Nether Largie South Cairn

Nether Largie South stands within Kilmartin Glen’s line of five major burial cairns, spread over approximately two kilometres. It is the earliest monument in that sequence, originating in the Neolithic more than a thousand years before the later Bronze Age cairns. Its first form was a long, trapezoidal mound with a burial chamber at the broader end. Upright slabs divided the chamber into compartments, creating an internal arrangement associated with communal burial. A forecourt may have provided space for ceremonies, although the particular activities performed there are unknown. Around four thousand years ago the monument was enlarged into a round cairn more than thirty metres across, incorporating two additional stone-lined graves. This transformation demonstrates how later communities adapted an existing burial place. The surviving structure records both its initial construction and a substantial episode of prehistoric reuse. Period: Neolithic with Bronze Age additions Grid reference: NR 82860 97920 Protection: Source: Historic Environment Scotland, https://www.trove.scot/place/39460 (Open Government Licence). Contains Historic Environment Scotland data licensed under the Open Government Licence; source compiler retained per record. Banner photo: "Kilmartin Nether Largie South Cairn 1" by Ymblanter, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.