stirling-1963-vol-1/05_055

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD

[Map inserted]
Fig. 2 Distribution map of Clyde-Carlingford chambered cairns in Central Scotland

been found in the county, and a ceremonial axe-blade made of a stone resembling jadeite
(Pl. 2B) was picked up at Stirling. ¹ Apart from the henge monument on Cairncapple Hill,
the nearest known Neolithic monument to east Stirlingshire is the henge at Balfarg, Fife, ²
distant thirty miles to the east-north-east of Stirling, while the nearest to the west may be the
earthwork, possibly a henge, at Shiels Farm, Govan, ³ which has been recorded as a crop-mark
but not, as yet, proved. These monuments, however, together with those at Weston in
Lanarkshire, Overhowden in Berwickshire ⁴ and at places further north, ⁵ attest the presence
throughout the whole region in Neolithic times of a widespread if small population such as is
suggested by the scatter of relics in Stirlingshire.

1 P.S.A.S., lxxxiii (1948-9), 137, 158.
2 Ibid., lxxxiv (1949-50), 58.
3 Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1957, 18.
4. Ibid., 59.
5 Ibid., 57.

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