Archaeology Notes
Event ID 669399
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/669399
NJ71NE 6 7792 1967
(NJ 7792 1967) Henge (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959).
For stone circles at Fullerton (NJ 7839 1797), Cairnhall (NJ 7850 1759), Hill of Tuack (NJ 7957 1544) and Castle Hill, Kintore (NJ 7939 1634), see NJ71NE 14, NJ71NE 17, NJ71NE 27 and NJ71NE 32.00, respectively.
This monument consists of a flat area, diameter 50 feet, surrounded by a ditch 20 feet wide and 5 to 6 feet deep within an encircling bank also about 20 feet wide. The ditch is crossed on north and south by an earthen embankment 9 feet wide. Within the ditch there was a concentric circle of six stones, of which only two remain, at the base of each of which was found a cremation burial; one of these was accompanied by a decorated perforated stone hammer, 4 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 inches broad, another was in a small cist, and two more were within inverted urns.
In the centre of the circle was found a deposit of burnt bones overlying a conical pit 15 feet in diameter at the top and 10 feet in diameter at the bottom, filled with small rounded stones, underneath which was a cist containing an inhumation and a cremation burial.
Two more cremation burials, one in an inverted urn, were found elsewhere in the circle. There appeared to be small animal, possibly bird, bones mixed with the various cremation deposits.
Although some authorities show a seventh stone at the centre of the circle, there is not likely to have been one there until the advent of the sculptured stone (NJ71NE 8).
C E Dalrymple 1884; F R Coles 1901; J Ritchie 1920.
The stone hammer and urns are of Late Bronze Age type.
J G D Clark 1936.
This Class II henge is situated on the S outskirts of Port Elphinstone on level ground between the main road and the railway, at a point 1/4 mile from the present position of the right bank of the River Don. Measuring 11 ft (33.5m) in diameter, it approximates very closely to the henges at Muir of Ord and Ballymeanoch.
The interior contains three standing stones. Two, near the inner lip of the ditch, belong to a circular setting contemporary with the henge, but the third was erected near the centre in modern times when it was removed from a bank (50 yds to the N) which was being taken for railway ballast. Several standing stones existed in the neighbourhood of the henge, and it is only likely that this is one of them which was re-used in Early Christian times. It bears very well-preserved examples of the so-called elephant symbol, and a crescent and V-rod.
Two double crouched Beaker burials were found in two cists a few hundred yards S of the henge in 1866, one of them including the now-famous horn spoon.
R W Feachem 1963.
The henge is as described above. On the flat area are two standing stones and a sculptured stone (NJ71NE 8).
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RD), 23 March 1964.
Battle-axe: RMS EP 2
F E S Roe 1966.
The battle-axe (NMS EP 2) is of Northern Variant grooved type, and has been petrologically identified as andalusite cordierite muscovite quartz hornfels.
T H McK Clough and W A Cummins 1988.
(Location cited as NJ 7792 1967). Broomend of Crichie. This henge is situated in arable ground on an undulating terrace at an altitude of 65m OD.
[Air and ground photographic imagery listed].
NMRS, MS/712/36.
NJ 7792 1967 This was the third and final season of work at the site and took place 22 September-6 October 2007. An area of 300m2 was stripped immediately outside the S entrance to the previously excavated henge monument. It identified the position of one stone socket, which probably belonged to the southern avenue of the monument complex. Its position confirms the course of the avenue postulated by James Ritchie in the 1920s. Away from the monument were occasional postholes and a single pit, all without associated artefacts. Immediately outside the entrance and sharing the long axis of the henge monument was an almost circular setting of post pits approx 8.5m in diameter. There were no artefacts, but charcoal samples associated with the post pipes and with the weathering cones in the tops of the Archive to be deposited with RCAHMS.
Funder: Reading University, with help in kind from Aberdeenshire Council.
Richard Bradley and Amanda Clarke, 2007.
