A Long Cairn near Gourdon, Kincardineshire, and a Bronze Age Cairn containing a Short Cist and an Urn, at Idvies, Forfarshire

Abstract

A long cairn at Gourdon was located and surveyed. It was built of stone and earth and had been much robbed. There are hollow cavities either side of the mound. The ends are rounded, and there is no evidence that the cairn had been of the horned variety, which is seen at its best in the north of Scotland. No large stones which might indicate the presence of a burial chamber or of an entrance passage to one were observed. A Bronze Age cairn at Idvies covered a short cist which contained cremated human bone and an urn. The bone was laid on the base of the cist and not in the urn. Some fragments of charcoal were mixed with the bone. A small piece of bone bears a green stain, possibly caused by being in contact with a small object of bronze. The bones were of an adult and had not been burnt very efficiently.