lanarkshire-1978/03_040

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE BRONZE AGE

has not been recorded elsewhere, and without excavation it is impossible to be certain of their
function, but they may have acted as bedding slots for a hurdle fence. Finds from such
Scottish sites do not normally include distinctive or readily datable artifacts, but radiocarbon
determinations from excavated examples ¹ show that they belong to the later phases of the
Early Bronze Age.
Mention may be made here of two other monuments, the small circular ditched enclosures
at Bizzyberry Hill (No. 270) and Windy Gate (No. 326), each of which has a causeway across
the ditch on the south. At Windy Gate the ditch is accompanied by an outer bank, but at
Bizzyberry Hill ploughing has destroyed any possible traces of a similar feature. Closes parallels
are difficult to find in Scotland, but several enclosures in Sutherland ² and Inverness-shire, ³
and the earliest phase of the Moncreiffe stone circle, Perthshire, ⁴ are superficially similar. The
interiors are level and there is no indication that a mound ever existed. The combination of
bank and internal ditch is characteristic of henges, but the diameters of these enclosures are
considerably smaller than those of most henges, and it is possible that they are funerary monu-
ments. If so, they could take their place in the disparate family of Early Bronze Age burial-
sites that includes ring-cairns, ring-barrows, disc-barrows, enclosed cremation cemeteries
and the so-called hengiform monuments, such as Fargo Plantation, Wiltshire, ⁵ and Alnham
No. 3, Northumberland. ⁶

GROUPS OF SMALL CAIRNS

Clusters of small cairns are a distinctive feature of the archaeology of many parts of Highland
Britain. The study of such cairns has been one of the most interesting features of the field
survey of Lanarkshire, and it has been possible to take further the pioneer work done in the
1950s by A Graham. ⁷ The term 'cairnfield' has often been employed for these concentrations,
but for the purposes of this Inventory it has been thought preferable to adopt the description
'groups of small cairns' in order to avoid any functional implication. The origin of these
cairns has been a matter for debate, ⁸ the point at issue being whether they were constructed
for funerary purposes or are simply the result of field clearance. In support of the latter
explanation, low stony banks, which may delimit arable plots, occur in proximity to the cairns
in certain parts of Scotland, but these features are almost entirely absent in Lanarkshire and
the Border counties.
The number of cairns in the groups under discussion range from less than a dozen to
nearly six hundred. Whereas the majority of them measure between 2.4 m and 3.8 m in
diameter, at many sites, such as Horse Law (No. 64), they can vary from 1.2 m to as much as
9.1 m in diameter and from less than 0.2 m to 1.2 m in height, and in areas of peat formation
the true sizes of the cairns may be larger than is apparent. The largest surviving concentrations
are to be found in the valleys of the Medwin Water and of its principal tributaries (Fig. 3).

1 Ibid., 52; PSAS, xcix (1966-7), 98.
2 OS Record Card NH 69 SW 36.
3 OS Record Cards NH 83 NW 1 and NH 85 NW 1.
4 DES (1974), 86-7.
5 Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, xlviii
(1939), 357-70.
6 Archeologia Aeliana, 4th series, xliv (1966), 37, 40-2.
7 PSAS, xc (1956-7), 7-23.
8 Ibid.; TDGAS, xliv (1967), 99-116; Archaeologia Aeliana,
4th series, xlvi (1968), 46-50; Agricultural History Review,
xix (1971), 1-24; PPS, xxxix (1973), 339-44.

-- 8