Description

The monument comprises the remains of a burnt mound, visible as an elongated earthwork, 6m by 2.5m, and standing 0.7m high. The burnt mound is likely to date to between 2000 and 1000 BC. It is located just above the high water mark on poorly drained grassland, approximately 25m south of the beach overlooking East Voe of Scalloway. The monument was first scheduled in 1975, but the documentation does not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The area to be scheduled is circular on plan, measuring 20m in diameter and centred on the centre of the monument. The scheduling includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment 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 survives as an upstanding, turf-covered earthwork in good overall condition. Its north end is crescent-shaped, which is characteristic of burnt mounds. Soil poaching in two places on the west side of the mound has exposed some of the underlying burnt and fire-cracked stones of which the mound is mainly composed.

Burnt mounds are typically formed from heaps of burnt and fire-cracked stone, occurring usually within a matrix of dark soil and perhaps charcoal or ash. The common crescent shape is formed as discarded material accumulates around a central area, which is normally where the water-heating activities took place. The stones represent the waste product from the use of hot stones to heat water, probably for a variety of purposes. After several immersions, the stones would crack and break and were discarded to form burnt mounds. Burnt mounds are often accompanied by troughs that held the water and there is sometimes evidence for associated shelters and the hearths in which the stones were heated. Troughs are usually set in the ground and lined with wood, stone or clay and such a feature was once visible on this site. Burnt mounds typically lie close to a stream or other water source, as in this case.

The monument has good potential to inform our understanding of the date and nature of burnt mounds, their function(s) and duration. It may contain artefacts or ecofacts that can increase our understanding of the function of burnt mounds and how they were used. The mound may have accumulated directly on an old ground surface and may seal important environmental information that could increase our knowledge of the landscape and land-use before and during the mound's creation.

Contextual characteristics

There are around 1,900 recorded examples of burnt mounds in Scotland with notable concentrations in some areas, including Shetland. The greater number in Shetland may also reflect increased survival because of a lack of later development or agricultural improvement. Burnt mounds in the Northern and Western Isles and northern Scotland are often particularly large. They often show the classic crescentic shape and may have been reused on many occasions over a significant period. They may also have served different social and practical functions to smaller mounds.

In Scotland, excavated examples typically date to the middle Bronze Age, around 1500 BC, but the overall range of dates varies from the late Neolithic through to the early historic period (around 2400 BC to AD 900). A common interpretation of these monuments in Scotland is that they were used to boil water for cooking. However, researchers have also suggested that they could have been used as saunas or sweat-lodges (possibly medicinal as well as sanitary); as baths; or for textile production (dying and fulling), brewing or leather working. Burnt mounds are often found in relatively isolated locations in Scotland, but in Shetland they sometimes occur in association with settlement remains.

The position of this example on low-lying ground and so close to the high water mark is all the more interesting as it contrasts with the higher, inland positions of most other burnt mounds. These monuments were part of a wider contemporary landscape of settlement and land-use.

national Importance

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular prehistoric society and the construction and use of burnt mounds, and their placing in the landscape. The good preservation of the monument and its proximity to other burnt mounds enhance this potential. The loss of this monument would impede our ability to understand the nature of later prehistoric domestic and ritual practice, both in Shetland and in Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the site as HU43NW 2.

References

Calder, C ST 1965, 'Cairns, Neolithic houses and burnt mounds in Shetland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 96, 85.

RCAHMS 1946, Twelfth Report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, Edinburgh: HMSO.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland