CLAVA CLAVA CAIRNS DISCOVER HISTORIC SCOTLAND

THE SOUT H-WEST THE NORT H-EAST CAIRN The Clava Cairns are cared for by Historic Scotland and owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). VISITOR’S particularly important person was most probably interred ook into this well-preserved and see the workings They are free to visit and open all year. A inside this tomb, although recent excavations have found L of a sophisticated prehistoric timepiece. The SW cairn is just the no remains associated with either passage grave. same. The low passageway that is aligned to the midwinter sunset once led into a central domed chamber that rose four metres. These cairns were the work of many people. But investigations of similar Discover other places to visit near the Clava Cairns: monuments suggest that only one or two people would have been buried Each stone slab used to line its walls was graded by height, with the tallest to the here. Like its twin, a decade after the SW cairn was raised, it was surrounded SW to face the setting sun. The distinctive kerbstones that surround the cairn’s by a cobbled platform and a . Two of the standing stones were base repeat that pattern, as does the circle of standing stones beyond.The stones moved in the 19th century. The Victorians, who believed the monument was were also chosen for their colour and texture. Those slabs lit by the sunset tend to a druidic temple, also planted trees to create a sacred grove. be deep red sandstone. Those that face the rising sun are generally whiter or pinker and often contain glittering quartz crystals. It is hard to appreciate the patterns PREHISTORIC today as erosion and lichen have masked the colours. Only a few years after the Flanking the entrance to the S W cairn are red sandstone pillars, one of which is cairn was completed, a rubble platform was built around it that may have sealed fort george elgin cathedral dallas dhu culloden (nts ) distillery decorated with enigmatic ‘cup marks’ – deep, spherical pits laboriously chipped the passage. It helped buttress the whole structure and provided a stage on which and ground into the rock. You can spot more stones covered in such symbols Ten miles west of In Elgin on the A96 1 mile south of Forres, 5 miles east of people might have performed rituals – seashells and cremated bone were found Nairn, off the A96 off the A940 Inverness, on the among the kerbstones and inside the chamber. Such prehistoric decoration is here. The stone circle was also added at this time. B9006 found across the British Isles, often with concentric rings and other abstract forms. Open seven Open all year. Open all year. Open seven days a week Winter: closed Winter: closed days a week Their meaning is a mystery. Among the theories are sacred symbolism, territorial N Thursday/Friday Thursday/Friday Red Sandstone signposts and maps of the countryside or the heavens. At the Clava Cairns, some 01 667 46 02 32 01343 547 171 01309 676548 0844 493 2 159 cup-marked rocks may have been taken from earlier monuments. Other red stone Pink stone White stone Platform edge

FURTHER READING AND CREDITS CLAVA CAI RNS 0 5 10m P.J. Ashmore, and Scotland (1996) Author :Steve Farrar Gordon Barclay, Farmers, Temples and Tombs (1998) Design: Contagious UK Ltd Richard Bradley, The Good Stones (2000) Illustration: Aaron Watson Right: An artist’s impression of the tomb For more information on all 345 Historic Scotland sites, visit: shortly after its completion. (Aaron Watson) www.historic-scotland.gov.uk or telephone: 0131 668 8600 Left: Mysterious ‘cup Above: Many cultures give colours sacred First published by Historic Scotland 2009 marks’ decorate stones meaning. The different coloured stones used Printed from sustainable materials 2009 in both the SW and for the NE cairn emphasised its alignment to Crown copyright © Historic Scotland 2009 NE cairns. the midwinter sunset. 5051118156900 CLAVA CAIRNS CLAVA CAIRNS CLAVA CAIRNS CLAVA CAIRNS

SACRED FOR 4,000 YEARS THE WINTER SOLSTICE RING OF FIRE DIGGING AWAY THE PAST

n a gravel terrace above etween the two passage graves is a different kind of monument. he Clava Cairns attracted modern treasure hunters, antiquarians and the River Nairn stands one This ‘’ had no entrance and was not roofed. What could archaeologists. A Victorian party from a nearby castle dug into the O 10 B T of Scotland’s most evocative it be for? heart of one cairn for entertainment one weekend, while efforts to prehistoric monuments. ‘tidy up’ the site have also caused damage. Its builders used the same careful selection of stones of particular heights and The Clava Cairns make up an ancient Balnuaran colours as they did for its neighbours. The ring cairn was part of the original In 187 0-1, the site’s owner diverted a road that ran through it, built a wall around cemetery also known as Balnauran of of Clava cemetery design but was deliberately placed out of the solstice sightline of it and planted trees to add to its atmosphere. Unfortunately, standing stones were Clava, which is dominated by a line of 9 the chambered graves. It was surrounded by a stone circle with ‘rays’ of rubble moved to make way for the road, cairn stones were used to build the wall and three cairns enclosed by stone circles. 8 around it linking kerbstones to monolith s. The study of similar remains in tree roots subsequently disrupted buried remains. Unrecorded excavations have Farmers raised these great mounds of Aberdeenshire suggests that fires may have burned inside the monument, possibly effectively erased archaeological evidence, shifted stones and destroyed parts of the stone a little under 4,000 years ago, 7 as part of ceremonies to accompany burials in the adjacent passage graves. monument. Nevertheless, investigations by Stuart Piggott in the 1950s and Richard most probably to house their dead. Bradley in the 1990s have still revealed much about the Clava Cairns, including The cairn builders left no written 6 THE KERB CAIRN radiocarbon dating for each phase of the cemetery’s history. records. But clues to their beliefs 5 A millennium after the Clava Cairns were built, fresh burials were made in the survive. The chambered graves are ancient graves. The newcomers also added a small cairn of their own, again using MILTON OF CLAVA aligned to the setting of the midwinter different coloured stone in its construction. All that remains is a small ring of To the west of the Clava Cairns are the remains of another ancient cemetery, N sun, which was further marked using boulders. A Pictish was placed by the central cairn even more recently. although the cairns are not easy to detect today. Traces of other cairns have been different coloured, textured and sized 4 found in surrounding fields. The foundations of a building, probably a medieval stones. The cemetery was part of a chapel, are close by. wider landscape of monuments and its sacred nature persisted long after its builders were gone. Throughout four millennia, the Clava Cairns have 1 Remains of cairn been regarded as a special place. 2 Probable site of chapel or ancient people, the Winter Solstice was Above: On the 3 Probable chapel 3 a disturbing time of the year. The days at this shortest day of the enclosure F year, light from the latitude are short, the weather cold and setting sun shines 3 1 Chapel (?) vegetation dies away. 2 down the passageway 1 2 Cairn 2 3 But the solstice marked the turning point. More ancient of the SW cairn. River Nairn 1 4 Culdoich monuments in the British Isles are aligned to the midwinter 5 SW cairn (open to the public) sunset than any other time of year. This was demonstrated Milton of Clava 6 Kerb cairn at the Clava Cairns in the 1990s. The NE cairn was reroofed 7 Above: Left: Central cairn (open to the public) with planks and sheeting for the solstice so that the setting The central cairn may have held a fire in An aerial view of 8 NE cairn (open to the public) its centre. A decade after it was built, its centre was the remains at Milton of 9 Car park sun lined up with the passageway to light up the back of the fi lled and rays of rubble linked its kerb with a stone Clava (Crown copyright: 10 Nairn viaduct chamber. The SW cairn is aligned in the same way. circle (Aaron Watson). RCAHMS).