Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hut circle likely to date to the late Bronze Age or Iron Age. It survives as a low grass-covered interrupted circular bank of stones that dense whin and gorse bushes partially obscure. The hut circle is located 80m above sea level on a gentle S-facing slope, above the river terrace on the N side of the River Don.

The hut circle has an internal diameter of 9m within walls approximately 2.5m wide and 0.5m high A break in the walling in its eastern half is the most likely position for its entrance and there are no other structural features visible on the ground. It sits in an enclosed pasture field bounded to the east by a post-and-wire fence and with an established, rutted vehicle truck at the west side.

The area to be scheduled is sub-circular in plan, to include the remains described and an area around within which evidence relating to their construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the post-and-wire fence at the E side of the monument, to allow for its maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

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

Intrinsic characteristics

The hut circle survives with much of its structural remains intact. It retains the circular drystone wall that defines the building footprint and a break in its eastern side that suggests the position of the entrance. This survival is all the more impressive as the hut circle is located in prime 'improvable' land, and it appears relatively untouched compared to other lowland examples. It is therefore likely that undisturbed archaeologically significant deposits relating to its construction, use and abandonment survive. It is also possible that buried deposits, both inside and outside the structure, are preserving environmental evidence that can help us understand more about the natural environment when the house was built and in use. The archaeological excavation of two similar sites to the northwest of this site confirms the artefacts can survive.

Contextual characteristics

This is an example of a form of later prehistoric settlement remains that is widespread across Scotland. It survives among a local concentration of other hut circles, clearance cairns, burial monuments and possible boundary features all creating an impression of the density of settlement and the exploitation of land in the area during later prehistory. It is part of the wider exploitation of the Strath during this time and its position overlooking the River Don, along with so many surviving contemporary monuments, suggests how central the river appears to have been to the domestic activity, ceremony and beliefs of communities living here. It therefore has the potential to tell us much about the exploitation of Strathdon, and the early patterns of land use, agriculture and domestic arrangements.

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 individual domestic arrangements in later prehistoric society and the regional identity of communities living in NE Scotland. The unusually good survival of this hut circle in a lowland setting enhances this potential, as much of the artefactual and ecofactual evidence is likely to survive. The loss of this example would impede our ability to understand better the economic, agricultural and domestic basis for settlement in these types of Scottish landscape.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the monument as NJ81NW 63.

References:

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

Source: Historic Environment Scotland