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Field Visit
Date May 1980
Event ID 1165289
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1165289
NR 195 569. Situated in barren moorland 500m SW of Cultoon there are three upright and twelve prone blocks of stone. Excavation in 1974 and 1975 revealed, however, that with a single exception, the prone monoliths had never been set upright (MacKie 1974)*. The holes dug to receive many of the stones were discovered and are now marked by concrete, but it was clear that several of the stones had never been erected in their sockets, while in other cases there were sockets without adjacent stones. The excavated stone-holes had been allowed to fill up naturally with stones and silt some time before the site was covered by a growth of peat; a sample taken from the base of the peat layer produced a radiocarbon determination of 765 bc +/- 40 (SRR-500). There is little doubt that the original intention was to set up the stones on the perimeter of an ellipse measuring 40.7m by 35.1m, but that the site was abandoned after the erection of only three stones (A, B and H). All the prone monoliths lie immediately on the old ground-surface, not on peat, and this confirms that the site had been abandoned before the onset of peat-growth. The excavator considered that the broad band of small stones and rubble between the stones was the result of the clearance of the central area within the circle.
Apart from a number of microliths, a flint arrowhead and several flint flakes, none of which were associated with the constructional period of the site, there were no small finds.
The stones, which are all of Lewisian age (amphibolite, hornblende-schist and granitic-gneiss), are of local origin (Information from Mr G H Collins, Institute of Geological Sciences).
To conform with the pattern adopted within the Inventory, the stones have been lettered A-O, but the order is identical to that used in other accounts of the excavation, where they are numbered I-XV. Their dimensions are as follows:
A 2-0 m high and up to 1.7m by 0.8m in girth, a massive stone aligned E and W.
B 0.5m high and 0.8m by 0.2m, aligned NW and SE; the upper part of the stone appears to have weathered away.
C Prone slab in two pieces: one 1.45m by 0.8m and 0.2m thick, the other 1.3m by 1.0m and up to 0.25m thick.
D Prone slab, 1.15m long by 0.9m broad and 0.1m thick.
E Prone slab, massive and irregular, 2.3m by 1.75m and 0.5m thick.
F Prone massive pillar of stone. 3-1 m long by 0-9 m broad and 0-7m thick.
G Prone slab. 1.8m long by 1.2m broad and 0.4m thick.
H 1.7m high by 0.8 m and 0.4m at the base: an irregular pillar.
I Prone triangular-shaped slab, 2.15m long by 1.55m in maximum breadth and 0.3m thick.
J Prone pillar, 2.25m long by 0.85m broad and 0.5m thick.
K Its N end overlies stone J, 2.35 m long, 1.1 broad and up to 0.45m thick: the butt of the stone is still in its socket.
L Prone pillar, 2.65m long by 0.65m broad and 0.5m thick.
M Massive prone slab, 3.1m long by 1.1m broad and 0.45m thick.
N Prone slab, 1.9m long by 1.1m broad and 0.3m thick.
0 Prone slab, 2.15m long by 1.0m broad and 0.3m thick.
A mound situated immediately N of the circle is a natural hillock, but an upright stone situated to the s of the top of it and set into the old ground-surface below the peat appears to be of prehistoric origin: it is about 1.0m in height and 1.65m in girth. Several fires had been lit on the top of the mound on a level beneath the covering peat, and analysis of charcoal provided a radiocarbon date of 1055bc +/- 130 (GX-4841).
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1980
*The Commissioners are indebted to Mr Mackie for additional information which is incorporated in to this account.
