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All the United Kingdom Scotland Inverness Clava Cairns

Clava Cairns

This site contains overlapping ancient graveyards that existed about 1,000 years apart.

Inverness, Scotland

Added By
Alan Newman
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Clava Cairns   Dave ahern
Clava Cairns   Julian Paren
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Clava Cairns   Clint Mann
Panorama at Clava Cairns, May 2023   inwtim / Atlas Obscura User
Looking into the Ring Cairn   katielou106 / Atlas Obscura User
Clava Cairn: North-east Passage Grave   Jaszmina Szendrey / Atlas Obscura User
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Various rock formations   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Just a few miles southwest of the Culloden battle site in Highland, Scotland, where the last stand of the final Jacobite rising took place, there is a Bronze Age remnant. The Clava Cairns, also known as the Prehistoric Burial Cairns of Bulnuaran of Clava, date back about 4,000 years

The most prominent features of the Clava Cairns site are three large, circular burial chambers that date to around 2,000 B.C. Generally, cairns fall into two categories: annular ring cairns, which are round, low embankments,  and corbelled passage graves. which consist of one burial chamber and a short passageway that links the chamber to the outside world.

Clava Cairns actually overlaps with another cemetery that was used almost 1,000 years later. In some cases this involved new burials in existing cairns, but also included the construction of many smaller grave structures, as well as a series of standing stones known as kerb cairns.

The stones appear to have been specially selected for their size and color. The larger and more red colored stones are to the southwest of the circles. Smaller, whiter stones are located toward the northeast section of the site. This collection of cairns are just a few of around 50 similar such stones found around the Inverness area. 

Related Tags

Stone Burial Places Ancient Bronze Age

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The Clava Cairns are free to visit and open throughout the year.

Community Contributors

Added By

Dr Alan P Newman

Edited By

Jaszmina Szendrey, SEANETTA, rbenn250, Rachel Preskitt...

  • Jaszmina Szendrey
  • SEANETTA
  • rbenn250
  • Rachel Preskitt
  • katielou106
  • inwtim
  • Pacifickat22
  • Julius Spada

Published

April 8, 2020

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Clava Cairns
Inverness, Scotland, IV2 5EJ
United Kingdom
57.473498, -4.073168

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