Mid Gleniron
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Mid Gleniron
| image = NX1861 Round cairn, Mid Gleniron by David-Baird.jpg
| caption = One of the six cairns
| coordinates = {{coord|54.910121|-4.828646|display=inline,title}},
| locmapin = Scotland Dumfries and Galloway
| designation1 = Scheduled Monument
| designation1_date = 24/10/1924
| designation1_number = {{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM1944|short=yes}}
| gbgridref = NX 18769 60932
}}
Mid Gleniron is a prehistoric site in Dumfries and Galloway used in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The site is a scheduled ancient monument that comprises a group of six burial cairns.{{Cite web|title=Mid Gleniron, chambered cairns and cairns (SM1944)|url=http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM1944|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123173707/http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM1944|archive-date=23 November 2018|access-date=2020-08-07|website=portal.historicenvironment.scot}} Two of the cairns, Mid Gleniron I{{Cite web|title=Mid Gleniron {{!}} Canmore|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/61594/mid-gleniron|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607090635/https://canmore.org.uk/site/61594/mid-gleniron|archive-date=7 June 2020|access-date=2020-08-07|website=canmore.org.uk|language=en}} and Mid Gleniron II{{Cite web|title=Mid Gleniron {{!}} Canmore|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/61608/mid-gleniron|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807081950/https://canmore.org.uk/site/61608/mid-gleniron|archive-date=2020-08-07|access-date=2020-08-07|website=canmore.org.uk|language=en}} are chambered cairns of the Clyde tradition. These are of historical importance because of their multi-stage construction which provides evidence for the development of Clyde cairns at the beginning of the Neolithic period.{{Cite book|last=Stell|first=Geoffrey|title=Dumfries and Galloway|date=1996|publisher=The Stationery Office|others=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland|isbn=0-11-495294-9|edition=2nd|location=Edinburgh|pages=172|oclc=36079767}}{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Julian|title=A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2015|isbn=978-1-78297-970-8|editor-last=Thomas|editor-first=Julian|location=Oxford & Philadelphia|pages=8–16|chapter=Context: The Prehistory of Luce Bay}}
Mid Gleniron I & II
The chamber cairns, Mid Gleniron I & II, were excavated by Corcoran between 1963 and 1966.{{Cite journal|last=Corcoran|first=J. X. W. P.|date=1969|title=Excavation of Two Chambered Cairns at Mid Gleniron Farm, Glenluce, Wigtownshire|url=http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/tdgnhas/3046.pdf#page=34|journal=Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society|series=Third Series|volume=XLVI [46]|pages=29–90|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729191803/http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/tdgnhas/3046.pdf|archive-date=29 July 2019}}{{Rp|29}} These excavations revealed a multi-period construction. Mid Gleniron I was revealed to have been originally two separate, small (5m diameter) rectangular cairns, each with entrances into single chambers. These cairns were set in the same direction, with their cambers aligned.{{Cite book|last=Noble|first=Gordon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctKqBgAAQBAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Gordon%20Noble%22&pg=PP1|title=Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire|date=2006|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=0-7486-2698-0|location=Edinburgh|oclc=71000487}}{{Rp|105}} Thomas notes the close positioning of these two cairns implies that it was anticipated that they would be incorporated into a larger construction.{{Rp|10}} At a later date, these cairns were modified and subsumed into a large trapezoidal cairn. A third chamber was added as well as a forecourt, typical of Clyde cairns. The facade marking out the forecourt was made of standing stones measuring over eight meters across.{{Rp|105}}
Mid Gleniron II also apparently began as a set of two smaller cairns.{{Rp|105}} Like at Mid Gleniron I, this site was transformed into a large trapezoidal cairn with a forecourt. However, only one of the cairns was subsumed and altered by the new monument. The forecourt led into a new chamber which was blocked centuries later in the early Bronze Age.{{Rp|111}}
Historic Environment Scotland's Statement of National Importance for the site notes its potentially international significance for shedding light on "the sequence and development of funerary and ritual architecture during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age."
Excavation at Droughdool Mote between 1999 and 2002 revealed a round cairn at the top of the mound, similar in construction to Mid Gleniron A.{{Cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Julian|title=A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002|last2=Sanderson|first2=David|last3=Kerr|first3=Colin|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2015|isbn=978-1-78297-970-8|editor-last=Thomas|editor-first=Julian|location=Oxford & Philadelphia|pages=97|chapter=Droughduil Mote}}{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Julian|title=A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2015|isbn=978-1-78297-970-8|editor-last=Thomas|editor-first=Julian|location=Oxford & Philadelphia|pages=172–173|chapter=Discussion}}