Monument record 1262 - RUBH' A'CHARNAIN MHOR, OTTERNISH, NORTH UIST

NF97NW 1 9043 7935.

(Area: NF 904794) Partial examination of a cairn at Rudh' a' Charnain Mhoir upon the extreme point of Otternish, opposite Berneray Island, revealed the remains of a skeleton and typical iron rivets indicating the unburnt burial of a Norseman with his boat. It can be dated with certainty to before the 11th century. The site is 50 yards to the N of a smaller cairn marked by the 0S map 'Human Remains found AD 1870' (NF97NW 2) (E Beveridge 1911).
Nine iron boat-rivets of the common Viking form with heads and plates were found at Carnan Mor. Six of them are in the NMAS. (B.T.1912)
E Beveridge 1911; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1912; H Shetelig 1940.

The remains of this greatly mutilated cairn, now a low, oval, grass-covered mound, c.0.3m high, with stones protruding, are at NF
9043 7935.
Visited by OS (J T T) 26 June 1965.

7:Cairn. Possibly a clearance cairn though fairly large at approx. 10x12m. Longer axis runs N-S.
Badcock & Webster 1995
NB although Badcock & Webster identify SMR no. 8393 as this cairn, the surveyed position of this cairn on the OS indicates that SMR 8393 must be a different cairn, and their site no. 7 must be this one.

Erskine Beveridge, 1911, North Uist: its archaeology and topography, 267 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12876.

PSAS, 1911-12, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 331 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9079.

S Grieg, 1940, Viking Antiquities in Scotland, 146 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2901.

Anna Badcock & Dr Jane Webster, 1995, An Archaeological Walkover Survey: Berneray-North Uist Causeway (Unpublished document). SWE41020.

Centre for Field Archaeology, 2005, Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, North Uist (Bibliographic reference). SWE41070.