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Upper Tote is a cairn located 320 metres south of Tot nan Druidhean in Inverness-shire, Scotland. It is a Neolithic or Bronze Age funerary monument, constructed as a mound of stones to mark and contain human burials. The cairn sits on bedrock formed from a Palaeogene mafic igneous intrusion, a dark, dense rock that would have presented particular challenges for the monument's builders who had to extract and move substantial stones across the Highland landscape.
This type of cairn represents a widespread practice across prehistoric Scotland, serving both as a burial place and a visible landmark in the surrounding terrain. The stone used in its construction would have been quarried or gathered from the immediate vicinity, making use of the naturally fragmented igneous bedrock. Such monuments often remained important focal points in the landscape for centuries, accumulating additional burials or stones over generations.
Upper Tote is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM3513, ensuring its preservation for future study. The cairn remains an important record of early settlement patterns and funerary practices in the Highlands, contributing to understanding of how prehistoric communities used and occupied this part of Inverness-shire.
Upper Tote,cairn 320m S of,Tot nan Druidhean is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3513. View the official record →
Upper Tote is a cairn located 320 metres south of Tot nan Druidhean in Inverness-shire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3513.
Upper Tote,cairn 320m S of,Tot nan Druidhean is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM3513.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rubha Nam Brathairean, Dun Hasan and quern quarry (3.9 km), Dun Dearg,fort 420m N of Valtos (5.4 km), Dun Grianan,broch on N shore of Loch Mealt (6.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Upper Tote,cairn 320m S of,Tot nan Druidhean's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Upper Tote,cairn 320m S of,Tot nan Druidhean stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic igneous-rock.