Description

The monument was designated as a ring ditch house (a type of timber roundhouse) of later prehistoric date. It is now interpreted as comprising a prehistoric barrow with a central burial. The site is visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographs.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The assessment using the selection guidance found that this monument did not meet the criterion of national importance. This assessment has been informed by the following assessment of cultural significance.

Intrinsic characteristics (how the remains of a site or place contribute to our knowledge of the past)

This monument has been recorded as cropmarks on aerial photographs and survives as buried deposits below the ploughsoil. The monument, first recorded as a ring-ditch, is a prehistoric barrow and represents the remains of a burial feature. The barrow is defined by a single ditch which would have surrounded a stone or earth mound. Within the centre of the barrow is a pit which represents a burial. Overall the barrow measures around 7m in diameter within a ditch of 2m in width.

Archaeological monuments often contain features that are not visible in aerial photographs and can have well preserved stratified layers of archaeological deposits. There is therefore potential for the survival of archaeological features and deposits, including occupation and abandonment debris, artefacts and environmental remains such as charcoal or pollen within the barrow and its enclosing ditch.

Contextual characteristics (how a site or place relates to its surroundings and/or to our existing knowledge of the past)

The monument has been identified as a barrow. It is a single barrow, with no other know prehistoric funerary monuments in the immediate vicinity. Two further burial monuments are known from this area, a burial cairn which was removed at Dancing Hillock (2.4km southeast, Canmore ID 33417) and a cist (stone coffin) which may have come from a similar burial monument was found near Kellas (1km south-southeast, Canmore ID 33349). Barrows are often found in clusters, sometimes with other ritual monuments or close to settlement. This monument, while a well-defined archaeological feature, has less significance, research potential and archaeological interest as it is a single, isolated barrow.

There are other examples of prehistoric burial mounds in the vicinity of this monument; Cairn Greg, cairn 430m ESE of north Gates (scheduled monument SM2889 – 3km south-southeast), a group of four cairns, on Bractullo Muir (scheduled monuments SM6630, SM6631, SM6632 and SM6633 – 5.6km north-northeast). These prehistoric monuments have clearly defined upstanding remains and multiple recorded related features at each site such as other burial or ritual features.

Associative characteristics (how a site or place relates to people, events and/or historic and social movements)

There are no known associative characteristics that contribute to the site's national importance.

National Importance

The site is a single prehistoric barrow with central burial evidenced through cropmarks recorded on aerial photographs. When designated it was incorrectly identified as a ring-ditch house of later prehistoric date. Examples of barrows which are designated as being of national importance retain their field characteristics to a far greater degree than this site or are part of a more extensive complex of remains. Based on the current available evidence, the site therefore does not meet the criterion of national importance and has been removed from the schedule.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 68230 (accessed on 07/05/2019).

Wilson D R 2000. Air Photo Interpretation for Archaeologists. Tempus, Stroud.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/68230/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland