Burial, settlement and clearance remains share one ridge, preserving several phases of prehistoric life rather than a single isolated monument.
Quick facts
- Date
- Neolithic chambered cairn with later prehistoric settlement and field remains
- Architect / designer
- Unknown
- Type
- Chambered cairn, hut circles and clearance-cairn landscape
- Designation
- Scheduled monument (SM1785)
- OS grid reference
- NH 60991 93124
Architecture, archaeology and continuing use
The scheduled landscape combines the substantial Carn Liath cairn with roundhouse stances, field traces and clearance heaps spread across the low ridge. The cairn is roughly circular and retains evidence for a chamber despite disturbance and later infilling.
Its story
The chambered cairn belongs to the Neolithic tradition of communal burial. Hut circles and field clearance indicate later prehistoric settlement and cultivation around the ridge. Twentieth-century field visits recorded the complex, but the older schedule offers limited detail and no modern excavation synthesis.
Why it is included
Scheduling protects the relationship between ritual monument, homes and worked land, allowing the long development of a prehistoric landscape to be studied together.
What to notice
- The cairn’s scale against the low ridge.
- Subtle circular house platforms beyond the burial monument.
- Clearance stones marking former cultivation.
Reading the surroundings
Use only lawful routes and avoid crossing crops, livestock areas or fences. Low remains are easy to damage or misread; do not move stones, climb the cairn or enter any chamber opening.
Timeline
- Neolithic period A chambered cairn established a communal burial focus.
- Later prehistory Roundhouses and cultivated ground developed across the ridge.
- 1909–1980 Successive national field visits documented the surviving remains.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The schedule is sparse, and individual components are recorded at different coordinate precisions; exact phasing requires new field research.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Drumliah Prehistoric Complex, SM1785 — Designation status, mapped location, date, fabric and architectural or archaeological interest.
- Highland HER: Drumliah — Local identity, monument components and field-record history.
- Trove: Carn Liath — National-record detail for the chambered cairn within the wider scheduled complex.
Location
OS grid reference NH 60991 93124 · Location confidence: High: the national designation supplies an official mapped National Grid Reference; an additional source confirms the Place relationship, history or current identity. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
Suggest a marker correction
Suggest a more accurate position
The teal marker is the current published position. The orange marker starts slightly to its right so both remain visible; this is only a visual starting position. Tap the correct place on the map or drag the orange marker. Sending this form creates a private review entry only; it does not move the published marker.
Check this area in Google Maps Choose the Satellite layer there if useful.
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors. You can also enter checked coordinates below.