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Visiting the Past: Finding and Understanding Britain's Archaeology

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<< Other Photo Pages >> Blasthill - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Argyll

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 13 February 2015  Page Views: 7076

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Blasthill
Country: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 0.2 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Argyll Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Town: Campbelltown
Map Ref: NR7201009289  Landranger Map Number: 68
Latitude: 55.324660N  Longitude: 5.59544W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 3

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Blasthill
Blasthill submitted by Flickr : The excavations at Blasthill, taken in 2009 Image copyright: Dunvalanree, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Prior to survey and excavation, Blasthill chambered tomb was considered to be a ‘classic’ Clyde cairn, similar in size, shape and form to other early Neolithic monuments found throughout western Scotland. The site survived as a grassy mound with a well-preserved forecourt defined by a façade. It was considered that the forecourt had been blocked and both the façade and blocking survived in situ.

Excavations in 2009 have shed much light on the development and use of the site. Later in the early Neolithic alliances appear to have switched, and there was an increased focus on Irish connections. This was manifested in the unique remodelling of the forecourt at Blasthill to resemble a court cairn.
The chambered tomb saw a renewed focus of activity in the Early Bronze Age.
Full details are in the excavation report linked below.

Note: The life and times of a chambered tomb: the newly published survey and excavation results from Blasthill
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
NR7209 : Triangulation pillar, Creagach Leac, Argyll by Claire Pegrum
by Claire Pegrum
©2021(licence)
NR7209 : Creagach Leac by Rude Health
by Rude Health
©2012(licence)
NR7109 : Rough grazing by Pennyland by RH Dengate
by RH Dengate
©2010(licence)
NR7208 : Minor Road, south-east Kintyre Peninsula by G Laird
by G Laird
©2018(licence)
NR7108 : Minor road near Kilbride by Steven Brown
by Steven Brown
©2013(licence)

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"Blasthill" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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What lies beneath: Thinking about the qualities and essences of stone and wood... by Andy B on Sunday, 15 February 2015
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What lies beneath: Thinking about the qualities and essences of stone and wood in the chambered tomb architecture of Neolithic Britain and Ireland. Journal of Social Archaeology by Vicki Cummings

This article considers the interpretation of stone and wood in Neolithic chambered tomb architecture in Britain and Ireland. Against a broader theoretical agenda of both relational materialities and animistic ontologies, it is argued that the qualities and essences of stones dictated their choice and use in monuments. Essentially, it was the hidden natures of stones which gave them meaning, and as archaeologists we can explore this through understanding lithic sourcing, quarrying techniques and the movements of stones, as well as their final resting place within monuments. These ideas are explored through the life history of one monument, that of Blasthill in Kintyre. These ideas are then expanded out to include wood and provide a critique of the wood–stone dichotomy prevalent in current interpretations of Neolithic monumentality.

Thinking_about_the_qualities_and_essences_of_stone_and_wood_in_the_chambered_tomb_architecture_of_Neolithic_Britain_and_Ireland.
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The life and times of a chambered tomb: survey and excavation results from Blasthill by Andy B on Friday, 13 February 2015
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The life and times of a chambered tomb: the results of survey and excavation at Blasthill chambered tomb, Kintyre, western Scotland. Archaeological Journal 172, 1-29 by Vicki Cummings & Gary Robinson

Clyde cairns are a distinctive form of early Neolithic burial monument found in western Scotland. However, there have been no detailed investigations of these sites for many decades. Knowledge of early Neolithic monumentality in this region remains limited and reliant on parallels with better-known sequences in southern Britain and in Ireland. New research questions have recently arisen which explore the date of the construction of megalithic sites as well as the use and reuse of monuments over time.

With these research questions in mind, this article presents the results of excavations at Blasthill chambered tomb in southern Kintyre, focusing on the use of this monument over a two thousand-year period. Excavations have suggested that this monument saw several key phases of construction and elaboration as well as more minor adjustments and depositions from the early Neolithic through into the Bronze Age. Both the architecture and material culture deposited within the monument suggest fluctuating relations with surrounding communities, most notably others in western Scotland and eastern Ireland.

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