Crannogs and Stone Circles
Crannogs are lake settlements which date back to around 2500BC. Typically they consist of a house built on an artificial island which is joined to the shore by a causeway. We are fortunate in that South West Scotland is well endowed with such sites. A magnificent reconstruction of such a building can be found on Loch Tay (Perthshire) which is open to the public and also affords experimental archaeology in which visitors can participate.
Stone circles go back even further in time-to around 3500 BC. The most noteworthy is Stonehenge but this is arguably unrepresentative of the 400 (approx.) such circles which can be found in the British Isles.
The land around Loch Tay contains a number of circles with the easily accessible Croft Moraig forming the most interesting specimen and which dates back to the Late Neolithic period around 3000 BC.
Rock Art
Cup-and-ring marked rock art can be found across Atlantic Europe from Portugal to Orkney. The abstact symbols of circles and cups were pecked out of the rock some time between 3000 - 1500 BC, during the Late Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age. There are many examples of this type of art in West Scotland; on Arran, around Loch Tay and at Kilmartin all of which are known to your guide.
Some Tour Ideas
For the real enthusiast a one week tour could be arranged taking in, for example, the Perthshire sites mentioned above, the famous Kilmartin (Argyll) site and the huge megalithic rings which can be found on the Orkneys and Lewis (Outer Hebrides).
A one/two day tour from Glasgow to the Loch Tay sites will afford the interested visitor with an excellent introduction to these historic sites with the added bonus of the beautiful local scenery.
Read more about Stone Circles in Britain.
