Clava Cairn
When Clava-type tombs still contained burial remains, only one or two bodies appear to have been buried in each, and the lack of access to the second sub-type suggests that there was no intention of re-visiting the dead or communally adding future burials as had been the case with Neolithic cairn tombs.
Balnuaran of Clava
At Balnuaran of Clava itself there is a group of three Bronze Age cairns which lie close together in a line running north east to south west. The tombs at either end are of the passage grave sub-type. The central cairn is of the ring cairn sub-type, and uniquely has stone paths or causeways forming "rays" radiating out from the platform round the kerbs to three of the standing stones. The cairns incorporate cup and ring mark stones, carved before they were built into the structures. The kerb stones are graded in size and selected for colour, so that the stones are larger and redder to the south west, and smaller and whiter to the north east. All these elements seem to have been constructed as one operation and indicate a complex design rather than ad hoc additions.
References
- Scotland Before History – Stuart Piggott, Birlinn Limited (1995), ISBN 0-85224-348-0
- Scotland's Hidden History – Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, ISBN 0-7486-6067-4
- Sun, Moon and Standing Stones – John Edwin Wood, Oxford University Press 1978, ISBN 0-19-285089-X