Exploration of a Cairn on Canna

Abstract

The cairn was one of a pair of small structures standing on the foreshore. When the outer layer of stones had been removed, the mound was found to consist of alternating bands of red and black soil. The black soil was full of charcoal, and the red consisted of some burnt clay-like material. it is suggested that the whole probably represents the remains of a funeral pyre scraped up and covered by a heap of stones. No urn or cist was discovered. Artefacts comprised pottery, a thumb scraper, a hammer-stone and burnt bone which was thought to be animal.