A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Ancient Burials

One of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Scotland is the age of it. And the remnants of past history that remain to this day. Often relatively untouched, even if it has deteriorated a bit. 

One such remnant is the Clava Cairns in Inverness. The cairns lie approximately a mile from Culloden Battlefield. They lie in a field, down a country road, past open fields. And given that they are about 4500 years old, they are in remarkable shape. Of course, there has been a lot more footfall since the Outlander series was filmed here, but all in all, the cairns are well preserved. 

One of the passage cairns at Clava

There are three large rings, across a diagonal. The two outer cairns are passage cairns, meaning they have a short entryway (passage) into the centre of the cairn. These passages face southwest to meet the midwinter sun as it sets. The sun lights up the passage into the cairn. It is likely that only one person was buried within each cairn and given the size of the cairns, these persons may have had important status within their community. The centre ring has no passage or entryway and it is believed that this may actually have been used as a funeral pyre to burn bodies that could later be buried as ashes. 

The centre ring was possibly used as a funeral pyre

Around the whole of the three cairns stand remnants of a stone circle.

Remnants of the stone cirlce 

Newer graves have been added such as the smaller kerb cairn, which may, in fact, have been used to bury either a body in a cist or the urn holding the ashes of one or more bodies. These cist or cremation burials were often in shallow graves and covered with a light mound of dirt. The stones around the outer rim of the burial place mark the ground where remains are buried. 

The "newer" kerb cairn

An example of a burial cist

Ancient burial cairns are abundant in the northern isles as well. Again, these date from neolithic times. Places like the famed Maeshowe, the smaller Unstan Cairn, or the incredibly diverse Tomb of the Eagles. These three are chambered cairns. Each cairn has a number of chambers (pockets or shelves) where bodies were buried, so each cairn would hold several bodies. Each chamber may have held one person or a small group - husband and wife perhaps, or mother and child. Again, the passageway or entry to the cairn tends to face the midwinter sun. 

Inside the Tomb of the Eagles. You can see the chambers on the right and left of the photo, built into the walls of the cairn. 

Fascinatingly, at Tomb of the Eagles, there were three chambers. One held bones of women. One held bones of men and the third held the bones and talons of eagles. It is unclear what the significance of the eagles were to the people buried in the other chambers. 

What about you? Have you encountered any ancient burial sites in your travels?

Tombstone Tuesday - Prehistoric Cairns

 

Just a mile down the road from Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness, Scotland lie a series of pre-historic cairns. Called the Balnuaran of Clava Cairns or simply, the Clava Cairns, these prehistoric structures are still in amazing condition.

It is estimated that these cairns are roughly 4,000 years old - older than the pyrmaids.

The North-East Cairn and South-West Cairn, are well-preserved passage cairns. The cairns are aligned to the mid-winter solstice. These cairns likely only housed one body each. Standing stones surround the cairns as protection.

These standing stones were added much later.

This central cairn is a circle with no opening or passage. It is thought that this was likely a fire ring where ceremonies were held in conjunction with the burials in the two passage cairns.

This kerb cairn was added most recently (3000 years ago) and may have originally provided an outline for a low earth mound or shallow grave.

What amazed me most about the cairns was that they were still relatively in tact, lying in a field, surrounded by farmland. For 4,000 years, they have been seen as sacred ground and so have been given a place of honour, and have been left in solitude. Had they been in North America, they would have been cleared eons ago and a subdivision would now stand in their place. Here's to the Scots for recognizing the importance of these pre-historic structures and for preserving them for future generations to enjoy and honour as well.

 

Clava Cairns

The pre-historic Balnuaran of Clava Cairns are more than 4000 years old, older than the pyramids.

 

The North-East Cairn, a well-preserved passage cairn. The cairn is aligned to the mid-winter solstice. This cairn likely only housed one body.
 

 
Standing stones surround the cairn as protection. These standing stones were added much later.

 

The central ring cairn:

 

 The central cairn is a circle with no opening or passage. It is thought that this was likely a fire ring where ceremonies were held in conjunction with the burials in the two passage cairns.

This kerb cairn was added most recently (3000 years ago) and may have originally provided an outline for a low earth mound:
 

 

South-west passage cairn. This cairn is another example of a passage cairn and it too is aligned to the mid-winter solstice.

 

Overview of all of the clava cairns: