Artefacts of Arran pitchstones from Slewcairn Early Neolithic funerary monument, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Abstract

• Between 1973 and 1980, the late Lionel Masters excavated an Early Neolithic long cairn at Slewcairn, close to the Solway Firth in south-west Scotland (NGR NX 9239 6142; Canmore ID 65491). The monumement is situated on the slope of Meikle Hard Hill, 6 km from the coast and 15 km south-west of Dumfries. While Lionel published news of his excavations in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (1973-80) and produced an unpublished interim report in 1977, he was not able to bring this important site to full publication before his death in 2019. His friends promised his wife Margaret that this, and a report on his excavation of a similar monument nearby at Lochhill, would be done, and it is thanks to a Prehistoric Society research grant, and to support from Glasgow Archaeological Society, and Forestry and Land Scotland, that this work is progressing. The Prehistoric Society grant covered specialist reporting of the assmblge of Arran pitchstone found at Slewcairn by one of us (TB) and this article summarises his results.