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Cat Cairn
Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Cat Cairn
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Loirston; Tullos Hill; Peterseat
Canmore ID 20241
Site Number NJ90SE 5
NGR NJ 9519 0317
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20241
- Council Aberdeen, City Of
- Parish Nigg (City Of Aberdeen)
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District City Of Aberdeen
- Former County Kincardineshire
NJ90SE 5 9519 0317
See also NJ90SE 2, NJ90SE 4, NJ90SE 6.
(NJ 9519 0317) Cat Cairn (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1974).
The remains of this massive, mutilated cairn measure 22.0 metres by 19.0 metres and it is 2.5 metres high. A raised 'platform', 3.0 metres wide, on the north and south segments, may be an original berm.
Visited by OS (JLD) 31 July 1952.
The cairn remains as described.
Visited by OS (EGC) 9 November 1961.
Air photographic coverage listed.
NMRS, MS/712/19.
Scheduled as Cat Cairn.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 16 July 2002.
This cairn lies on the summit of a low rise on the edge of moorland 940m SW of Peterseat farmsteading (NJ90SE 75). Measuring 16.5m in diameter by 2.5m in height, the cairn comprises a mass of loose boulders and stones. The top of the cairn appears to have been rebuilt and is overlain by a modern field-wall.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 30 September 1996.
Excavation (April 2012 - March 2013)
NJ 950 030 (centred on) A programme of archaeological work was carried out, April 2012 – March 2013. The survey took place following gorse cutting, mitigation works following tree planting, and a watching brief during the formation of new paths.
Forty-nine new sites were recorded following gorse cutting. This represents a substantial increase in the known archaeological resource on Tullos Hill.
Following tree planting, 13 test pits were excavated within archaeological sites that had been affected by this operation. The extent of the work was limited by the size of the tree-planting pits. Test pitting revealed that one cairn site (Site 173) may contain structural stonework in the form of orthostats and one, possibly modern, site (Site 88) contained negative features.
Nine new sites were recorded during the path formation and additional information was forthcoming on eight others. Natural subsoil was rarely exposed.
A community excavation project, which was carried by a team of local volunteers led by CFA Archaeology, continued the excavation of a ring cairn and roundhouse.
NJ 9521 0323 A second quadrant of the ring cairn was excavated. The cairn was 8m in diameter and c0.5m high, with an open central area c3m in diameter. A large quantity of quartz chunks and pebbles had been incorporated into the make-up of the cairn. The central area contained a stone-lined pit whose fill contained fragments of cremated bone. Four tiny fragments of fired clay and five small lithic artefacts were recovered from topsoil. A 1938 5-Reichspfennig coin, recovered from the upper surfaces of the cairn, must relate to the nearby POW camp at Peterseat.
NJ 9510 0346 Excavation of the roundhouse revealed the heavily eroded outer wall and an internal ring ditch. Fifty pot sherds dating from the Middle Bronze Age and several worked lithics were recovered from the ring ditch.
Archive: Aberdeen City HER and RCAHMS
Funder: Aberdeen City Council
Ian Suddaby and Tim Neighbour, CFA Archaeology Ltd, 2013
(Source: DES)
Field Visit (1 April 2012 - 31 March 2013)
Archaeological fieldwork was undertaken by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) between April 2012 and March 2013 at Tullos Hill.
Due to a woodland planting scheme, clearance of dense vegetation and creation of a path network, archaeological work was undertaken. Field survey and test pitting of selected sites where damage has occurred to assess the severity of damage and 49 new sites were discovered.
A large number of cairns, possible bomb craters and a possible cist were recorded
Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-144941 (I Suddaby) 2013
