Kilmartin Glen
Kilmartin Glen is absolutely astonishing. It is a beautiful glen in Argyll that has an astounding number of ancient monuments, standing stones, burial cairns, cists, rock art and iron age duns.
Kilmartin Glen is one of the richest archeological areas in Scotland and had been in use since 3000 BC. As the last ice sheets left, the glen would have been forested but the trees were cleared over time, as the needs of the population changed. Kilmartin would have been a fertile glen teaming with fish in the burns and wildlife in the forests, perfect for a fishing, hunter-gatherer people. The fertile land would have also been used to grow crops.
There is a very good museum at Kilmartin along with a café and gift shop. We visited the museum and then went to view a audio visual presentation above the café. The audio visual presentation was quite terrible, it was only a series of photos with poor resolution and virtually no commentary.
There is a series of burial cairns belonging to the neolithic and bronze periods, it is known as the Linear Cairn Cemetery which contain the Nether Largie cairns and a short distance away, the Nether Largie standing stones. At home we had downloaded an audio-walk to our ipods which was narrated by Neil Oliver. This informative walk took us on a tour of the cairns and standing stones of the linear cemetery. The audio-walk was fantastic and so well done we would have been lost without it.
Also on the walk is Temple Wood, which has two stone circles. Temple wood was originally a timber circle which was changed into a stone circle later. Over time changes were made to the stone circle, there are stones in the circle which have concentric circles and spiral designs, the spiral design has links to passage tomb art in Orkney and Ireland.
Inside a burial cairn is a cist (pronounced kist) where an earlier cairn would have been taken over - a very important person would have been buried there in the cist. About 1000 years later, people came back to the cist and buried cremated remains, these were sites that were used for over 2000 years.
We then visited the Nether Largie standing stones, the important point about the standing stones is that the central stone has been carved with rock art, known as cup and ring marks, likely decorated between 3000 and 2200 BC. Archeologists have no idea what these rock art designs signify.
Nether Largie north cairn has a huge cist and top slab which would have covered the cist. The cist slab has cup marks, then a flat axe design that had been carved over the cup marks, thus signifying that the axe designs were carved at a later date than the cup marks. The cist is larger and the cairn was huge, this tells us that an important person was buried here.
Glebe Cairn is a early bronze age large cairn, excavation revealed two cists underneath surrounded by a double circle of stones. Archeologists found an Irish designed pot and a necklace made of jet, jet came from Yorkshire, England. These articles demonstrate that the people who lived in Kilmartin Glen were well travelled. Archeologists theorize that a wealthy woman would have been buried in this cairn, as jet necklaces were found in other cairns and the surviving bones were female.
In 2400 BC on Ross Island, Ireland, they had a copper mine. The people in Kilmartin were importing copper, then it was discovered you could combine copper with tin from southern Britain to make bronze. The people who traded in metals were wealthy individuals as is discerned from the burial sites.
The late neolithic and bronze age came to an end, and we don’t know why. The people seemed to no longer take any account of the monuments from the neolithic age, rather, they built fortified duns and hilltop fortresses and iron begins to appear in the archeological record. It seems as if the ease of living in the neolithic age ended and a more violent age began.
One can see a lot of the ancient monuments in Kilmartin Glen in a day, but we must remember that it took thousands of years to develop these monuments, involving the lives of thousands of people. We always find it mind boggling to think that these ancient sites were used by people over such a long period of time when we measure time in such small increments.
As always, click on pics to enlarge....
Nether Largie South CairnKilmartin Glen is absolutely astonishing. It is a beautiful glen in Argyll that has an astounding number of ancient monuments, standing stones, burial cairns, cists, rock art and iron age duns.
Kilmartin Glen is one of the richest archeological areas in Scotland and had been in use since 3000 BC. As the last ice sheets left, the glen would have been forested but the trees were cleared over time, as the needs of the population changed. Kilmartin would have been a fertile glen teaming with fish in the burns and wildlife in the forests, perfect for a fishing, hunter-gatherer people. The fertile land would have also been used to grow crops.
There is a very good museum at Kilmartin along with a café and gift shop. We visited the museum and then went to view a audio visual presentation above the café. The audio visual presentation was quite terrible, it was only a series of photos with poor resolution and virtually no commentary.
There is a series of burial cairns belonging to the neolithic and bronze periods, it is known as the Linear Cairn Cemetery which contain the Nether Largie cairns and a short distance away, the Nether Largie standing stones. At home we had downloaded an audio-walk to our ipods which was narrated by Neil Oliver. This informative walk took us on a tour of the cairns and standing stones of the linear cemetery. The audio-walk was fantastic and so well done we would have been lost without it.
Also on the walk is Temple Wood, which has two stone circles. Temple wood was originally a timber circle which was changed into a stone circle later. Over time changes were made to the stone circle, there are stones in the circle which have concentric circles and spiral designs, the spiral design has links to passage tomb art in Orkney and Ireland.
Inside a burial cairn is a cist (pronounced kist) where an earlier cairn would have been taken over - a very important person would have been buried there in the cist. About 1000 years later, people came back to the cist and buried cremated remains, these were sites that were used for over 2000 years.
We then visited the Nether Largie standing stones, the important point about the standing stones is that the central stone has been carved with rock art, known as cup and ring marks, likely decorated between 3000 and 2200 BC. Archeologists have no idea what these rock art designs signify.
Nether Largie north cairn has a huge cist and top slab which would have covered the cist. The cist slab has cup marks, then a flat axe design that had been carved over the cup marks, thus signifying that the axe designs were carved at a later date than the cup marks. The cist is larger and the cairn was huge, this tells us that an important person was buried here.
Glebe Cairn is a early bronze age large cairn, excavation revealed two cists underneath surrounded by a double circle of stones. Archeologists found an Irish designed pot and a necklace made of jet, jet came from Yorkshire, England. These articles demonstrate that the people who lived in Kilmartin Glen were well travelled. Archeologists theorize that a wealthy woman would have been buried in this cairn, as jet necklaces were found in other cairns and the surviving bones were female.
In 2400 BC on Ross Island, Ireland, they had a copper mine. The people in Kilmartin were importing copper, then it was discovered you could combine copper with tin from southern Britain to make bronze. The people who traded in metals were wealthy individuals as is discerned from the burial sites.
The late neolithic and bronze age came to an end, and we don’t know why. The people seemed to no longer take any account of the monuments from the neolithic age, rather, they built fortified duns and hilltop fortresses and iron begins to appear in the archeological record. It seems as if the ease of living in the neolithic age ended and a more violent age began.
One can see a lot of the ancient monuments in Kilmartin Glen in a day, but we must remember that it took thousands of years to develop these monuments, involving the lives of thousands of people. We always find it mind boggling to think that these ancient sites were used by people over such a long period of time when we measure time in such small increments.
As always, click on pics to enlarge....
Temple Wood
Nether Largie Standing Stones
Nether Largie Mid Cairn
Cist and Slab Cover in Nether Largie North Cairn
Glebe Cairn
Dunadd Fort
Rising up out of the Great Moss, is Dunadd Fort. It was a very strongly defended fort with sections of terraced walls, a hilltop view and the River Add snaking its way through the bog. Dunadd was also an important centre for trade, its skilled metal workers crafted jewellery and tools from bronze, gold and silver.
Historically, what is most interesting about Dunadd, in the kingdom of Dalriada, is that it was essentially the birthplace of Scotland. The Celtic people from Ireland came to Scotland in the 6th century AD and ruled both the Argyll area and their kingdom in County Antrim in Ireland. They were Gaelic speaking and were known as the Dal Riata (Reti’s Tribe). Dunadd was the headquarters of the kingdom as it was the seat of the kings.
On a slab of rock at the top of Dunadd is a carved footprint, this is said to have been the place of the crowning of the kings of Scotland, the king was inaugurated by placing his foot into the carved footprint. It is really awesome to stand on top of the Dunadd and look at the footprint and think about the significance of it, if one has any interest in history at all, this is the real deal.
View from Dunadd Fort
Footprint in Rock Dunadd Fort
Dunadd Fort
Current Queens of Dalriada
Dunamuck Standing Stones
AchnabreacFrom Dunadd we walked through cattle pasture and sheep pasture on tracks and paths to Achnabreac to see the an example of one of the largest early rock carvings in Britain, carved approximately 5,000 years ago. We met an English student studying the rock art as he is doing his dissertation on rock carving. He said the rock art here is quite significant not only because of its size but also because there is a specific design that is also carved on Irish tombs.
We spent a really great day in Kilmartin Glen, it was sunny and very warm, the perfect day for a tour of the neolithic, bronze and iron age monuments and forts.
Achnabreck Rock Carvings
Kilmichael Glassary Rock Carvings
omg! *gasp* did you put your foot in the footprint? Could you feel anything profound when you were up there? I don't have to tell you it's my dream to go there! What great scenery and awesome sites you are seeing. As always, enjoying the blog! Tracy
ReplyDeleteMy size 7.5 hiking boot didn’t fit the footprint! They had small feet. It is really odd how such an important place in the history of Scotland is such an unassuming place now, just a few tourists clambering to the top, kids, babies and all.
ReplyDeleteUgh, there is a pictish carving of a boar up there and we missed it, I cannot believe we did that. We were too busy trying to figure out if there was a trail over to Achnabreac, so we were gawking at the landscape from the top of Dunadd. The person in the Kilmartin Museum didn’t even know if there was a trail and they don’t have a map. There is a really great path of 4 km through fields, past standing stones and the trail has new signage and new gates, I don’t know why they don’t promote that fact at the museum.