Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hut circle of late Bronze-Age or Iron-Age date. It is visible a low, scrub- and tree-covered penannular stony bank. The monument lies in deciduous woodland at around 80m above sea level, on the NW face of a hill east of the River Don.

The hut circle measures around 10m in diameter within a stony bank up to around 4m in thickness and 0.6m in height. There is a possible entrance in the SSE arc created by a 2m-wide gap in the stony bank.

The area to be scheduled is circular on plan, centred on the monument, to include the remains described and an area around within which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The monument consists of the well-preserved remains of a later prehistoric roundhouse, with upstanding remains likely to date to the first or second millennium BC. Given the good preservation of these upstanding remains, it is likely that archaeologically significant deposits relating to construction, use and abandonment of the structure remains in place. In addition, it is likely that deposits sealed below the surface survive and these could provide data relating to the later prehistoric environment. The site has considerable potential to enhance our understanding of later prehistoric roundhouses and the daily lives of the people who occupied them.

Contextual characteristics

The monument is a representative of a fairly common class of later prehistoric remains in Aberdeenshire, but such monuments rarely survive in a lowland setting. Much of the surrounding lowland landscape has been heavily improved and this monument's importance is enhanced by its fortuitous survival. The hut circle's importance is also enhanced by its location close to other nearby hut circles, some of which may be contemporaneous with it. Together with other lowland roundhouses, this hut circle can contribute to our understanding of the nature of later prehistoric settlement and its chronological, economic and social relationship to similar settlements in the uplands.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular Bronze- or Iron-Age society and the nature of later prehistoric domestic and agricultural practice. The good preservation and the survival of marked field characteristics enhances this potential. The loss of this example would significantly impede our ability to understand later prehistoric societies in Aberdeenshire in particular and Scotland in general.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the monument as NJ93NW 25, Clerkhill Wood: hut circle.

References:

RCAHMS 2007, IN THE SHADOW OF BENNACHIE: A FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY OF DONSIDE, ABERDEENSHIRE, Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland