The court cairn or court tomb is a
megalithic type of
chambered cairn or
gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
, more than 390 court cairns were built in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and over 100 in southwest
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. The
Neolithic (New Stone Age) monuments are identified by an uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed and partitioned burial chambers. Many monuments were built in multiple phases in both Ireland and Scotland and later re-used in the
Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
.
Construction and design
Court cairns are characterized as having an uncovered courtyard area connected to one or more covered burial chambers. The boundaries of this open area were typically lined with large standing stones. A narrow, stone lined entry extended from the main area into one or more roofed burial chambers. Courtyards were generally oval or circular in shape, with U-shaped and semi-circular courtyards being the most common layout. Large, standing stones were used to make the walls and roof of burial chambers, normally located at one end of the
cairn. Burial chambers are typically divided by jamb stones or jamb and sill stones into consecutive burial compartments.
There are variations in the court cairn layout in both Ireland and Scotland. Most examples have a single courtyard connected by one burial tomb or a courtyard connected to two burial tombs, located on opposite ends of the court area. In Ireland, there are also instances of layouts with dual tombs, each with their own courtyard, but both sharing a common burial mound. The court cairn is also found in Western Scotland. The similar layout of tombs found in Ireland and Scotland and the close geographical location of these tombs, separated by the narrow
Irish Channel, indicates that these populations moved back and forth on a regular basis between the two countries.
History
The earliest megalithic tombs found in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, Scotland and Ireland were constructed in early 4th millennium
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
. The first burial monuments in these areas were most likely single chamber
dolmens surrounded by large standing stones. A few dolmens can be dated in both
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and Ireland from 3800 to 3500
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
. During the same period,
passage grave
A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...
s were being developed throughout Ireland, southwest Britain, the
Hebrides
The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebr ...
and
the Orkney Islands. Court cairns are unique to Ireland and Scotland.
Radiocarbon dating indicates that the earliest court cairns were built around 3750 and new monuments continued to be built and existing ones enlarged until 2900
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
.
Court cairns in Ireland
There are over 390 court cairns recorded in Ireland, with a majority of monuments found in the northern third of the island. Irish court cairns have a few variations in layout. Most examples have a single courtyard connected by one burial tomb chamber or a single courtyard connected to a single burial tomb on each end. In Ireland, there are also instances of layouts with dual tombs, each with their own courtyard, but both share a common burial mound. Most tombs in Ireland are positioned facing east. Less than 40 tombs have been fully excavated to date, and at the majority of sites, at least one cremated individual has been found. In the Audleystown dual court tomb in
County Down,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, the remains of 34 people were found in the burial chamber.
Court cairns are found north of a line crossing Ireland from
the Burren
The Burren (; ) is a karst/ glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burr ...
to the
Cooley peninsula
The Cooley Peninsula (, older ''Cúalṅge'') is a hilly peninsula in the north of County Louth on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath.
Geography
The ...
. Court cairns are scattered densely across this area of Ireland and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. Thirty percent of all Irish neolithic monuments are court cairns.
The court cairn at
Creevykeel in
County Sligo was the first court cairn to be excavated in Ireland by archaeologists from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1935. They determined that the Neolithic era in Ireland began in 3900
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
, more than 100 years before the first appearance of court tombs. They also suggested that court tombs were widely re-used during the Early Bronze Age. Excavations of court tombs yielded deposits of cremated and unburnt human bone, round bottomed bowls flat, bottomed pottery vessels, flint, polished axes and stone beads.
Court cairns in Scotland
Burial tombs in Scotland are known as Clyde cairns or Clyde-Carlingford cairns. Generally considered to be the earliest chambered cairns in Scotland,
[''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'', Volume 58 Ulster Archaeological Society Ulster Archaeological Society, 1999] more than 100 Clyde cairns have been found to date. The "Clyde" name is derived from the first discovery of courtyard type burial monuments in the
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...
region of southwest Scotland. The ancient monuments are distributed from the
Solway Firth area north to the southern
Hebrides
The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebr ...
, in the counties of
Argyll and
Dumfries and Galloway. A few Clyde Cairns have been recorded in
North Uist in the
Outer Hebrides.
Clyde cairns found in Scotland are identified by an open courtyard area surrounded with large stone slabs and attached to one or more roofed burial chamber areas. The burial chamber was often placed at one end of a rectangular or trapezoidal cairn, and was usually divided into separate burial compartments. Previous excavations suggest that these chambers were entered by removing the stone roof slabs. In some areas, Clyde cairns have one or more lateral chambers. The majority of these monuments were sited to have views over hills or mountains and over water. Many are situated alongside
lochs. These monuments were often built in multiple phases. Only a few of the Clyde cairns have been fully excavated. Burnt human bone has been found in many Clyde burial chambers. Bowl pottery remnants have also been found. The tombs saw re-use of their burial chambers in the Early Bronze Age.
Gallery
Audleystown_Double_Horned_Court_Cairn_-_panoramio_(1).jpg, Audleystown, County Down, Northern Ireland
Dual_court_tomb.jpg, Dual court tomb, Aghanaglack, Northern Ireland.
Laraghirril_Court_Tomb_SE_2014_09_11.jpg, Laraghirril, Ireland
Creevykeel Court Tomb (28243591468).jpg, Creevykeel, County Sligo, Ireland
Ballymacdermot_Chambered_Cairn_-_geograph.org.uk_-_443791.jpg, Ballymacdermot, Northern Ireland
Giants_Graves_-_geograph.org.uk_-_90252.jpg, Giant's grave, Arran, Scotland
Cairn_Holy_I.jpg, Cairnholy,Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
See also
*
List of megalithic monuments in Ireland
*
Prehistoric Ireland
The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over the last decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC (although ...
*
Prehistoric Scotland
Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or furt ...
*
Passage tombs in Ireland
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Court Cairn
Burial monuments and structures
Chambered cairns in Scotland
Archaeology of Ireland
Prehistoric Ireland
Neolithic Scotland
Bronze Age Scotland