argyll-1971/01-063

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD

CAVE OCCUPATION, MISCELLANEOUS EARTHWORKS AND ENCLOSURES
So far Keil Cave (No. 243) is the only cave in the peninsula known to have been inhabited
during the Iron Age. The relics recovered from excavations conducted between 1933 and 1935
have recently been re-examined, 1 and it seems likely that occupation began in the 3rd or 4th
century A.D.
Of the eleven miscellaneous earthworks and enclosures, one (No. 251) may represent an
initial stage in the construction of an unfinished Iron Age fort, while some at least of the
remainder may also be of Iron Age date.

5. THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD
Under this head are considered monuments of the period that begins with the first appearance
of Christian memorials in Galloway in the 5th century, and ends with the introduction of the
Romanesque style of architecture into Western Scotland in the 12th century. No remains of
any ecclesiastical buildings attributable to this period have been identified in the course of the
present survey, but the evidence of Kil-names,2 and the distribution of Early Christian carved
stones, suggests that many of the medieval and later churches and burial-grounds occupy early
ecclesiastical sites. The occupation of St. Ciaran's Cave (No. 298), perhaps by an anchorite, at
some time before the 12th century, is also indicated by one of the carvings, but the wall that
was built to seal off the mouth of the cave is probably somewhat later in date.
Although comparatively few in number, the carved stones display considerable variety.
Most of them have been found within or beside pre-Reformation burial-grounds, but not all
of them served funerary purposes. The small slab at Killean, for example, which has five
crosses on one face and a single cross on the other (p. 136, Fig. 139), probably stood on an
altar or praying-station, while some of the larger shaped crosses, such as those at Tarbert,
Gigha (pp. 155 Fig. 159) and Killcan (p. 136, Fig. 140), may have been erected as acts of piety
or to commemorate specific events. 'The simple nature of most of these carvings, and the lack
of evidence from associated remains, forbids close dating, but it is probable that the earliest
(late 6th or 7th century) are a grave-marker bearing a simple incised Latin cross at Killmaluag
(p. 208), a small cluster of incised symbols on a boulder at Tarbert, Gigha (p. 156, Fig. 160),
and an ogam-inscribed pillar, also on the island of Gigha (pp. 96 f., Fig. 107). Another group of
carvings on unshaped or only roughly dressed slabs or boulders at Clachan (p. 109, nos. 1 and
2), Kilchenzie (p. 121), Kilkerran (p. 125, Fig. 132), and St. Ciaran's Cave (pp. 145 f., Fig. 147),
and the cross-decorated slab at Killean referred to above, could date before the 9th century, but
might conceivably be later; while the upright cross-slab on Sanda (pp. 151 ff., Fig. 155), and the
shaped crosses at Balinakill (p. 102, Fig. 116), Killean(p. 136, Fig. 140), Tarbert, Gigha (pp. 155f.,
Fig. 159) and Sanda (p. 153, no. 2) are unlikely to be earlier than the 9th century. Lastly there
are a few monuments which could belong either to the Early Christian or to the medieval
period: such are the important 12th - or 13th-century cross-head recovered from the sea at

1 PSAS., xcix (1966-7), 104 ff.
2 Cf. Medieval Archaeology, xi (1967), 179 ff. and references
there cited.

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