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Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology

Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Cultoon - Stone Circle in Scotland in Isle of Islay

Submitted by nicoladidsbury on Sunday, 22 August 2004  Page Views: 15156

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Cultoon
Country: Scotland County: Isle of Islay Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Portnahaven
Map Ref: NR19565697  Landranger Map Number: 60
Latitude: 55.724717N  Longitude: 6.467956W
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.
3 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.
4 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
5

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Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : Cultoon stone circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stone Circle in Islay. Cultoon Stone Circle is 5 1/2 miles North East of Portnahaven (Port-nah-abhainne) located in isolated moorland.

Driving towards the circle from the south, we spotted the main standing stone and parked near some large stones by the edge of the road - dont do this!, the farmer is becoming very fed up with people clambering over his fences. Drive a further 100 yards up the road to park in a small layby - you can walk straight to the stones - no fences to climb.

The stone circle has been excavated, and the present conclusion appears to be that the circle was never completed - local tradition says the clans involved in its construction fell out.

It is a very hard site to photograph. About 50m west of the circle is a 15m wide mound. This mound appears to be a chambered cairn, the farmer confirmed that it may well be a burial mound of some sort.....

Read more in the comment at the bottom of this page. Also see Canmore ID 37233 and The Northern Antiquarian's page for Cultoon, Portnahaven, Islay, Argyll.
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Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by nicoladidsbury : Standing Stone - one of the few stones standing of the Coultoon (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : Cultoon stone circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : A Cultoon stone circle stone with it's cairn behind. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : This standing stone is found just over the road south from Cultoon stone circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : This standing stone is found just over the road south from Cultoon, The circle is visible on the hillock at the left of the photo.

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup : Cultoon stone circle.

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by Bladup

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by nicoladidsbury : Possible Chambered Cairn at Coultoon Stone Circle Photo taken from the stone circle, looking over to a mound 50m to the west.

Cultoon
Cultoon submitted by nicoladidsbury : Coultoon Stone Circle A difficult site to photograph. This photo was taken from the nearby "chambered Cairn" looking up towards the circle.

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Archaeology in the Isle of Man by David Radcliffe


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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.2km SE 143° Lossit Burn Stone Circle (NR202560)
 1.6km ESE 107° Giant's Grave (Islay)* Chambered Cairn (NR211564)
 2.8km NNE 28° Gleann Droighneach Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR21055938)
 3.2km NNE 12° Kilchiaran cup marked stone* Rock Art (NR20436010)
 4.5km NE 36° Cnoc Nan Guaillean Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR22406042)
 5.3km E 79° Port Charlotte* Chambered Cairn (NR2482957613)
 5.7km NE 51° Cnoc Thornasaig Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR242603)
 7.1km NE 49° Gartacharra* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR252613)
 10.3km NE 41° Foreland House Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR269643)
 10.5km N 10° Ballinaby* Stone Row / Alignment (NR2200167206)
 11.7km NE 53° Uiskentuie* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR29386336)
 11.8km NNE 31° Glacan Daraich Ancient Village or Settlement (NR262667)
 13.1km ENE 57° Tayandock* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR31016341)
 13.8km SE 135° Gleann Bun An Easa* Misc. Earthwork (NR2863146542)
 14.7km SE 124° Dun A'chail* Stone Fort or Dun (NR31274796)
 15.0km ESE 121° Kintra (Islay) Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR319483)
 15.1km SE 127° Coille A'chnoic Mhoir* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR31094721)
 15.2km SE 128° Frachdale* Chambered Cairn (NR31054693)
 15.8km ENE 59° Knockdon Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR33616424)
 16.1km ESE 121° Carragh Bhan* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR32834781)
 16.7km ENE 74° Neriby (Bridgend) Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR35956053)
 16.8km ENE 71° Gortanilivorrie Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR35816138)
 17.0km SE 126° Cornabus Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR32644600)
 17.0km NNE 28° St Nem's Churchyard (Kilnave)* Ancient Cross (NR285715)
 17.1km SE 140° Glac A` Charraigh* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR2975443158)
View more nearby sites and additional images

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Chobham Common (1) >>

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Prehistoric Rock Art in the Northern Dales

Prehistoric Rock Art in the Northern Dales

Web Links for Cultoon

Stones of Wonder by Robert Pollock

Archived Web links for Cultoon

STILE by Clive Ruggles
Archaeology in the Isle of Man by David Radcliffe

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"Cultoon" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Coultoon by coldrum on Tuesday, 13 April 2010
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Re: Coultoon by nicoladidsbury on Saturday, 21 August 2004
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Cultoon Stone Circle is 5 1/2 miles North East of Portnahaven (Port-nah-abhainne) located in isolated moorland.

Driving towards the circle from the south, we spotted the main standing stone and parked near some large stones by the edge of the road - dont do this!, the farmer is becoming very fed up with people clambering over his fences. Drive a further 100 yards up the road to park in a small layby - you can walk straight to the stones - no fences to climb.

The stone circle has been excavated, and the present conclusion appears to be that the circle was never completed - local tradition says the clans involved in its construction fell out.

It is a very hard site to photograph. About 50m west of the circle is a 15m wide mound. This mound appears to be a chambered cairn, the farmer confirmed that it may well be a burial mound of some sort.....

This is an extract from a web page of an article written by Euan W. MacKie.


Cultoon stone circle, Islay
It is clear from the re-analysis of Thom’s evidence for the megalithic yard, and for a systematic geometry to go with it, that there may not be enough well preserved sites to come to an unequivocal statistical conclusion. Thus some independent evidence is needed. The Cultoon stone circle in Islay was excavated by the author in 1974–75 and some unique evidence was uncovered which bears directly on the problem being discussed (MacKie 1977: 92–4: MacKie 1981: 116–28). Barnatt and Moir do not refer to this site.

Cultoon is on open moorland, now peat-covered, but had been set up on the solid old ground surface. Only two stones were standing at the start of the work but the stump of a third was found during excavation; eleven more stones were prone. All these stones formed a distinct oval but the best-fitting ellipse missed many stones by a metre or more. After the peat was cleared 13 empty sockets appeared in the old ground surface which had never held stones, showing that the circle was unfinished. The estimated centres of the 16 reliable positions (the three standing stones and the thirteen sockets) fitted well to an ellipse measuring 40·716m by 35·310 m with an eccentricity of almost exactly one half (0·498). The standard deviation of these positions from this ‘ideal’ perimeter was ± 29·4 cm or 7·2% of the long axis (some of the stone sockets were quite large, more than a metre across; MacKie 1981: figure 3.5).

It might be argued that an elliptical ring of this size could be laid out by eye to this degree of accuracy; a practical experiment would probably decide the matter. However one may doubt that the eye alone would produce the eccentricity of one half; three pegs at the points of a measured equilateral triangle together with a rope loop would be needed for this. Of course there is no way of knowing from this one site if a measuring rod was used and, if so, of what length but if such a triangle had sides of 25 units (and the ellipse thus a long axis of 50 units) the unit would have been some 0·814m, or about 15mm shorter than the alleged national standard.

The important point about Cultoon is that, because the stone circle was never finished, its exact plan was only revealed after excavation. The site was in effect a test of the ‘accurate geometry’ hypothesis (and indeed of the long alignment hypothesis — below). Moreover, this discovery means that it is no longer possible to argue that a ruined ring cannot preserve its builders’ intentions sufficiently accurately.

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