Archaeology Notes
Event ID 678801
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/678801
NN92SW 1 924 249
(NN 924 249) Stone Circles (Two shown) (OE)
Standing Stone (NR).
OS 6" map (1958)
A group of stone monuments excavated in 1939. The eastern group appears to have been a cairn, now denuded, bearing two circular settings.
The western group was of a different character - a simple circle. Some of the stones had been blasted, which probably accounts for the fact that none remain upright. Stone 'A' is 6ft high. At its foot fragments of unidentifiable burnt bone and charcoal were found mixed with quartz chips. Stone 'B' is now fallen though packing stones lie under and around it. It is 9ft long and 7ft 5ins wide.
A Young 1943; RCAHMS Emergency Survey 1942
These features are generally as described and planned by Young, but only two stones of the outer ring of the cairn remain in situ.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 12 December 1966
These two stone rings have been seen as being aligned E-W on either equinoctial sunrise or winter moonrise. They have been variously seen as circular and elliptical on plan, and the standing stone to the NE of the E circle has been identified as a foresight aligned on the mountain of Creag na Criche (NN 985 531).
Burl sees the W ring as having a diameter of 7.3m and (possibly) comprising 12 stones while the E ring has measured 5.9m in diameter and (possibly) comprised 14 stones. The E ring was graded to the ESE and the W (possibly) to the WSW; cupmarks have been identified on the SSW side of the E circle.
The form of the two cairns has been considered comparable to ring-cairns of Clava type.
A Thom 1971; A Burl 1976; A Thom and A S Thom 1978.
(7:32 Fowlis Easter, East). This small ring was fully excavated in 1939. Before this date only the internal kerb was obvious. It was noted in the New Statistical Account (1837) as a double circle and hence is likely to have been damaged after this date. It comprised a ruined ring of small orthostats or stumps surrounding a kerb-cairn of near-contiguous slabs with a diameter of 4.9 x 5.7m. One of the slabs to the SW is cup-marked.
Under the denuded cairn within the inner ring was a clay floor, with scattered charcoal and burnt bone near the centre, concentratining on two shallow scoops. A sandstone disc and large quantities of quartz fragments were also found here.
Approximately 9.5m beyond the ring of orthostats to the NNE is a 1.8m high orthostat oriented radially to the site. This was set in a large pit which contained charcoal, burnt bone and quartz chips. A pit on its E side had a fill of white waterworn stones. About 26.5m (centre to centre) to the W of this site is the second ring and between the two is a tall orthostat.
(7:33 Fowlis Easter, West). This small ruined ring was fully excavated in 1939. It has variably-spaced stones, some of which, in the W half, are near-contiguous. However, the orthostats are exceptionall tall, which favours the latter interpretation. They are graded to the SW. Young makes no mention of internal cairn material but his published section shows a greater depth of material here, and the fact that all but one fell outwards suggests the interior was filled with a cairn.
Within the ring in the S half was an empty shallow pit and near the centre a scatter of cremated bone and charcoal was found on the surface.
Outside the ring (c. 6.2m to the E) is a fallen orthostat which originally would have been set radially to the ring and would have stood about 2m high.
J Barnatt 1989.
These monuments are (as described) in rough ground with a considerable depth of peat cover to the N. They are on an E-facing slope, rather than on the summit, of the hill.
Visited by RCAHMS (RJCM, JRS), 9 November 1995.
