Description

The monument is the remains of a stone circle, cairn and cist, dating from the Bronze Age (between 2500BC and 800BC). It is visible as an arc of five stones measuring about 13m in diameter, surrounded by the fragmentary remains of a bank and ditch. A cist survives in the interior. When excavated in the 19th century, the interior was covered by a layer of rounded stones, likely the remnants of an overlying cairn. The cist lay below this layer and contained fragments of a decorated urn, pieces of burnt bone, teeth and charcoal. The monument is located on level ground overlooking Cambuscurrie Bay, about 20m above sea level.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling extends up to but excludes the post and wire fence to the southwest. The monument was first scheduled in 1970 and the documentation does not conform to current standards; the present amendment rectifies this.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular the nature of ritual and burial practices and their significance in Bronze Age society. It is a good example of a complex ceremonial site with few exact parallels elsewhere, which largely retains its overall form and structural footprint. The monument can significantly expand our understanding of the nature of Bronze Age belief systems, ceremonial and burial practices, as well as society and economy. The monument's importance is enhanced by its association with a wider cluster of later prehistoric remains. The loss of the monument would diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the meaning and importance of ceremony and ritual, death and burial in the Bronze Age and the placing of such monuments within the landscape.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 14642 (accessed on 29/02/2016).

The Highland Council Historic Environment Record references are MHG8593 and MHG45035.

Bradley, R. (2011). Stages and screens: an investigation of four henge monuments in northern and north-eastern Scotland. Edinburgh.

Joass, J M. (1870). Note of five kists found under a tumulus on the glebe of the parish of Eddertoun, Ross, and of a kist within a circle of standing stones in the same neighbourhood, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 7, 1866-8, 269.

Tait, L. (1870). Notes of the opening of a stone circle at Craigmore in Strathfleet, Sutherland, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 7, 1866-8.

RCAHMS. (1979). The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty District, Highland Region, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 6. Edinburgh, 16, No. 115.

RCAHMS. (1942-3). Emergency Survey of archaeological monuments in military training areas, 1981, 2v. Typescripts, 68.

ScARF (2012). Downes, J. (ed) Calcolithic and Bronze Age Scotland: ScARF Panel Report, Scottish Archaeological Research Framework: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Available online at http://tinyurl.com/clxgf5s.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/14642/

HER/SMR Reference

MHG8593
MHG45035

Source: Historic Environment Scotland