From Cairn to Cemetery

This volume presents the methodology and results for the excavations at Cairnderry and Bargrennan, south-west Scotland. A comparative chapter compares the excavation results from both sites, and presents interpretations of these results, particularly in terms of the architecture and the early Bronze Age mortuary practices. Chapter 5 considers the architecture of Cairnderry and Bargrennan in terms of wider trends in the construction of chambered cairns throughout the British Isles and throughout the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Chapter 6 places the early Bronze Age activity at Cairnderry and Bargrennan within a local context by examining mortuary practices across Dumfries and Galloway. It focuses on comparisons with other sites where cremated bones were deposited and cinerary urns used and/or sites where cairns were constructed or re-used in the early Bronze Age. Chapter 7 provides a summary of conclusions as to the finds and revisits the problem of dating Bargrennan chambered cairns, before suggesting avenues for future research in Galloway. The appendices draw together the specialists reports on finds from the excavations (including a substantial contextualisation of some of the early Bronze Age artefacts), context descriptions and radiocarbon dating results.