Really Old Stuff in Scotland

Whilst we were making our way to the western edge of Scotland, we passed one of the ubiquitous brown signs in the UK that means there is something historic to see nearby. The 11 of us were in 3 cars, and the lead car decided to pull off to see whatever the heck was at Dunchraigaig and to stretch our legs. 

Stop at the brown signs!!

There was no one around to tell us about the sights, but there were a few good signs that told us everything we needed to know for our 30 minute stop at Dunchraigaig. (Ten quid to anyone who can figure out how that's pronounced!) 

Dunchraigaig

We crossed the road and made our way to the cairn. This particular cairn dates back about 4,000 years, to the early bronze age. Usually the focus of a cairn is a single individual, but this cairn had three different chambers with a few bodies in each. The third chamber was the deepest and most interesting, dug directly into the earth, lined with cobbles, and topped with a huge capstone. Inside were the burned skeletons of 10 individuals with artifacts such as an axe and a knife. I read that this type of burial is more in-line with a neolithic burial site than a bronze age one, so maybe this cairn was created during a time when burial styles were changing. 

Cairn

Not quite a quarter of a mile away, were the Nether Largie standing stones of Kilmartin Glen. I couldn't find out much about this stone circle, probably because not much is known about them. They date back to the neolithic period, so as my friend Brook said, "When the Egyptians were building their massive pyramids, the celts were building… this." Yeah, not so impressive now, huh? :-) 

Nether Largie standing stones

One thing I did read online was that in the 1970s, one historian declared these stones were part of an ancient lunar observatory, but another historian has already quashed that claim. So, much like the standing stones at Stonehenge, and Avebury, we still don't really know for certain the purpose of such standing stones. They sure are cool to look at, though!  

Taller than you'd think!

We stretched our legs and goofed off a bit while photographing the stones. 

Paul's groovin' with the stones

Brian, always the photo-bomber!

Not so subtle photo bomb

We drove a bit farther towards the western coast, but saw another brown sign and stopped again. This time, it was for Carnasserie Castle… and some lemonade.

Walk to the top!

It was a short, but steep (for me) walk up to the top of the hill to check out the remains of the castle. The castle was built in the mid 1500s, and was blown up (quite literally) by royal forces just a little over a hundred years later, after a failed uprising against the British crown. 

15th century fort

View inside fort (I'm not the only one taking pictures!)

Although the teensy, tiny spiral staircase was a bit treacherous, we all made the climb up to the top to see the views and the rest of the blown-up castle remains. 

Top of fort

And what spectacular views they were!! 

View from fort