Archaeology Notes

Event ID 711351

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/711351

NT17SW 8 12342 72610.

(NT 1234 7260) Huly Hill (NAT) Tumulus (NR)

(A: NT 1231 7262; B: NT 1232 7255; C: NT 1239 7260) Standing Stones (NR)

OS 1:10000 map (1974).

Though called a cairn by the DoE and the RCAHMS, who also state that it is composed chiefly of earth, Huly Hill (D Wilson 1863) should be classified as a tumulus. Surrounded by a modern wall, it measures 100' in diameter and 10 1/2' in height, with its summit slightly hollowed. Wilson states that it was opened in 1830, and found to contain a "bronze spearhead, along with animal charcoal and small fragments of bones, but neither cist nor urns". Smith (1875), from these few details given, considers that the 1830 examination was incomplete, while Anderson states that Wilson's "spearhead" was more probably a rivetted dagger; at the time Wilson wrote, these were almost universally classed as spearheads. It is noted as a knife-dagger by Childe (1935), who states that it is (erroneously) supposed to have been found in a cist.

The Statistical Account (OSA 1794) states that the tumulus is "surrounded with large unpolished stones at a considerable distance from each other"; Fyfe notes twelve standing stones, but the Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB 1852) described only the three stones extant today. They are of greenstone, similar to that obtained at Kaimes Hill. Stone 'A' is a rough, four-sided prism, pointed at the top, 7' high and 7'11" in girth at the base. 'B' is 6'7" high, by 2'4" by 1'2" at base, expanding in width towards its flat top. stone 'C', which appears to have been broken, is 4'3" high and 6'4" in girth at the foot.

The tumulus is not central to these three stones, and Childe and Coles suggest that there may originally have been two concentric rings of stones surrounding the tumulus.

A fourth stone, at NT 1265 7262 (NT17SW 9) may be an oulier to the above system.

F R Coles 1903; J Anderson 1878; RCAHMS 1929, visited 1915; J N G Ritchie and A Ritchie 1972.

A possible analogy to the tumulus may be Gask Hill (NO21SE 14) where a secondary burial of a bronze dagger, accompanying a cremation, not in a cist, was found. Further excavation, however, is required for examination of any internal structures.

Information from OS Recorder (IF) 10 May 1974

This tumulus and the three standing stones still remain as described.

Visited by OS (BS) 12 August 1974