Thursday 29 May 2008

Neolithic cairn

This is a neolithic cairn close to the internet cafe I have been using while on holiday on the Isle of Islay, in Scotland.

Neolithic people arrived on Islay about 5,000 years ago. They are thought to have herded animals and grown crops but left little evidence behind except burial cairns, such as the one in the photo. There are many cairns on the island and some are quite well preserved.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you aware that there are also the remains of a stone circle on Islay? Only a handful of stones are still standing, but better than nothing.

It's called Cultoon Stone Circle, between Portnahaven and Port Charlotte on the road past Kilchiaran.

Anonymous said...

There's a stone grouping near my house, out in the woods, that has me curious. I doubt it's a cairn, but I need to do some research about what might explain its arrangement.

Badwitch said...

I actually visited Cultoon early on in my holiday but I wanted to find out more about it before I wrote my blog entry. I found that The Museum of Islay Life, which is in Port Charlotte on Islay, had a lot of information on the stone circle, including details from the 1970s excavation. I found it interesting that my impressions of the stones matched up with what I later discovered - that it had not been finished and so may never have been used. It is sometimes worthwhile trying to get your own impression of a place before investigating its history.

Anonymous said...

"It is sometimes worthwhile trying to get your own impression of a place before investigating its history."

Good point!