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Small cairn Argylln si : some recent work i Cairns in the Aline Valley, Morvern, Argyll GrahaN b yJ m Ritchi laid nean Thornber ii Kerb-cairns by France GrahasN LyncJ d mhan Ritchie iii Excavation of a cairn at Portavadie, Cowal, Argyll by Doroth MarshalyN l i Cairns in the Aline Valley, Morvern, Argyll GrahaN b yJ m Ritchi laid nean Thornber INTRODUCTION The peninsula of Morvern, in the NW corner of Argyll and now in the Lochaber district Highlane th f o d Region roughls i , y triangula joines mainlanshape n i ri th d o det an Scotlanf do d narroe byth w nec Glef ko n Tarbert grea.A t through valley, cause seriea y dTertiarb f so y faults and subsequent erosion, contain chaisa lochf no s from Loch Alin Loco et h Teacuis, which once formed a narrow sound separating the western tip from the rest of the peninsula. From Loch Arienas, the River Aline, a broad spate-river, joined from the NE by the waters of the Black Glen White th d e an Glen, runs southward untim k t reacheli 3 r sfo s Loch Aline shelterea , d sea-loch on the N side of the Sound of Mull. Overlooking the confluence of river and loch is the medieval tower-house of Kinlochaline Castle and a little distance to the E is the 19th-century mansion- house of Ardtornish, set within its wooded policies. The floor of the Aline Valley, from its narrow, thickly wooded entrance to the stepped-plateau remnants of the marine erosion-surfaces at the point where the Black Glen water enters the open valley, is comparatively good agricultural land. Th evallee side sid th steep e W f yeso ar e particularlth , y being coverebees ha n t foresi y ds b a t- since the later 19th century, at least in its southern part (Gaskell 1968, 110). In broad outline, the patterns of settlement in Morvern in prehistoric times were coastal riversided an earle th ,y n i but 19ts a , h century (Gaskell 1968 , ther5) ,e p xvi a seeme Ma ,b o st concentratio f bronze-ago n eAline siteth n esi valley itself. Althoug habitatioo hn n site f thiso s identifiee periob n dca d (nor indee there iron-agy dar ean e sites) t seemei , worte b o dt h whilo et bring various bronze-age cairns together in one report and to suggest the existence in the later second millennium B Cthref o e small possibld an , y contemporary, communitie t Achara s e th t na SE end of Loch Arienas, at Claggan halfway along the River Aline and at Kinlochaline over- looking the head of Loch Aline. The excavations of cairns at Claggan and Kinlochaline were carried out in the course of field-work on behalf of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotlan permissiod dan publiso nt h these result bees sha n granteCommissionerse th y db r M ; 16 I PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1974-5 KINLOpHAUNEv M-2, FIG 1 Aline Valley, Morvern, Argyll RITCHIE, THORNBER, LYNCH, MARSHALL: SMALL CAIRN ARGYLN SI L 17 Thornber discovered the cairns at Acharn, undertaking the excavation of the outlying cremation pit of Cairn 1 and the cists in Cairn 2, and has been responsible for that section of the report. EXCAVATIONS Acharn seriee Th f cairnso t Acharsa discoveres nwa excavatioe 197n di th 1974d 3d an n an a , f no outlying cremation burial of Cairn 1 and of the two cists of Cairn 2 was undertaken in 1974. None of the cairns had previously been recorded, although the placename might well have given indication a theif no r existence. 702504CairnM N (fi 1 R situategs )i 1NG ; wha n formerls do wa t highese yth e t parth f o t promontory overlooking the confluence of the Black Water and the Amhainn a' Ghlinne Ghil, s immediatit t bu e surroundings have been considerably altere sany db d extraction e cairTh .n s beeha (fin) g2 severel ysurvivew robbe no s ston it d mounf sw edan o merel lo a d s ya som e ft. " " " " 'ID " " " ' ib" " " " i'o" " " " Vo" " " " sto" "; " "do FI G2 Acharn, Morvern, Argyll: outcaird an -n1 lying crematiot npi 9-9 m by 9-4 m in diameter, with some possible kerb-stones on the N half, and standing to a discoveres wa cairne t sectio e th sande pi th f th a ,o n df i -n E o heigh e th 0-2f o o t. Somt 5m m e3 quarry. The pit, measuring 0-53 m in diameter and 0-5 m in depth, held a cremation, mixed with eart charcoald han , whic associates hwa d wit calcinea e hb whay d tma bon e toggl pin-headr eo a , smoothed numbestona d ean unworkef ro d burnt flint flakes radiocarboA . n dat f 131eo 45 5 b e± (SP R - 594) was obtained from an analysis of the charcoal. Bone toggle pin-headr o ) a Thi(fi , g6 s tiny fragmen f cremateo t dlon m boney m gb 4 1 , 7 mm in diameter, may be interpreted either as a tripartite (or multi-partite) toggle or as the decorated heasmala f do l pinpiece Th .divides ei d into three segment distinco tw y sb t grooves running roun segmend bonee en d th e ,th t bein lesf go s than hal middlwidte e th fth f ho e oned an , segmene othee th th n r o tsid e bein fragmentaro gto interpreto yt t objece perforateno Th . s i t d horizontally and it cannot therefore be described as a segmented bead, but it is not merely a notched bone representin earln ga y bead-makine stagth n ei g process generan i ; l proportions, however, it is similar to the small perforated beads found in a cinerary urn from Milngavie, Dunbartonshire, along with one leaf-shaped and four barbed-and-tanged arrowheads (Callander 18 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , 1974-5 1908, 218-20). But, as Powell has pointed out in his discussion of the segmented bone fragment from Corrandrum, Co Galway (1972, 103-4), it is unlikely that surface decoration would be attempted until after the perforation of delicate pieces, and it is safe to assume that such objects shoul regardee db unperforateds da Achare th f i ; n fragmen envisages i t pin-heada s da s i t i , worth rememberin verf go thays i slight ti t diamete approximatels i d ran y hal size thaf fth e o t from Corrandrum. Cremation burials of second-millennium date have produced a surprising series of small bone objects, toggles, beads, pins and pin-heads, some of them apparently burnt on the funeral pyre (for example Coolnahane Corko C , ; O'Kell Shed yan e 1974, 76)impossibls i t i ; e hazaro t d what they mea termn i dresf so s (for such objects would surel more yb e often found with inhumation thef si y originally belonge clothino dt shroudsr go termn i r buriaf )o so l ritual (for why are they burnt, if they are toggles securing duffle-bags of cloth or leather in which the cremated bones have been collected prior to deposition). Other examples of such associations are liste Kavanagy db h (1973, 518-21). Stone rubber (fig 6, b) A stone, probably dolerite, with its surfaces smoothed and faceted by rubbing, broken but not apparently burnt, the two rounded edges and the flat surfaces thicknessn i m m 6 1 . o t p u smoothed d an m stone m ;th 0 3 e y measureb m m 1 s5 A second outlying cremation was discovered on the opposite side of the narrow promontory on which the cairn stands and at a distance of 4-5 m SW of the cairn. It was found at a depth onlf o y 0- fro 2m presene mth t tur fope e leveth nn li sectio rivee apparentlth s f rn o banwa d kan y associated wit hlona g flat sla thickness) n b0-i d (0-60-11y m an b 3 4m crematio m e .Th havy nema been deposited in a shallow cist of which only the one course of one side survives, but the remains fragmentaro to e ar interpreto yt . Also present crematebeside th slae d eth b an d minerabona s ewa l formation, two examples of which were examined by general X-ray fluorescence scan by Dr A Livingstone and Mr W J Baird, Department of Geology, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Both samples consiste majorita f do f iroyo n (one with heavy trace bariuf so manganesed man , othethe r witand h minor trace bariumsof , manganese, strontiu rubidium)mand ; this deposit of what seems to be bog iron is unrelated to the cremation burial. Cairn697507M N (fi 2 R firsgsituatee s ) i N 1th m tW;NG f cair0 o smala d57 n no l terrace above the alluvial flood-plain and the E end of Loch Arienas. The cairn (fig 3) has been very considerably disturbemeasurew no d dan s about diameten 10-i 5m standd heighran a p u o s t f o t to 0-5 m. Two cists, neither of them central, are visible within the cairn material, one on the S side and the other in the NE quadrant. The first cist (1) is trapeze shaped on plan and measures 0- y internallb 81- m 4m depthn i 0- d capstonee 8ym an .Th , whic beed hha n dragged off, measures 2 m by 1-8 m and 0-1 m in thickness.

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