Description

The monument comprises a double row of pits and an adjacent ring ditch visible as cropmarks on oblique aerial photographic coverage. The features represent elements of a prehistoric ritual and funerary site.

The double row of pits extends for approximately 20m NW-SE running under modern farm buildings at its SE end. The two rows are approximately 8-10m apart and formed of substantial pits. A few metres to the east lies the ring ditch with a diameter of approximately 5-8m. This has no visible entrance and appears to represent the ditch of a ploughed-out barrow or mound.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape with maximum dimensions of 40m E-W by 30m N-S. This encompasses the visible features and an area around them in which traces of contemporary and associated activity may be expected to survive. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to add to our understanding of prehistoric ritual and funerary activity. The various features represented have the potential to provide evidence for Neolithic burial practices and related ritual deposition, as well as potentially containing evidence for the interpretation of the contemporary environment. Experience has shown that buried archaeological deposits survive on cropmark sites which are not themselves visible from aerial photography. Such deposits will add to the potential value of the known features.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NX 98 SW 46.

Aerial Photographs used:

DF/2146/1977

Source: Historic Environment Scotland