Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1016513

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016513

The now subd ued circle-henge, 33.5m from crest to crest of the banks, on a gravel terrace of the River Don, just downstream from its confluence with the Urie, is only one component of what was once a late neolithic ceremonial complex of considerable importance. The principal extant monument is the henge with entrances to north and south within which are two stones, the survivors of a six-stone concentric circle. (The stone at the centre is a fine Pictish symbol stone, with beast and crescent, of c AD 600, which was placed here for safety in the 19th century.) At the base of each stone were deposits of cremated bones, in pits or cists or cordoned urns. in 1855 three separate deposits were found in ftont of the northwestern stone: a prestigious decorated sandstone battle axe, a small circular cist and a cordoned urn. In the centre of the circle was a shaft grave more than 1.9m deep with, at the bottom, a cist containing a 'tolerably entire' skeleton and a deposit of cremated bones.

Some 50m N of the circle-henge stood a large ring, 45.7m in diameter, of three concentric circles of stones with a small cairn at their centre. The 1757 description mentions an 'a ltar of one stone, with a cavity in the upper part, wherein some of the blood of the sacrifice was put'. This may well have been a recumbent stone circle. It was destroyed by quarrying.

A great avenue of standing stones ran south from the destroyed site to the circle-henge and on for about 400m to a spot close to the river. The avenue has been estimated as 18.3m wide and to have contained 36 stones in each side, but only three remain, one of which can be seen just south of the henge.

In a sandbank a few metres to the west of the south end of the avenue, a small cemetery of four short cists was found in 1866. Two of the cists were larger than average and contained double burials covered with ox hides and accompanied by beakers (now in NMS). The cist cemetery and the batrle axe have been interpreted as 'meaningful acts of desecration' of the old ceremonial centre by individuals or family groups who wished to demonstrate their newly acquired high status.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).