Publication Account
Date 2011
Event ID 886933
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/886933
This massive cup-and-ring marked slab, which is situated on the crest of a west-north-west-facing slope 220m west-south-west of Hillhead of Avochie, was tentatively suggested as the recumbent of a destroyed circle by Burl (2005a, 119), though he has never listed it as a recumbent stone circle in his gazetteer. The slab, which measures 4m from north-north-east to south-southwest by 3.5m transversely and rises up to 1.2m above the surrounding ground level, bears no less than 80 cupmarks, many of them ringed. Although it bears some resemblance to a collapsed recumbent, there can be little doubt that this is no more than an earthfast erratic that has become progressively more exposed by cultivation over the century since Coles first published his description (Coles 1906b, 318–20, fig 20; Ritchie 1918, 115). It is perhaps telling that Coles, who had visited several erratic blocks in pursuit of recumbent stone circles, never entertained that possibility here.
