Site Report

WoSASPIN 7966
NS48SE 1 4576 8147.

(NS 4576 8147) Lang Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)

The Lang Cairn, Dumbartonmuir: This Clyde group, chambered long cairn measures about 185' in length, with its main axis ESW-WNW. At the E end, where it stands about 6' high - though the height immediately behind the facade was increased by additional stones a few years ago - it measures 50' across, gradually contracting and decreasing in height to a narrow, rounded W end. Hollows have been made into the cairn in several places. Several small slabs, particularly along the W half of the N side, may belong to a peristalith some feet within the present edge of the cairn. At the E end of the cairn there is a facade of orthostats with panels of dry-walling between. The large stone, 6' high and the most prominent at the site was re-erected about 1960. Formerly prone in the forecourt, it was set up where its base lay. There are two pairs of portal stones in the centre of the facade. Behind the facade, and askew to the axis of the cairn, there is the single compartment of a chamber, now covered over. It is not known what structure may lie between this and the portals.
About 60' behind the facade, part of a lateral chamber is exposed. Another lateral chamber existed 51' further W. All that is visible is a large slab, 4'6" x 1' thick; a hollow on its W side suggests this stone formed the E side of a chamber.
Near the W end of the cairn a substantial slab set upright may be seen aligned along the medial line of the cairn. It is 2'4" x 6" x at least 1'6" high, but its upper edge is at present flush with the cairn material. A smaller slab N of it may belong to a peristalith.
A paving of flat slabs fills the forecourt. This is likely to be a deliberate blocking. Above this there was a layer of rounded stones like those forming the body of the cairn; these stones were moved back behind the facade when the large stone was re-erected.
A S Henshall 1972; E W MacKie 1963.

This fine example of a Clyde cairn is as described by previous authorities.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J P) 13 November 1975.
This cairn is situated on at a height of 167m OD. It measures 56.4m in length by 15.2m in maximum width and is aligned ESE-WNW. At its E end, where it stands 1.8m high, there is a facade constructed of orthostats with panels of dry-stone walling between them. Two pairs of portal stones stand in the centre of the facade.
RCAHMS 1978, visited December 1977

Damage to the cairn in the form of illicit excavation was reported to Historic Scotland and the Police by the landowner of Gartlea Farm on 3 May 2009. At this time only one hole had been excavated in the cairn, Disturbance A. By the time of the recording and reinstatement works of 13 May a second area of illicit excavation, Disturbance B, had occurred.

Firat Archaeological Services were contracted by Historic Scotland to undertake the recording of the illicit excavations and to reinstate the disturbed cairn material. The recording of the damage and reinstatement of the cairn was carried out on 13 May 2009 on a bright sunny and windy day.

Disturbance A
At NS 45777 81466 a sub-rectangular hole had been excavated into the cairn by unknown persons. The hole measure 1.15m N-S x 1.00m E-W and varied from 1.00m to 1.80m deep. The actual depth of illicit excavation is approximately 1m but due to the profile of the cairn the deepest exposure of cairn make-up material is 1.80m. There was already a depression in the surface of the cairn at this point before the illicit excavation and this was indicated by lichen covered stones along the east side of the hole.

The stones that had been removed from the cairn consist of boulders ranging in size from 0.15m x 0.30m x 0.30m up to 0.50m x 0.36m x 0.20m and were on average 0.25m x 0.20m x 0.20m although some larger boulders were also present. The stones were predominantly sandstone with some conglomerate sandstone and a single water worn pink quartz cobble was located amongst the illicit excavation upcast.

The interior of the hole was irregular and revealed only the stone boulders that make up the cairn. No structural remains, deposits or artefacts were present. While the quartz cobble may be a ritual artefact (as noted at several other Scottish and Irish Neolithic burial cairns) its original position within the cairn material had been disturbed and there was no visible evidence of any kind to indicate whether, or why, it had been placed deliberately within this part of the cairn.

The stones that had been removed by the robbers had been placed around the hole in an arc around the west and south sides. Initial thoughts that the excavation may have been made to create a shooting butt were dismissed on closer inspection and the excavation is clearly illicit excavation with the intention of tomb robbing. The excavated stones were arranged in a fairly neat arc around the hole but this is more likely to be because they were heavy boulders and needed to be lifted and placed rather than just easily thrown out of the illicit excavation. The arc of stones extended up to 1m on the south and 1.20m on the west around the actual excavation hole and stood approximately 0.5m high.

On first inspection some of the stones that had been removed from the body of the cairn, which were clearly identifiable due to the lack of lichen and moss on their surfaces, appeared as if they might be fire scorched. However, it seems more likely that the slight red and grey colouration is due to water and earth staining of the stones and environmental conditions (oxygen levels).

The make up of the cairn is 100% stone and very little earth was present, the majority of which has probably percolated down between the stones over the millennia. The soil that was present was a black peaty sand. A few tiny flecks of charcoal were noted within this soil but these could have been introduced by wind blowing ash from moor burning into the voids between the stones. It was noted that moss and ferns had penetrated quite deep into the cairn material in the voids between the stones.

Following inspection and recording of the disturbance the hole was lined with a triple layer of folded terram and the stones backfilled with the largest stones in the bottom and the lichen covered stones reinstated over the top of the hole.

Disturbance B
At NS 45759 81475 a hole had been excavated into the cairn by unknown persons. This illicit excavation took place between 3 – 13 May 2009. This western end of the cairn is generally covered with blaeberry and heather and less stones are visible on the surface. However, the lichen cover on some of the disturbed stones suggests that this was an area of partially exposed stone cairn material before the illicit excavations.

The sub-rectangular excavation measured 2m NW-SE at 317° x 1.50m and was between 0.70m and 1.20m deep. The actual depth of excavation was c. 0.70m and the deeper part of the excavation is due to the undulating nature of the cairn’s surface. The robbed stones had been piled up in a 0.60m high heap on the SW side and stones from the edge had slipped in to the hole. The majority of the stones did not have any lichen cover indicating that they had been removed from the sealed body of the cairn but there were enough lichen covered stones to indicate that at least some stones were exposed on the surface.

The interior of the hole was uneven with boulders projecting on all sides and on the bottom as might be expected. There was no sign of any structural elements, deposits or artefacts and the excavation had terminated within the cairn make-up material.

The stones disturbed at Disturbance B were all sandstone boulders and ranged in size from 0.10m x 0.12m x 0.15m up to 0.50m x 0.35m x 0.20m and were 0.40m x 0.30m x 0.20m on average. Black humic sand was again observed amongst the boulders in small pockets and again is likely to represent rotten vegetation percolating down into the voids between the stones rather than a deliberate earth component to the cairn which is 100% stone make-up. A black peaty turf is present over the surface of the cairn at its western end.

Disturbance B was lined with terram in a triple layer and this was packed onto the voids at the base. The hole was then backfilled with the robbed out stones with the stones removed from the bottom of the hole put back in first and the lichen covered stones placed over the top of the backfilled hole.

Summary and Conclusion
The two areas of disturbance, A and B, represent illicit excavation of the monument and represent an attempt at tomb robbing. It is of note that both of the robbers’ holes were located on the main axis of the cairn and quite close to previously exposed and recorded structural elements. This suggests that this was not an opportune excavation but a planned exercise by someone who had perhaps read up on the site and on Neolithic long cairns in general.

It is apparent from the undulating surface of the cairn, in particular notable depressions in the surface, that the stones have been disturbed in the past and no doubt there have been several excavations into the monument over the centuries.

Neither of the illicit excavation holes penetrated to the base of the cairn or old ground surface and no structural elements were exposed. The excavations removed only cairn make-up material and only cairn make-up material was exposed in the sides and bottoms of the illicit excavation holes.

Both of the illicit excavation holes were lined with terram, which was folded several layers thick to provide a cushion in the base of the hole and to fill the voids in the bottom of the holes before the stone cairn make-up material was reinstated. The small boulders making up the cairn were placed back in the holes more or less in the order in which they had been removed. Stones from the lower levels of the excavation that did not show moss and lichen growth were placed back in the bottom of the holes and the stones with lichens and moss were placed over the top of the infilled hole. The objective was to make it look as if the area had not been disturbed recently and the disturbed stones had not been moved.

The backfilling of the illicit excavation holes has successfully reinstated the monument to its previous condition and it is not immediately obvious that these areas have been disturbed so recently. At Disturbance A it is very difficult to tell the stones have been moved but it is more obvious to the trained eye at Disturbance B as the surface vegetation had also been disturbed.
Text from FIRAT Archaeological Services Ltd Data Structure Report

The Lang Cairn is situated on flat land at the top of a sub-oval natural mound within Dumbarton Muir and lies 20m N of a forestry plantation. It sits in
the landscape at a height of about 177mOD and is accessed through a forestry ride from the main forestry track.. To the SW is a smaller, circular cairn.

Lang Cairn is a typical Neolithic Clyde-type long cairn with a grand facade composed of large orthostats and a long body of drystone rubble, now mostly overgrown with heather, grasses and small conifer trees. The cairn is aligned WNW-ESE with a total length of 55.5 metres. The maximum width and height of the cairn are at the E end measuring 15.25m and 2m respectively. The cairn narrows to a minimum width of 6.2m at the W end where it reduces in height to meet the ground.

The cairn has two chambers visible within the cairn body. Chamber 1 measures 3m x 1m in a N-S alignment. It has a possible in-situ orthostat on its E side and 2 large displaced stones within it which may be orthostats or capstones. It has a well-defined E side, sloped N and W sides and its S is missing. Chamber 2 measures 2.8m x 0.7m in a NNE-SSW alignment has an in-situ orthostat on both its E and W sides and is well defined on all sides. A small chamber has been identified previously (Henshall, 1972; MacKie, 1963) lying about 11m W of the entrance, but this was not visible at the time of survey. Its location, however, may be indicated on Illustration 4 by the contours.

A possible circular structure is present 9m from the W end of the cairn with a SE facing wallface partially visible. It is probable that this feature is later in date than the cairn having been constructed upon the cairn using the body material.

The cairn is uneven on its top and S elevation with a number of hollows. Two holes were illicitly dug on the cairn and refilled in 2009 (Baker, 2009) but the cairn has suffered more damage from robbing with elogated grooves on its S side, with one of them showing exposed rubble of the cairn body, and holes dug into the top.

The cairn has three breaks of slope upon its top which lead to a tentative suggestion that it may have been built in different phases which extended the cairn into a long cairn over time. The first phase includes the front facade and Chamber 3 up to the break of slope 10; the second phase incorporated Chamber 2 up to the break of slope 11; the third phase extended the cairn to include Chamber 1 up to the end of break of slope 12; a further phase would have seen the construction of the possible circular structure either next to the cairn or on top of cairn material spread from the end of the cairn.

The cairn facade is comprised of 13 upstanding orthostats and four fallen orthostats, with the tallest measuring 2m in height. MacKie (1963) and Henshall (1972) recorded built wall faces in between the orthostats but at the time of the 2017 survey the overgrown and tumbledown nature of the structure meant that no wallfaces were visible.

The entrance of the cairn is situated in the centre of the facade where two pairs of portal stones are set. Although the upstanding facade orthostats appear authentic is has been noted that some may have been reerected by the land-owner (MacKie, 1963)
Hudson, G. & Humble, J., AOC Archaeology Group, 'Shiels of Gartlea Cairn and Lang Cairn, Dumbarton: Neolithic Chambered Cairns. Archaeological survey, February/March 2017', 2017