Description

The monument comprises the remains of three hut circles, visible as low circular banks in heather moorland, located on a gentle SW-facing slope to the E of the river Findhorn in Strathdearn, at around 400m OD. The hut circles are likely to be Late Bronze Age or Iron Age, dating to the first or second millennium BC.

Each hut circle measures approximately 10m in diameter and survives as a circular stone and earth bank measuring about 2 m wide with an entrance gap in the SE quadrant. Inner and outer facing stones are visible in each hut circle, and all three have been terraced into the slope. The entrance is visible as a gap in the wall on the S. The E hut circle, measuring about 12m in diameter, survives as a stone and earth bank about 1.2m wide. Inner and outer facing stones are visible on this wall and the N part of the interior has been terraced into the slope. The entrance is visible as a gap in the wall on the S.

The scheduled area comprises three separate circular areas, centred on each hut circle, to include the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The above-ground elements of the fenceline running NNE through the easternmost of the three hut circles and the top 300mm of the track running WNW to ESE are specifically excluded from the scheduling, to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Signifcance

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

Intrinsic Characteristics: The monument comprises three well-preserved examples of later prehistoric roundhouse, with upstanding remains dating to the first or second millennium BC. The monument retains well-constructed drystone walls, with some facing stones still evident. The upland location of the hut circles and relatively low impact landuse since their construction suggests that deposits, materials and features relating to the roundhouses' construction and use, and evidence for the prehistoric environment, are likely to survive below the surface. Archaeological investigation within the confines of the wider group of roundhouses and field system has confirmed the presence of a buried hearth and charcoal material. The site has considerable potential to enhance understanding of later prehistoric roundhouses and the daily lives of the people who occupied them.

Contextual characteristics: The monument is a good representative of a once common class, and part of a larger complex of similar but more poorly surviving monuments and agricultural enclosures. These elements have the potential to provide a better understanding of later prehistoric domestic arrangements and, specifically, the inter-relationship between individual buildings and their place in a worked agricultural landscape.

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 practice. This potential is enhanced by a good state of preservation and the survival of marked field characteristics. The loss of the example would significantly impede our ability to understand the Bronze and Iron Ages in northern Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NH82NW7. It is recorded in the Highland SMR as NH82NW0007.

References:

Council for Scottish Archaeology 1999, 'Creag an Bhig, Tomatin (Moy & Dalarossie parish), prehistoric field system', DISCOVERY EXCAV SCOT, 59.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland