Field Visit
Date 2 September 1982
Event ID 554176
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/554176
The 'cairn' examined by Duff-Dunbar and the mound described and planned by Batey are one and the same, located at ND 3403 5674 in a valley between consolidated dunes, now within a golf course; a tee position intrudes on the E side. The plan by Batey is generally correct though the margins are indistinct; the mound is turf-covered and apparently composed of earth and sand, though some rubble stones show on the S side. The slabs, laid end-to-end, protrude 0.25m from the top of the mound and the upright immediately S of these stones are 0.35 and 0.4m high, the latter being slightly inclined.
Duff-Dunbar's notes do not specify at what level the four cist-like graves were found, nor whether the pieces of bone were human. The structure exposed on the top of the mound, whatever its function, appears to be intrusive. The mound itself is amorphous and cannot be categorised as sepulchral; it may be a low, natural dune into which graves have been inserted. Numerous long cists have been discovered in the dunes between Keiss (ND 34 60) and Ackergill (ND 34 55), including one where a pair of headstones were found (ND35SW 5) and it seems that this structure is a cist with or without a cairn. However, the existence of burnt red clay, charcoal and blackened earth may suggest a roasting hearth or a burnt mound; there is a stream immediately to the N.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visitd by OS (N K B) 2 September 1982.
