar Kirk, Sunhoney, Clava Cairns.
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Ballymeanoch Standing Stones, Kilmartin, Scotland.
A Journey Through Scotland's Ancient Sites
Before Caledonia YouTube
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BALLYMEANOCH
STANDING STONES
KILMARTIN
ARGYLL & BUTE
SCOTLAND
INTRO
A FEW MILES NORTH OF LOCHGILPHEAD AND VISIBLE FROM THE A816 ROAD IS THE BALLYMEANOCH STANDING STONES. THESE BEAUTIFUL MEGALITHS ARE A VERY IMPORTANT JEWEL IN KILMARTIN’S PREHISTORIC CROWN. SITUATED IN THE HEART OF AN ANCIENT CEREMONIAL LANDSCAPE, THIS AREA WAS SO IMPORTANT TO THE PREHISTORIC PEOPLE IN THE KILMARTIN ENVIRONS AND BEYOND.
AT BALLYMEANOCH WE HAVE SIX STANDING STONES, DIVIDED INTO A ROW OF TWO AND A ROW OF FOUR, 40M APART. THESE ROWS ARE ORIENTATED TOWARDS KEY LUNAR AND SOLAR EVENTS. TESTAMENT TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF COSMIC RHYTHMS HELD BY OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS.
IT IS POSSIBLE THE STANDING STONES STOOD AT THE END OF A PROCESSIONAL AVENUE WHICH APPROACHED FROM THE SOUTH EAST.
TWO STONES & HOLED STONE.
THIS TWO STONE ROW IS IN LINE TO THE MIDSUMMER MOST SOUTHERNLY MOON RISE. THE TALLEST STONE ON THE SOUTH ARC IS 3M HIGH WHILE THE ADJACENT NORTH MEGALITH IS 2.7M HIGH.
A HOLED STONE ONCE STOOD TO THE EAST, IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. IN 1943 A STORM CAUSED THIS MEGALITH TO FALL, IT NOW LIES BESIDE THE NEARBY KERB CAIRN. THE BASE WAS REMOVED AND EXCAVATED IN 1977.
BENETH THE STONE WAS THREE PORTIONS OF HUMAN CREMATED BONE, RADIOCARBON DATED TO BETWEEN 3370-3050 YEARS AGO. THE CREMATION LAY IN A PIT THAT SUPPORTED THE MEGALITH.
LOCAL TRADITION HAD THESE HOLED STONES AS A WAY TO SEAL DEALS OR A PROMISE TO MARRIAGE. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A HOLED STONE CAN BE FOUND NEAR TORHOUSE STONE CIRCLE IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY.
FOUR STONES
OUR ANCESTORS ALIGNED THE FOUR STONE ROW TO THE WINTER SOLSTICE SUNRISE. THIS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT SOLAR EVENT FALLS ON DECEMBER 21ST OR 22ND. THE EAST FACE OF THE TWO MIDDLE STONES ARE HEAVILY CUP MARKED. THESE MEGALITHS MAY HAVE COME FROM A MUCH EARLIER DECORATED OUTCROP LIKE ACHNABRECK, THEN TRANSPORTED HERE AS BELIEFS CHANGED OVER TIME.
THE FOUR STONE SETTING, RISES IN HEIGHT FROM THE SOUTH EAST TO NORTH EAST. THE HIGHEST MEGALITH IN THE SOUTH IS JUST OVER 4M HIGH WITH THE SMALLEST IN THE NORTH ARC BEING 2.75M. NOTICE HOW THE FOUR STONES RISE IN HEIGHT LIKE THE HILL IN THE BACKGROUND.
OTHER INFO
A SHORT WALK FROM THE STONES WILL TAKE YOU TO A HENGE, A KERBED CAIRN, A CHAMBERED CAIRN AND ROCK ART. THE SITES IN THIS LOCATION ARE BETWEEN 4200-3200 YEARS OLD MAKING THESE CONSTRUCTS, NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE. THE NAME BALLYMEANOCH TRANSLATES FROM SCOTS GAELIC AS ‘MIDDLE SETTLEMENT’.
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS.
KIlmartin Glen
Kilmartin Glen, Western Scotland is the location of several important Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age sites, including stone circles, several burial cairns, chambered cairns, and standing stones. For four thousand years the people of Kilmartin Glen have reused monuments. This film shows the significant role they have played through time.
Rock Art - Cup & Ring Marks | Cairnbaan
Leacan nam Sluagh - The Stone of Hosting.
Footage of the western outcrop found at Cairnbaan.
The monument consists of prehistoric rock art carved on two areas of outcropping bedrock, about 100m apart. The area to the E contains three carved rock outcrops adjacent to each other, while the area to the W comprises a single, carved rock panel lying flush with the ground. The rock art was created probably in the early prehistoric period, between about 3500 BC and 2500 BC. The monument lies at around 60m above sea level on relatively flat ground part way up slopes that form the W side of the valley of the Badden Burn. Today the rock outcrops lie in thinned plantation woodland, but originally (in the absence of trees) this site would have offered views to Lochgilphead and the sea to the SE, over Crinan Moss, and to the valley bottom to the S where Cairnbaan lies today.
The rock outcrops form two groups, which differ in style. The easternmost comprises three substantial outcrops, adjacent to each other and now enclosed by metal railings. The largest decorated rock panel measures approximately 8m by 2m. It is decorated with a pair of cups surrounded by three partial rings, one cup with two rings, three cups within a single ring, sixteen single cups with single rings, at least sixty plain cups, and several lengths of grooving. A particular feature of this sheet is the long gutters that run downslope from seven of the cups at the S end of the outcrop. The other two outcrops measure 3.5m by 2m and 2.6m by 2m. Their carvings comprise mainly plain cupmarks: six on the outcrop towards the centre of the enclosure; and three cups with double rings and six plain cups on the outcrop at the NW of the enclosure. The panel located around 100m to the W measures 2m by 3m and is not enclosed by railings. It is decorated with a complex series of markings, the most distinctive of which are a number of conjoined multiple-ringed cups. Six of these are surrounded by four rings, one by three rings, seven by two rings, and eight by single rings; several of the ringed cups have gutters. There are also at least fifteen plain cups and stretches of wandering grooves. At the bottom right of the outcrop is a badly weathered, unusual carving, consisting of a broad shallow cup surrounded by a single ring, which is linked to the cup by a series of rays.
The area to be scheduled consists of two distinct polygons. The easternmost is a trapezium shape on plan and contains the area enclosed by the metal railings and 15m beyond the railings on all sides. The second is a circle, 20m in diameter, centred on the westernmost outcrop. These areas include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduled area specifically excludes the above-ground elements of the metal railings and interpretation board to allow for their maintenance.
Other carved rock outcrops around Kilmartin Glen include:
Ballygowan
Baluachraig
Achnabreac
Kilmichael Glassary
Other monuments include:
Dùn Ad Hill Fort
Dunchraigaig Cairn
Glebe Cairn
Nether Largie North Cairn
Nether Largie Mid Cairn
Nether Largie South Cairn
Ri-Cruin Cairn
Temple Wood Stone Circle
Soundtrack: Dál - August Wind (soundcloud.com/dalcelticmusic)
Mthys & Legends Scotland: Rosslyn, Kilmartin, Iona & Callanish
Highlights of spiritual tour to Scotland 06/16. The Fairy Folk, Druids, Stones, Cairns & Inspirations
crawling about a neolithic chambered cairn 2017
Here I am crawling about a 5000 year old burial chamber
Trailer - Whitehorse Hill: A Prehistoric Dartmoor Discovery
Whitehorse Hill: A Prehistoric Dartmoor Discovery
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
13 September to 13 December 2014
A partnership exhibition between Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and Dartmoor National Park Authority.
This autumn come and see a fascinating exhibition which, for the first time, will see the amazing finds from Whitehorse Hill on public display.
The finds are around 4,000 years old and were discovered within a stone chest burial (a cist) at Whitehorse Hill, a remote spot on Dartmoor.
This is the most outstanding site to have been excavated locally in over 100 years. The items that were discovered in the cist are of national and international importance and provide one of the best glimpses into life in Bronze Age Southern England that academics and scientists have ever had.
As well as evidence of a cremation the finds include beads, worked leather and textiles, an intricate example of a woven container and a woven band decorated with tin studs. Many of the finds are made from organic materials and are in an exceptional state of preservation. Some wooden ear studs (known as labrets) are thought to be the earliest examples of turned wood in Britain and possibly Northern Europe.
The film has been produced by students and graduates of Plymouth College of Art -
Graphical elements: Tatsunori Ishikawa
Moving images: Andrew Early
Motion design: Lewis Shearer
Photography: Louisa Rundle and Tont Fitzsimmons
Sound design: Hamish Blair, Patrick Sweeting and Lewis Shearer
Memsie Round Cairn, Fraserburgh, Memsie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
A journey through Scotland's ancient sites....
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INTRO
MEMSIE ROUND CAIRN IS AN UNUSUAL PRE-HISTORIC SITE IN ABERDEENSHIRE. JUST 3.5 MILES SOUTH OF FRASERBURGH, IS A WELL PRESERVED LARGE ROUND STONE - BUILT BURIAL CAIRN. MEMSIE WAS ERECTED NEARLY 4000 YEARS AGO. AT PRESENT, THE SITE REMAINS A FINE, SOLE SURVIVOR OF A THREE CAIRN ARRANGEMENT. MEMSIE IS 4.5M HIGH BY A 24m DIAMETER. THE SITE IS IN THE CARE OF HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND.
OVERVIEW
IN 1723 THREE CAIRNS WERE RECORDED. THEY WERE 90M APART WITH A 90M CIRCUMFERENCE & 12M HIGH. MANY SMALLER CAIRNS WERE ALSO RECORDED. THE TWO LOST CAIRNS HAVE LONG BEEN DESTROYED, ONE OF THE CAIRNS CONTAINED HUMAN BONES. THE BULK OF THE STONE MATERIAL WAS PROBABLY TAKEN AWAY FOR BUILDING FIELD WALLS.
FINDS
SOME OF THE EXCAVATION FINDS HAVE BEEN A BEAKER, A BROKEN LEAF SHAPED SWORD, SEVERAL HUMAN SKULLS, HEAVILY BURNT STONES, A MEDIEVAL URN, A STONE CIST WITH A LITTLE BLOCK OF FLINT & A FLINT DART HEAD. WITH THESE FINDS, OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS USED THESE CAIRNS FROM EARLY BRONZE AGE, UP UNTIL THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD.
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS FROM PREHISTORY. THEY ERECTED THESE FASCINATING MEGALITHIC SITES, WHICH WE CAN STILL VISIT TODAY.
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THANKS FOR WATCHING.