- In
the first (cairn) opened (G) there was an entrance passage, a polygonal
central chamber, and three polygonal cells around it, evenly disposed.
Several sill-stones divided up the entrance passage, and a sill seperated
the central chamber from each of the side chambers. Between the sill-stones,
each section of the floor was paved with a large slab. The roof was
formed of large overlapping slabs, sloping outwards. It was a most symmetrical
and beautiful piece of architecture. I had the privilege of being the
first to crawl down the entrance-passage, and I did so with no little
awe. I lit three candles and stood awhile, to let my eyes accustom themselves
to the dim light. There was everything just as the last Bronze Age man
had left it, three to four thousand years before. A light brownish dust
covered all. The central chamber was empty, but each of the three recesses
opening from it contained much burnt bone debris, with flat stones on
which bones had evidently been carried in, after the bodies had been
cremated in strong fires outside. There beads of stone, bone impliments
made from Red Deer antlers, and many fragments of much decayed pottery.
On little raised recesses in the wall were flat stones on which reposed
the calcinated bones of young children. This brief description gives
a sample of the construction and contents of the more complete cairns.
-
R.
L. Praeger - The Way That I Went, 1937
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