Nether Largie South Cairn

The Nether Largie South Cairn is one of the earliest ancient monuments that were scattered across Kilmartin Glen by our ancestors.

It now forms part of what is known as a linear cemetery, a line of cairns stretching around three miles, roughly south across the landscape from the village of Kilmartin.

The first structure on the site was a chambered tomb, which was built between 5,500 and 5,600 years ago.

The original cairn would have been more oblong than circular and had a passage at its centre, which was used as the final resting place for members of the local farmers. Over a thousand years after the cairn was originally built, it was reused as a place of burial.

In the Early Bronze Age the Cairn was remodelled into a circular cairn. At the same time it was used to house two more burials, in stone cists. Today only one of the two cists is visible, to the south of the main cairn.

The cairn was excavated over a three day period in 1864 by Canon William Greenwell, the librarian of Durham Cathedral and produced many finds. Pottery, knives, arrow heads, flints of various sizes and uses, cremated and uncremated human bones, quartz pebbles, and animal remains, were some of the many finds. You can see some of these finds on display in Kilmartin Museum.

Created: 27  August  2016  Edited: 29  November  2023