MSPs are to be asked to back a campaign to protect a stone heart which has been central to the culture of travelling people in Scotland for centuries.
MSPs are writing to Scotland's heritage agency over calls to protect an ancient monument to the travelling community.
The Tinkers' Heart is a pattern of quartz stones which was laid at an Argyll cross-roads in the 1700s.
Campaigners said the Tinkers' Heart, in Argyll, had been almost destroyed due to neglect, describing it as being like the "death knell of an entire culture".
Generations of Scottish Travellers have used it as a wedding place and for children to be blessed.
They said the monument, overlooking Loch Fyne, must be restored and preserved for future generations.
Holyrood's public petitions committee will be urged to back a campaign to preserve it.
The Scottish Parliament petitions committee said it would raise the case with Historic Scotland.
The committee will be addressed by Jess Smith, an author and campaigner for the rights and recognition of travelling people and their culture.
The Tinkers' Heart, a pattern of quartz stones which was laid at an Argyll crossroads in the 1700s, has been used by generations of Scottish Travellers as a wedding place and for children to be blessed.
Her petition calls for Historic Scotland to investigate what action can be taken to ensure the restoration and preservation of the Heart, which lies in a field next to the A815, overlooking Loch Fyne.
'Equality dream'
Ms Smith hopes that, by turning the site into a listed monument, it will be saved from the elements and cattle grazing and preserved for future generations.
Historic Scotland has previously said the site did not meet the criteria for it to be designated a monument of national importance.
'Often neglected'
However campaigner Jess Smith, appearing before the petitions committee, said it was the only monument Scottish Travellers had.
Speaking ahead of the committee meeting, she said: "This is a tiny little spot in Argyllshire but it is an ancient monument in the purest sense.
"In 2010, I was informed the Tinkers' Heart was almost destroyed due to neglect and cattle trampling over it," she told MSPs.
"The Heart represents a culture that's often neglected - the native culture of a people who have contributed much to Scotland's history, but whose own story is seldom told or understood because of their wanderings.
"My husband and I went to see for ourselves and, when I saw the state of the place, a knot formed like a stone in my stomach and it was like witnessing the death knell of an entire culture."
"The Heart is as much part of Scotland's heritage as it is the Tinkers'. Local people near the site support us; I hope parliament will too, so that the Heart can be preserved and protected for future generations."
Ms Smith argued: "The Heart for these young people is so much more than a monument - it's an indicator of what they believe is their culture.
By the time it closed at the end of May, her petition had gained 1,180 online signatures. Ms Smith said more than 1,000 others had written to her to add their names.
"It represents a future, a place to visit and say, 'we are part of this country and we can make a difference'. Let us remain proud of our ancestors, because they kept our dreams for equality alive.
Historic Scotland has previously said the site does not meet the criteria for a monument of national importance.
"They travel to this little place in all weathers and we'd like to say 'thank you', and the only way we know how is to fight for the Tinkers' Heart to be protected by Historic Scotland."
The heritage body said improvements to the site have been made by the local community in recent months, with a new, more secure fence erected and an interpretation board installed for visitors.
Argyll and Bute MSP Mike Russell, who is Scotland's education secretary, has also looked into the concerns, telling the committee: "This is the only physical artefact that we can associate with the travelling people.
And it said it hoped to find a solution to "preserving and enhancing this important location" through a voluntary archaeology scheme called Adopt-a-Monument.
"Under those circumstances, it forms a unique contribution to our heritage."
'Sacred place'
Historic Scotland has said it hoped to find a solution to protecting and enhancing the Tinkers' Heart through the Adopt-a-Monument voluntary archaeology scheme.
But in her petition, Ms Smith argues that the Heart "is the only monument that Scottish Travellers have, indicating their timeline and presence in Scotland. Excluded by church and state these ancient people have visited the Heart to marry and christen babies for centuries.
The agency said improvements had been made to the site by the local community in recent months, which has seen a new, more secure fence put up and an information board provided for visitors.
"The site was still used for Tinkers' weddings as late as 1978 and it seems that its importance as a place of beginnings is still understood today by couples who visit the Heart on their wedding day.
"It is also a sacred place to remember the dead, evident by the coins and flowers that lie scattered at the Heart: some people still visit to pay respect and honour their ancestors."
The petition also says: "The Tinkers' Heart is not a huge site in physical terms, but in terms of love, of memory and of sacred significance, it is a site of enormous proportions and cultural, historical and religious significance.
"The Travelling people who have lived and contributed to Scottish culture for centuries have only this little place as proof of our existence."
Ms Smith has claimed the landowner, who lives in England, has "mostly been negative in her views regarding the culture of the people that the Tinkers' Heart represents".
But she praised Education Secretary Michael Russell, the SNP MSP for Argyll and Bute, saying he had been "extremely helpful and hands on in this matter."
Ms Smith said Mr Russell had "written to various bodies. He has met with the landowner, councillors, Historic Scotland, written to (Culture Secretary) Fiona Hyslop and several groups to resolve this matter without success."
You can watch coverage of Jess Smith, as she gives evidence on her petition on the 'Tinker's Heart' to MSPs, live or on demand at BBC Scotland's Democracy Live website.
