Archaeology Notes
Event ID 696224
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/696224
NN74NE 12 7975 4726
Not to be confused with NN74NE 146.
(NN 7975 4726) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
The complex stone circle at Croft Moraig was excavated in 1965 on behalf of the DoE. It was found to have three phases of construction, the first being a penannular setting of timber uprights. This was replaced by an oval of 8 standing stones, about 25' x 20', and probably by a stone bank 55' in diameter with a flat cup marked stone on the axes of the phase I and II monuments. The third phase consisted of a circle of 12 standing stones about 40' in diameter, with an entrance in the SE marked by two massive outlying stones with two adjacent inhumation graves.
The only dating evidence was provided by sherds of Neolithic ware from the make-up soil of phase II, with a likely date at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millenia BC.
S Piggott 1966; S Piggott and D D A Simpson 1971
The most complete stone circle of its type in Scotland. A variant of the recumbent stone circle, overlying an earlier timber structure, this site displays the typical cup marked, recumbent stone, graded circle-stones, SSW orientation, quartz pebbles and continuous outer stoney bank.
F R Coles 1910; H A W Burl 1973
An unusual multi-phase stone circle as described by Piggott and Simpson.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JM) 3 December 1974
The finds from the excavations described by Piggott and Simpson were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1976-7 by the DoE.
NMAS 1977
No change to previous field report.
Visited by OS (BS) 28 November 1978
A number of cup marks were identified on the inner face of one of the stones in the outer ring during the course of a photographic survey in 2003. Information and photographs available at
www.megalithics.com/scotland/croftmrg/crofmain.htm.
Information from Mr Keith Davison, 19 August 2003
A proposed two-house development adjacent to Croft Moraig required an archaeological excavation. No archaeological features were found, most likely because the land here is alongside a burn and subject to both hillwash and riverine erosion.
SUAT Ltd 2005
