Unusual Cairn in Ladakh

From the archive record

A cairn is a human-made pile of stones. In this case, we have a cairn made of rocks and animal horns. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic. These piles have been used for a huge diversity of purposes, from the prehistoric to the present days. In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. However, since prehistory, they have also been built and used as burial monuments; for defence and hunting; for ceremonial purposes, sometimes relating to astronomy; to locate buried items, such as caches of food or objects; and to mark trails, among other purposes. They can be used as trail markers in many parts of the world. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose conical rock piles to