The archæology and prehistoric annals of ScotlandWilson, Daniel, Sir
History
The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland
Wilson, Daniel, Sir
Scotland -- Antiquities
One of the most remarkable groups of cairns in Scotland associated
with other primitive monuments, occurs on a small plain washed by the
River Nairn, about a mile to the east of the field of Culloden. The
whole plain, for upwards of a mile in extent, is covered over with
large cairns, encircled by standing stones surrounding them at uniform
intervals. Numerous circular groups or "Druidical Temples" occur in
the same neighbourhood, with single monoliths and detached circles
of small stones, scarcely visible amid the thick covering of grass
and heath, but indicating, in all probability, the sites of ancient
dwellings of the cairn-builders. An interesting natural chronometer
is of frequent occurrence in connexion with these rude memorials of
primitive habits, furnishing unmistakable evidence of the remoteness of
the era to which they belong, and supplying data which may hereafter
prove to be reducible to definite computation. The accumulation, not
only of alluvium, but of peat-moss over the structures of early art,
has already been referred to in describing the ancient boats, harpoons,
&c., discovered in various localities. It will repeatedly recur in the
course of our inquiry in relation to various classes of memorials of
the past. The traveller, in passing from Bunaw Ferry, on Loch Etive,
to Beregonium, Argyleshire, passes over an extensive moor, known by
the name of the "Black Moss." On this, or rather rising up through it,
are several large cairns, with here and there the remains of others
which have been demolished for the purpose of inclosing fields or
building cottages. In various parts considerable portions of the moss
have been cleared away, exposing, at a depth of from eight to ten
feet, the original soil upon which these sepulchral mounds have been
reared, and bringing to light other interesting memorials of their
builders, hereafter referred to. With such evidence of the slow growth
of centuries obliterating the traces of primitive occupation, and
effecting such changes on the natural features of the country, it is no
vague conjecture which refers to an early era the period when this wild
and barren moor was the scene of life and intelligence, and, it may be,
of many useful arts. Along with these may be mentioned another group
of cairns, including one of unusually large dimensions, not inclosed
by the gathered moss of ages, but surrounded by the encroaching tide,
on the north shore of the Frith of Beauly, Ross-shire, affording no
less striking, though diverse evidence of the remote era to which
they belong. In one of these sepulchral urns have been found, leaving
no room to doubt of their monumental character. The largest stands
about 400 yards within flood-mark; and an ingenious writer in the
Philosophical Transactions arrives at the conclusion that an area of
fully ten miles square, now flooded by the advancing tide, has once
been the site of the dwellings of the ancient cairn-builders. Thus is
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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