Print

MHG926 - Chambered Long Cairn - Tulach an T-Sionnaich

Summary

No summary available.

Type and Period (3)

Protected Status

Full Description

Tulach an t'Sionnaich (NAT), Chambered Cairn (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

The cairn was Scheduled in 1933.

Tulach an t'Sionnaich, the Mound of the Fox, is a multi-period chambered cairn, which was excavated by Corcoran in September 1961 and April 1963, in advance of raising of level of Loch Calder, which would threaten site. Before excavation, its general appearance was that of a long cairn, unhorned and possibly disturbed, but retaining most of its structural features. It was 200ft long, lying NNW-SSE and averaging 40 ft in breadth with higher and broader end, 6ft in max height, towards S. A prominent feature was a 'trench' crossing cairn about 50ft from S end.

The excavation showed that monument had originated as a minimal, round cairn, about 35ft in diameter, covering a passage grave consisting of a square chamber whose 7ft long passage had opened to S, but was carefully blocked. The outer ends of passage were bonded into revetment wall which had bounded the cairn. Between E side of chamber and revetment, an inner wall, roughly built but quite stable, was traceable for 18ft from where it was bonded into E side of passage to where it was lost in disturbance.

After an independent, though possibly short existence, this cairn, which comparison with Vementry (HU26SE 1) suggests may have stood on a heel-shaped platform, was enclosed within a heel-shaped cairn, first to be identified on mainland of Scotland, whose 'narrow plan would place it early in the typological sequence of this class of monument. The façade, built across entrance to passage, was unbroken. Disturbance, both prehistoric and recent, prevented recovery of complete plan but it appeared to have measured c53ft from façade to rear and 51ft across chord of the façade. N limit was in area of 'trench' where disturbed remains of drystone walling about 18ins high were identified.

After time lapse sufficient to allow slip from heel-shaped cairn to accrue to depth of c1ft in forecourt, whole structure was encapsulated in long cairn whose straight S end ran across façade of heel-shaped cairn, and which was completely surrounded by a low revetment wall. The long cairn was straight-sided, 127ft long, and tapered slightly from width of 34ft across its pseudo-façade to 26ft at slightly convex N end. It was aligned c15 E of axis of heel-shaped cairn, presumably to use a natural ridge to enhance its height which, except at S end was nowhere more than 3ft. Selective cuts in body of cairn revealed cist-like arrangements of stones, which, however proved to be part of cairn structure.

Few finds were made but pottery suggested to Corcoran that the heel-shaped cairn was in use during floruit of undecorated Neolithic pottery; that it went out of use about period of local arrival of Beakers; and that long cairn was complete before deposition of a cinerary urn outside revetment wall. Finds from excavation are in NMAS, donated by DoE. <1>

Cairn as described. Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 22 October 1964.

See A S Henshall 1972

Tulach an t-Sionnaich, a chambered cairn generally as described by Corcoran. S and SW sides, including chamber have been eroded by waters of Loch Calder but main body of cairn remains turf-covered.
Revised at 1:2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 17 September 1981.

See link below for radiocarbon dates. They were first published (uncalibrated) by Sharples in 1986, and indicated Neolithic - Early Bronze Age dates. The excavations where the samples were obtained were undertaken in 1961, however, as radiocarbon dating was expensive and time consuming at that time, it was not until 1980 that radiocarbon dating samples from this site and Tulloch of Assery A and B were again considered. The close proximity of these three sites and also the great difference in both architecture and burial deposits meant that some chronological guidelines for these three sites could result in a picture of the changing use of chambered tombs in the British Isles. <2>

A radiocarbon date from the cremated human remains from the cinerary urn were obtained and published in 2005 as part of the National Museums of Scotland Radioncarbon Dating Programmes. This indicated an Early Bronze Age date of 2140-2030 BC calibrated to 1 sigma. <3>

A radiocarbon date was also obtained from an adult male sample in 2016 as part of the GENSCOT Ancient DNA project, which indicated a Neolithic date of 3693-3542 BC calibrated to 1 sigma. <4>

The radiocarbon date and DNA sample information were also included in the 'A summary round-up list of Scottish archaeological human remains that have been sampled/analysed for DNA as of January 2019', available online through DES. This also includes references to where the DNA results have been published. <5>

Listed in the NMS catalogue are 2 sherds of Beaker pottery (Acc. No. EO 1108), 12 flakes, blades and chips of flint (EO 1110) and a portion of hazelnut (EO 1114). <6>

Human remains from the site are within NMS collections. <7>

Human remains from the site were amongst those included as part of a study into strontium (n = 18) and sulphur (n = 10) isotope analysis of 15 individuals from Scottish Neolithic funerary monuments in Orkney and Caithness, undertaken to assess mobility during the Neolithic. The human remains came from three chambered cairns in Caithness at Tulach an t’Sionnaich, Tulloch of Assery A (see MHG981), and Rattar East (see MHG2268), and from one chambered cairn in Orkney (Quanterness). For most of the individuals the results indicated that they were likely to have been raised in the region where they were interred. One individual from Tulach an t'Sionnaich, an adult male, had values from one of his three sampled teeth that suggested he was raised non-locally though still likely to have been born in Scotland, but in a region with more elevated strontium isotope ratios. Using the strontium isoscape and assignR, the potential regions of origin were examined at two thresholds of probability (25% and 75% quantiles) and suggested that this individual was likely to have come from northern Scotland. These results suggested that the individuals interred in the Neolithic tombs that were studied lived in the same region as those tombs, so could be considered to have lived ‘locally’. This pointed to these tombs being used by geographically constrained local groups and may have reflected the sedentary lifestyle of Neolithic farmers. In order to build a more robust picture of mobility in Neolithic Scotland, more sampling and isotopic analysis would be required. The current study showed the utility of random forest generated isoscapes and the possibilities of combining both strontium and sulphur isotopes for mobility studies. <8>

Human remains from the site were amongst those analysed as part of a study into the genetic relatedness of 22 individuals whose remains were placed in five Early Neolithic tombs in Caithness and Orkney and published in Antiquity Vol. 100 in 2026. Although it was only possible to obtain Adna sequences suitable for analysis from a subset of the osteological minimum number of individuals (MNI) in each tomb, this was sufficient for the determination of multiple genetic relatives. Rattar East (see MHG2268) contained the remains of two brothers, while a father-son pair and a maternal uncle or half-brother to the father were found in the tomb at Holm of Papa Westray North on Orkney. The remains of three males in a father-son-grandson genetic relationship were placed next to one another at Tulloch of Assery A (see MHG981), while a fourth male who was either an uncle, halfbrother or grandfather to the first of these males was entombed at Tulach an t-Sionnaich. One female fourth-degree relative of this latter male was entombed at the Holm of Papa Westray North, while another fourth-degree relative of this same male was entombed at Tulloch of Assery B (see MHG932). Two of the females entombed at Holm of Papa Westray North were fourth-degree or fourth-to-fifth degree genetic relatives of the male at Tulach an t-Sionnaich, suggesting their genetic ancestry connected both of those males. Thus, these two females were genetically related within five degrees to males from groups who used the tombs at Loch Calder, while not being related (closer than the sixth-to-seventh degree) to any of the three closely related males at Holm of Papa Westray North. Both the similarities in architecture observed across the tombs and the biological relationships identified through Adna demonstrate a web of connections among the entombed individuals, suggesting they were members of a small interwoven community sharing both architectural and mortuary practices. <9>

Sources/Archives (17)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred ND 0704 6193 (51m by 64m)
Map sheet	ND06SE
Civil Parish	HALKIRK
Geographical Area	CAITHNESS

Finds (8)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (7)