Greadal Fhinn

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Brief History

Greadal Fhinn (pronounced gret-cha weein) is a Neolithic chambered cairn, one of three on the peninsula (the others are located at Camas nan Geall and Swordle). Constructed around 6,000 years ago, when the first farmers began working the fields around Kilchoan, the site was used for ritual and burial practices, and would have contained human remains and objects of significance, such as pottery and stone tools.

These types of sites helped the communities that built these monuments connect with their ancestors, and enact ideas about kinship, family and inheritance: Ideas that would have been important for the early farmers of the peninsula.

The site, originally 22 metres diameter, has never been excavated, but evidence from similar sites in Scotland as well as excavations carried out at Cladh Aindreis in Swordle by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project, allow us to speculate what this site is, how old it is and how it was used. What you see today of this enigmatic collection of stones is a result of thousands of years of change and use.

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Greadal Fhinn

© MEM Donaldson Collection, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, High Life Highland

Photograph by MEM Donaldson, taken in the first half of the 20th century.

3D model of Greadal Fhinn.

© Archaeology Scotland

Greadal Fhinn

© MEM Donaldson Collection, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, High Life Highland

Photograph by MEM Donaldson, taken in the first half of the 20th century.

Greadal Fhinn

© Archaeology Scotland

Greadal Fhinn

© ica

Greadal Fhinn

© Ardnamurchan History and Heritage Association

greadal-fhinn thumbnail

Greadal Fhinn

© MEM Donaldson Collection, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, High Life Highland

Photograph by MEM Donaldson, taken in the first half of the 20th century.

3D model of Greadal Fhinn.

© Archaeology Scotland

Greadal Fhinn

© MEM Donaldson Collection, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, High Life Highland

Photograph by MEM Donaldson, taken in the first half of the 20th century.

Greadal Fhinn

© Archaeology Scotland

Greadal Fhinn

© ica

Greadal Fhinn

© Ardnamurchan History and Heritage Association

greadal-fhinn thumbnail

Dig into layers of history

The presence of the Neolithic chamber suggests that people had already settled in the bay in prehistoric times. It would have been used as a burial site for a nearby settlement. Stone structures from this time remain to this day, while dwellings made out of local materials such peat, turf, thatch and wood perished.

Cairn

This illustration shows what the cairn chamber would have looked like.ʻCairnʼ meaning ʻcovered with stonesʼ. Over the years the stones were taken from the structure, and probably used as building materials.

Grave Passage

Greadal Fhinn is a Neolithic cairn of the Hebridean type. Itʼs a passage grave, meaning the access to the chamber was through a narrow passage. The entrance might have been on the south-east side.

Look out for...

Cairns were often located in special places in the landscape. Look around you - what parts of the landscape do you think were important to Neolithic people?

Discover the stories of Greadal Fhinn...

We chose this as a place for ritual and burial because of its prominent position in the surrounding hills and skyline. We come here to connect with our ancestors, the landscape and each other.

Explore how Greadal Fhinn has changed through time.

Early Medieval

Viking

Folklore suggests the site is the final resting place of the Viking, Ketill Björnsson - a Norse king from the 9th century - nicknamed Flatnefr/Flatnose!

Click the characters to read their stories

I heard that this site is the final resting place of the Viking, Ketill Björnsson - a Norse king from the 9th century - nicknamed Flatnefr/Flatnose!

Us vikings have certainly left our mark on Ardnamurchan - many of the names you'll see around such as ‘Mingary’ and ‘Greadal Fhinn’ come from us.

Prehistoric

6000 BC

The early farmers of Kilchoan built this chambered cairn.

We bury the dead differently to you - or I imagine so anyway! We leave bodies out in the open, away from where we live and work, and they are left to decompose or be eaten by animals. We then collect the bones and put them in the tomb alongside the bones of others. Different parts of bodies are placed in the tomb in different ways, taken out of the tomb, put back in and rearranged over time. Doing this helps us to blur the distinction between individuals but also of the past and the present.

Greadal Fhinn is the most southerly example of a Hebridean cairn, with two burial chambers remaining - a small central 'cist' cairn, and a larger passage chamber, which was dug into the site later on.

We chose this as a place for ritual and burial because of its prominent position in the surrounding hills and Kilchoan skyline. We come here to connect with our ancestors, the landscape and each other.

You will still be able to see stone structures from the Neolithic Age at Greadal Fhinn, Camas nan Geall and Swordle - we built them to last!

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