Archaeology Notes

Event ID 694182

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/694182

NR15NE 1 1956 5697.

(NR 1956 5697) Standing Stones (NR)

OS 6" map (1901)

A stone circle, which, before excavation by the Islay Historical Works Group in 1974 and 1975, consisted of two standing stones and ten prostrate stones forming a rough oval about 45yds by 40yds on a low knoll. The prostrate stones were more or less turf-covered.

The excavation showed that although all the stones had been brought to the site, only two had been erected and in some cases the sockets had not been dug. The site had evidently been abandoned in the middle of construction and those sockets already dug had been allowed to silt up, although one had been deliberately filled, confirming that some change of plan had occurred before the final abandonment. C14 indicated that peat began to form on the site in the 8th century BC, only after it reached its present condition. Mesolithic flint microliths were found on and in the topsoil of the old land-surface; and larger flints, presumably Neolithic, were found on the land-surface and in the lower levels of the peat, where scrapers and hollow-based points of Bronze Age type were also found. Caches of flint flakes, which Mackie interprets as votive offerings, were found in the peat next to the standing stones. Apart from Stonehenge this is the only stone circle which has revealed evidence of never having been completed.

E W MacKie 1976

Cultoon Stone Circle : name board. This circle, occupying a prominent swelling in a low lying area of peat, is generally as described. Mackie's excavation areas are still open, but it is not expected that excavation will continue (G Booth, Curator, Islay Museum, Port Charlotte, MSS notes and oral).

Twelve stones of notable size lie recumbent, without apparent regard for orientation or spacing, in a rough oval shape measuring overall 45.0m NE-SW by 35.0m NW-SE, Of the two standing, the northernmost is 1.5m high and the other 1.9m, with those recumbent of a similar size range. Two socket holes are clearly visible, and the excavation appears to have revealed a sinuous stony bank connecting several of the stones around the SW side. A full excavation report is pending.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (JRL) 16 June 1978