Illuminating the Monuments: Observation and Speculation on the Structure and Function of the Cairns at Balnuaran of Clava

Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10:2 (2000), 295–315 Illuminating the Monuments: Observation and Speculation on the Structure and Function of the Cairns at Balnuaran of Clava David Trevarthen The cairns at Balnuaran of Clava show a structural relationship to the annual cycle, most clearly in their alignment on Midwinter sunset. The stones used in their construction fall into simple colour classes: ‘red’, ‘white’ and ‘black’. All three, but especially the black, appear to show selective arrangement in the cairns. A preliminary study of the relation- ships between the position of coloured stones and certain solar alignments, using both direct opposition and shadow casting, indicates that choice of colour may have been a significant factor in the positioning of stones within the monuments. Moreover the three colours seem to show a consistent pattern of meaning across a wide spectrum of cultures, which may imply a universal psychological factor in their symbolic use. This evening she marked where the sun dove to ring cairn (Fig. 2). This site also includes a small kerb the horizon, for over the weeks she had made a cairn. The following descriptions of form and construc- practice of noting its setting point on the ridge. She tion refer specifically to this site, though they are gen- had watched it march southward as the days erally applicable to the Clava group as a whole. snuffed out earlier and earlier. It would be a The chambered cairns are instantly recogniz- great pleasure year after year to watch with antici- pation as the sun drew nigh to . (its extreme) and able as ‘classic’ passage graves; a roughly circular then on a specified day . (turned) and retraced its cairn or mound, in this case kerbed, covering a round path. Over time, watching that happen again and chamber with corbelled roof that is accessed by a again might make the years seem not such an aw- narrow passage. The ring cairn is a low, circular ful linear progress but instead a looping and a bank of stone with inner and outer kerbs and no return. Keeping track of such a thing would place a obvious entrance to its central area. The diameter of person, would be a way of saying, You are here, in the ring cairn’s interior is significantly larger than this one station, now. It would be an answer to the that of the passage graves, making it impossible for question, Where am I? it to have been roofed with corbelling — the span is Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997, 260) too great for this to be practicable. Both cairn types [Reproduced by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd] are enclosed by stone circles at the edge of a rubble platform sloping away from their outer kerbs. The The Clava cairns are a group of megalithic monu- ring cairn at Balnuaran has an additional unique ments in northeast Scotland. Their distribution is feature of four ‘rays’; low rubble causeways linking restricted to an area south and west of the Moray Firth, its outer kerb to stones of the surrounding circle. mainly in the terraced valleys of Strathspey and Strathnairn, the densest concentration being just east The construction and age of the Cairns of Inverness (Fig. 1). The group comprises two distinct monument types: chambered cairns, and ring cairns Fieldwork carried out at Balnuaran of Clava by Ri- (Henshall 1963). The type site of Balnuaran of Clava chard Bradley between 1994 and 1997 has shown (NGR NH 757 444) has two chambered cairns and a how the cairns were built and has demonstrated the 295 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 02 Oct 2021 at 13:53:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774300000111 David Trevarthen contemporaneity of their various features (Bradley 1996; 1998a,b,c; 2000). During the 1994–95 excavations it was found that neither the kerbstones nor the monoliths of the stone circles are set into sockets and are held in place by the platform material. Without this weight against them, the outer kerbstones would have been forced out- wards by the cairn fill in a relatively short time. The standing stones are held upright by platform material surrounding their bases, with no evidence that they have been inserted into the platform at a later date. All these features represent a single construction process. Identical methods of construction are used in both types of cairn. Besides the unusual feature of en- closing stone circles, the monuments share a definite southwestern focus. The outer kerbstones of each cairn have been Figure 1. Distribution of Clava group sites. graded, with the lowest in the northeast. They increase in size around the circumference to the largest in the southwest. In the passage graves, this gradation terminates with the stones flanking their entrances, while a single massive block marks the end of the gradation in the ring cairn. The stone circles and the ring cairn’s inner kerb also increase in size from the northeast to the southwest. Most bizarrely, considering the mechanics of drystone construction, the kerbstones within the chambers are graded, the tallest adjacent to the passage and the lowest opposite it. This height difference is marked, 38 cm in the northeastern cairn (NEC) and 50 cm in the southwestern cairn (SWC), giv- ing a pronounced slope to the base on which the corbelled roof rests. This would seem to be an intentional com- plication of an already tricky job; the grading of the walls taking priority over the ease of roofing the chamber. This sorting by size has two ef- fects; first it creates a trompe l’oeil false perspective. On viewing the cairns from the southwest, they appear to recede Figure 2. Plan of the monuments at Balnuaran of Clava. 296 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 02 Oct 2021 at 13:53:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774300000111 Illuminating the Monuments much further than they actually do, and their shapes passage graves could be classed as red or white. To change as you walk around the circumference. Sec- examine this in detail a proportional survey of the ondly, the cairns and stone circles tilt upwards to the visible cobbles was carried out by Andy Jones and southwest, presenting their tallest faces to the set- Hannah Sackett. Despite the uppermost layer of cob- ting Midwinter sun. In the passage graves this orien- bles having suffered the most from later disturbance, tation is further refined; not only are the two passages a clear trend appeared: the southwest of the cairns is aligned on the Winter Solstice sunset, but they are predominantly red, the northeast predominantly on the same line to it. An observer inside the NEC white, with a greater proportion of red cobbles in the looking down the passage would see the Midwinter SWC (Bradley 1998c). This would make the front of sun setting behind the SWC. The ring cairn between the cairns glow red in the reflected light of the set- the passage graves does not block this sight line, yet ting sun at and around Midwinter. The northeastern it is close enough for two of its monoliths to be part side would also flash white around Midsummer sun- of the same alignment. rise but the focus of the site on the Winter Solstice Clearly, a great deal of care was taken in build- sunset made this less instantly apparent. ing the cairns, with production of an overall effect Having been sensitized to stone colour, we re- taking precedence over any difficulty in creating it. alized that the monuments used only red or white Bradley has discussed in more detail the risks taken materials, materials that when first erected would in construction and the tension between structural have been highly contrasting. To obtain a compre- stability and symbolism (Bradley 1998b). The rela- hensive picture of this and to look for structured tionships between monuments seem to have been patterning in the colours’ arrangement, Heather treated with as much precision as the individual Jackson and I carried out a complete colour/stone- structures. All of this suggests that the finished cairns type survey; identifying all orthostats, monoliths and represent the concrete expression of a relatively com- extant corbelling to stone-type and hence original plex cultural agenda. colour (Trevarthen & Jackson 1997). The identifica- The passage graves seem, from basic morphol- tion of the stones was in many cases not at all straight- ogy, to represent a local variant of a typically Neo- forward, the visible surfaces being often almost lithic form. The almost total absence of associated totally covered by lichens. This does of course go finds, diagnostic or otherwise throughout the Clava some way to explaining why past studies failed to group, does not alter this impression. The excava- discern colour differences and remained more con- tions at Balnuaran of Clava made possible the collec- cerned with overall form. tion of securely stratified charcoal, yielding a good Our survey confirmed that the building stones series of radiocarbon dates. These results, supported can be divided into basic categories of ‘red’ and by the recently available dates from Raigmore and ‘white’ (Figs. 3, 4 & 5). Red materials are of three Newton of Petty, place the Clava group between distinct stone-types: red sandstone, red conglomer- 2300 and 2000 BC, the end of the Neolithic and begin- ate and pegmatite.

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