EHG4849 - Excavations - Miltown of Clava

As part of an assessement of the guardianship monuments that form the Clava group, Archaeological Operations and Conservation, the then Historic Scotland field work unit, were asked to carry out small-scale trial excavations of a cairn (with adjacent stnading stone) at Miltown of Clava. The cairn has been in state care since 1925 when it was acquired along with the other more impressive monuments at Balnuaran of Clava. The cairn at Miltown of Clava is situated some 0.5km SW of the three large cairns at Balnuaran of Clava. Immediately to the W are the ruins of a chapel which is also in state care. About 0.3km to the SW is the ring cairn of Culdoich which was partially explored by Piggott (1956) and later by Barber (1982). The aim of these excavations was limited to establishing whether the site was a Clava type cairn and whether or how it could best be displayed. There were four specific objectives: a. to make a detailed survey of the surviving monument (this has been placed in the NMRS archive): b. to establish the presence or absence of structural elements, such as a kerb, on the circular cairn; c. to determine the date and significance of the rectangular cairn; d. to determine if the surviving standing stone was part of a stone circle. The excavation revealed that underneath a large spread of more recent field clearance was a prehistoric cairn probably of the Clava type. The cairn was circular with an estimated diameter of 12m. To the SW of the cairn is a large standing stone and lying on the cairn was a large slab decorated with small cup marks. The presence of both these features in characteristic of Clava type cairns. All these monuments lie in the valley of the River Nairn which at this point is steep-sided and relatively flat-bottomed. <1>