n.a. (1973). Scot Archaeol Forum 4.

Precise terminology should assist the study of this rather heterogeneous but interrelated class of monument. Ring-cairns have a bank of cairn material surrounding an open area in which burials are deposited (eg. Culdoich); kerb-cairns have massive boulders set as kerbs (eg. Monzie) and often include white quartz pebbles; and enclosed cremation cemeteries (eg. Whitestanes Moor) consist of a low bank surrounding an area within which cremations were buried. The first two groups have mainly Beaker associations (if any) and the third belongs to mid-later 2nd millennium BC. See also 73/2131-2.

The importance of the Welsh group in its own right has only recently been realised. Diagrams define the types here discussed (ring-cairns, complex ring-cairns, embanked stone circles, free-standing stone circles, cairn circles and kerb circles). Some may be primarily burial monuments, but in others (eg. the embanked stone circles) any burials appear secondary to the main purpose. Date, where there is any evidence, runs from Beaker times to about 14th century BC. See also 73/2131, 73/2135.

The traditional terminal date of 500 BC for the Grenzhorizont (British Zone VIIb/VIII transition) must be re-examined in view of revised datings for relevant archaeological material such as the Llyn Fawr hoard and the Cloonlara shield, and 14C-dates for the Somerset trackways reflecting increasing wetness from 12th century to 7th/6th BC. The period of climatic worsening was in fact a long one, producing not only more wetness and cold but a higher incidence of storms and high winds. Whereas long sea voyages would have been favoured during the Neo/BA climatic optimum (and again during the Viking expansion), they would have been difficult during the Hallstatt A and B phases, a period when in fact there is least Continental contact with Britain.