Clava Cairns: Monuments to Memory and More

Q: What is Clava Cairns?

Clava Cairns is a Bronze Age site outside of Inverness, Scotland dating to c. 2500 BCE and consisting of three cairns and various standing stones suggesting astronomical alignment.

Q: Did Clava Cairns inspire Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series?

Although many have speculated that Clava Cairns inspired Gabaldon's Outlander series, the author has denied this, noting that she had not yet visited Scotland when she wrote the first book.

Q: What is the significance of Clava Cairns?

Clava Cairns is an astronomical site, a cemetery, and a monument - although what it was built to memorialize is unknown. It was most likely the burial place of a leader or leaders but was also carefully constructed for astronomical purposes.

Q: Is Clava Cairns older than Stonehenge?

Although work began at Stonehenge earlier (c. 3000 BCE), the great sarsen stones that define the site were first raised c. 2500 BCE, at the same time that Clava Cairns was built. So they are about the same age.

Joshua J. Mark

Clava Cairns

Monuments to Memory and More

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Definition

Clava Cairns is an early Bronze Age site in Scotland, located east of the city of Inverness, consisting of three well-preserved cairns (two of which are passage graves) and a number of free-standing stones strategically placed for astronomical purposes. The full name of the site is the Prehistoric Burial Cairns of the Balnuaran of Clava which is usually shortened to The Balnuaran of Clava and, informally, Clava Cairns.

More about: Clava Cairns

Timeline

c. 2500 BCE - c. 2000 BCE
The Balnuaran of Clava (Clava Cairns) is built.
770 CE
Last recorded use of Clava Cairns site in antiquity.
1828 CE
First excavations begun at Clava Cairns.
1828 CE - c. 1990 CE
Ongoing excavations at Clava Cairns.

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