THE CLAVA CAIRNS1 by IAI . NWALKERC , M.A., F.S.A.SCOT. THIS pape divides ri d into three parts discussio:a generae th f no l affinities, sucs ha they are, of the Clava cairns; a discussion of their geographical setting; and some remark thein so r possible dating.2 n discussinI g possible affinitie cairnse immediatels i th e f o son , y e structh y kb uniqueness of the group as a whole compared with other groups of megalithic tombs. There are five outstanding features: firstly, the dual element of ring-cairn and passage-grave in a group which seems otherwise completely indivisible; secondly, the us f corbellineo r roofingfo e passage-graveth g s (and paralle thiso t le equall th , y distinctive open chambered non-passaged construction of the ring-cairn); thirdly, surroundine th g circl free-standinf eo g stones; fourthly orientatioe th , f passageno - grav ring-caird ean n alike toward . quarter Se W sth fifthlyd an presenc;e th ,p cu f eo marks both on stones forming part of the cairn and on boulders in the general area of Clava cairn distribution. The nearest parallels to the ring-cairns are in the superficially analagous struc- ture Almerin si southern ai n Spain,3 though Blance4 believes that som thesf eo e latter were used as ossuaries rather than places for collective burial. Passage-graves in general can be shown to have an Atlantic-Irish Sea distribution, from Iberia north- wards,5 though the Irish Sea area is certainly equally an area of gallery-grave distribution. The use of corbelling to roof the structure is a feature which can similarly be Iristracee area th hSe an di alon Atlantie gth c seaboard: Rudh Dunain a ' Skyen ni , Barpa Langass in North Uist, Macs Howe in Orkney, and Achnacree at the southern end of the Great Glen, have this feature; so have the Boyne tombs in Ireland and . WalesN Sergenta L , Jerseyn ei , lie Longu lid eean Car Brittanyn ni tombsd an , Pavie th Alcald n aan i a cemeterie Millares Lo Portugan se i th s d cemeteran l n yi Almeria.6 e burde1Th thif o n s articl originalls wa e y parsurveya f o t , nominall countiee th f y o f Nairnshire o s , Moray and Banffshire, in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages made for an M.A. thesis at the Department of Pre- historic Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (Univ. Edin. Dept. of Arch, t^th Ann. Rep. (1960-1), 6-9). The Beakers and bronzes from the three counties shown on Maps I and II are taken from my thesis catalogue; Beakere th s fro adjacene mth t are Inverness-shirf ao e have been noted from various volume thesf so e Proceedings and the bronzes from the same area have been taken from the same sources, with the addition of several unpublished one whicr sfo h informatio . StewartC . E . nI exten ,M M.A.thanks y dm Mr , PH.D.o st , F.S.A.SCOT. 2 I am most grateful to Miss A. S. Henshall, M.A., F.S.A., F.S.A.SCOT., who had been studying Clava cairns independently as part of her survey of Scottish chambered tombs (Henshall, A. S., Chambered Tombs of Scot- land, I (1963) , 12-39) not on'y proofr f°he r ordee lettinn si se rewrit o e t r g m sectio e eth thn ni e for coma f mo - r muc studyn fo t how bu hel,r discussio d menhe pan n o t n durin writine originale gth th f go . Whero n e specific references are given, the relevant sources will be found in her work. I am also most grateful to Dr . BlanceM . B , M.A. Coles, M F.S.A.SCOT. J ,r M.A.D d , F.S.A.an , , F.S.A.SCOT. permissior fo , quoto nt e from their unpublished theses. Distribution map basee sar d upowit p O.Ssanctioe e nhth th ControlleMa e . th f no H.Mf o r . Stationery Office. Crown Copyright reserved. 3 LeisnerMegalithgrdbere V.d Di an , . G , der Iberischen Halbinsel, Sudenr I:De (1943), Taf. 1-7. * Antiquity, xxxv (1961), 193. 6 P.P.S., VII (1941), 1-49, cf. figs. 2 and 16. 6 Piggott, S., Neolithic Cultures of the British hies (1954), chap, vn passim. 8 8 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , 1963-64 e surroundinTh g circl f orthostateo a featur s i s e difficul paralleo t t othen i l r groups of chambered tombs: New Grange, one of the Boyne group, has such a feature Bryd an ,Angleseyn i Cellu Dd i , another Boyne tomth f bo e groupy ma , have had a similar circle.1 Kercado, a Breton passage-grave, also has a circle of '54321 0 FIG. i. Map I. All the Clava cairns marked on this map are noted by Henshall either in her catalogue, tex r introductiono t , wit exceptioe hth possible th f no e exampl Inverfarigaif eo e gth d (se . ian i)eo p two possible example t Windhilla s , Easter Ross, P.S.A.S., LXXXVIII gratefu(1955-6)m a I o t . l 85 , Dr A. A. Woodham, M.B.E., B.SC., F.S.A.SCOT., for information on the latter. The two Beakers from the Gulbin Sand Findhore s th (immediatelf o . nW knowestuary e w froe th b no mo yo e nt t ar Aberdeen) - shire (see P.S.A.S., (1961-2)v xc , 305-6. orthostats,2 as well as a stone set on top of its cairn, as was apparently formerly the Millares Lo e r th sfo f Grange., tombso w 40 w casNe d fe - , t Nos1 e9 a 6an A , 3 7 . exampl e- hav e some suggestio free-standinnof g stones beyon cairdthe n kerbThe . Aberdeenshire Recumbent Stone onlCirclee th ye othesar r primarily burial monu- ment havo st ecircla orthostatsf eo theid an , r connections wil discussee b l d later. The orientation of the Clava cairns has its closest parallels among the Recumbent Stone Circle. ScotlanNE f thossd o d an souther n ei n Ireland discussiod ,an thesf no e Archaeologia, LXXX (1930), 205. Piggott, S., op. cit., 200. 31 Coffey, G., New Grange . and other Incised Tumuli ian Ireland (1912), 7-8, 9, 12. 9 8 THE CLAVA CAIRNS two groups will follow later. However, work by de Valera and 0 Nuallain1 has recently shown that all the wedge-shaped gallery graves of Co. Clare face between WNW.d an . majorite S th , . ThiW y sd betwee shoulan . comparee dnb SW d with, for example, de Valera's work on court cairn gallery graves in the N. of Ireland,2 where the orientation is much more varied, but the majority face between E. and NE., particularly betwee ENEd an . .n E Sufficient informatio orientatioe th n no n of the Breton allees couvertes, a type which must be ancestral to the wedges,3 is lacking but while there can be no connection between gallery-graves and Clava t anothecairnsye e b ,r Atlantic-Irisn y thia hin f ma so t a traditione hSe th f O . Almerian passage-graves planne Leisnere th y db s - Llan onlAtalaya o l ye tw o d a6 Millares Lo - fac d 5 es4 an SW. rese th :t faceastere th e compassne halth f o fe th , majorit thef yo m approximately SE. faca , t which Blance confirms. 4 studo bees N yha n orientatiomade th f eo Boynf no Grangw e Ne tombs e e th t a : cemetery,5 New Grange itself faces approximately SE., while the primary chamber at Dowth faces a little S. of W., the secondary chamber being parallel. It is uncertain where the chamber is at Knowth6 - it does not however face N. as Coffey7 suggested. A newly discovered passage-grave close by, Knowth Townland, faces SSE. In the 8 Loughcrew cemetery 13 of the 24 tombs remain in a state where the orientation ca thesnotedf e o n b d e onlan , y one, Loughcre9 hal. face, W wf compasS e e o fsth th s- remaindee th f O . 10 . W °N r fiv S.° e, 20 facthre . S eE . 10 eE d ° eac e an S. on ,h E and only two the NE. quarter. At Carrowkeel on the other hand, though in some 0 cases the orientations are not certain from the descriptions1 , the prevailing orientation facee on s - S. , N Carrowmoreanothet seeme A b . o st rSE orientatioe 11th verf no y few of the 63 cairns is certain: of those which are, most face the E. half of the compass , SSW twod 59 facebue an d ,. t on Nos sS Fourknockan 6 5 . s I 1orientates 2i d approxi- mately NNE. Neither Fourknocks Iln or III is a chambered tomb13 but the former is rituaa l site with Loughcrew ware typicae th , l Boyne culture pottery. A recently surveyed possible passage-grave cemetery at Bremore comprises a 14 large moun foud dan r smaller ones latte e signo passaga seen e :th f b so n rn i n eca formee t facthath y bu n eti ma r approximately NNW. (rathe Hartnets ra tha. nNE t suggested) ,15 Of isolated examples approximate orientations are Slieve Gullion16 SSE., Bryn Celli Ddu17 NE. and Barclodiad y Gawres13 NNE. The passage at the Mound of the 1 Valera, R.