More information : (NZ 59771028) Cairn - Nanny Howe No 1. Excavted by Rowland Close in
1956. Beaker Primary, and Secondary Iron Age Cremation. (1)
Surveyed at 1:2500. The cairn has been severely mutilated in the
course of preparation of the ground for re-afforestation. (2)
A salvage excavation by R Close on Nany Howe in 1956 showed it to be a cairn about 30ft diameter, 3ft high at the centre with a strong kerb of stones set on edge of 25ft diameter. (3-4)
When the heather and turf were removed on the south east side a
secondary burial comprising a mass of cremated bones with a fragment
of a typical Iron Age 'B' jar were found only 6-9ins under the
surface. The sherd may have been a token offering, but more probably
the remainder of the pot so near the surface of the mound had been
eroded. No other secondary burial was found although almost all the
cairn was removed. Under large boulders in the central area was a
shallow pit or depression in which only minute specks of charcoal and
some small burnt stones distinguished its filling from natural sand.
In it were sherds of a beaker of the Developed Northern (British)
group (Corpus No 1260). There were no signs of bones or cremation
although presumably a contracted skeleton had accompanied the beaker,
all bone being destroyed by the acid soil. No other relics were foundin the cairn. A small fire pit was noted nearby. Challis and Hardinglist the secondary cremation as a likely burial of the first milleniumBC. The pottery, including the restored beaker, is in R Close's
possession.
(This site falls within a Bronze Age settlement area - NZ 51 SE 40).
(5)
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