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Note
Date 1988
Event ID 1101992
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1101992
In 1971, in the course of earth-moving operations preparatory to the building of new steadings at Ormsary, four cists were discovered on the edge of a low natural mound; two were immediately destroyed (nos. 3 and 4 on RCAHMS 1988 plan). Two cists were, however, excavated and recorded prior to their removal (Morrison 1971). (The Commissioners are indebted to Dr A Morrison, who excavated the site, for additional information.)
Aligned NE and SW, the first cists (no.1) measured about 1.1m by 0.7m and 1.1m in depth, with stones at each end of the interior jammed in to support the side-slabs. The capstone was a massive slab measuring 1.9m by 1.64m and up to 0.25m in thickness. A few tiny fragments of cremated bone were recovered, and a peforated stone battle-axe was found beneath one of the supporting stones at the N end of the cist. An unusual feature of the NW side-slab was the presence in it of a perforation close to the SW edge and 0.3m from the top; it measured about 100mm in diameter at the surface and about 70mm at the centre. The second cist was less well preserved, aligned NNE and SSW, it measured about 1.3m by 0.8m, but the NNE end-slab did not survive, and the capstone had been broken and was scattered in the interior. No traces of the burial remained; charcoal and some tiny fragments of flint were the only items recovered from the interior.
RCAHMS 1988
