lanarkshire-1978/03_041

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE BRONZE AGE

Smaller groups include those in Pettinain parish (Nos.14, 23 and 106), and in Upper Clydes-
dale, near Elvanfoot (Nos. 3, 15, 32 and 56). Unfortunately, they are all extremely vulnerable
to ploughing and stone-robbing and evidence that the distribution was originally more exten-
sive is furnished by early sources, which record the wholesale destruction of small cairns at
sites such as Lupus (No. 81) and Wester Yardhouses-Hare Law (No. 113). Occasional stony
banks occur, as at Horse Law (No. 64, 6), Easton-Medwin Water (No. 46, 1) and Wester

[Map inserted]

Fig 3. Distribution map of groups of small cairns etc. in the Carnwath-Dunsyre area

Yardhouses-Hare Law (No. 113, 1), and a low scarp at Windy Gate (No. 118, 2), but it is
not considered that any of these features need be contemporary with the cairns. If the stones
were indeed the result of field clearance, in some cases the building of a cairn does not seem
to have been the most convenient method of disposal; marshy patches and river banks immedi-
ately adjacent to Nos. 46, 64 and 118 would have proved more suitable dumping-places by
obviating the need for encroachment on arable ground. In some instances a few small cairns
are found lying close to unenclosed platform settlements (e.g. Nos. 189, 193 and 199), with

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