Archaeology InSites

Commemoration and symbolism

Recent research has suggested that the design of recumbent stone circle is highly symbolic. They not only incorporate certain architectural traits derived from earlier Neolithic chambered tombs, but also mimic their features in varying degrees. Thus, the recumbent stone and the flankers can be understood to represent a closed doorway behind which lies a blocked passage that leads to a central chamber. The signifiers of the 'blocked passage' at Loanhead of Daviot are not only ill delineated, but also poorly preserved. It is represented by the way the kerbstones of the earlier cairn have been reconfigured immediately adjacent to the recumbent stone and the flankers, so that in reaching out and forging a connection with the later ring, they create a stony space immediately behind these three big stones defined on each side by kerbstones. No 'central chamber' was found here, the void at the centre of the cairn being nothing more that the bottom of a pit that was dug through the cairn at a much later date in the Bronze Age.

In addition to this symbolic element recalling the ancient Neolithic tombs, the architecture of the monument also incorporates another symbolic thread that speaks of regeneration. This is partly expressed in the monument's circular plan, but also in the location of the recumbent stone and the flankers in its southern quadrant, and their relationship to the smallest stone situated on the northern side of the ring. This disparity in size places the focus of the monument on the southern arc and thus upon midwinter, the point where the old year dies and the New Year is reborn. Thus the metaphor captured in this second strand of the architecture can be understood to refer to the cycle of life, to rebirth following transformation after death.

This interpretation is based on a mosaic of clues gathered from all the surviving recumbent stone circles and it is not wholly explicit at Loanhead of Daviot. However, enough of the elements are present here to confirm that its builders had the same intentions as those who built similar structures elsewhere.

Although archaeologists believe recumbent stone circles were built to commemorate the dead, they contain no burials. They were constructed to attract attention and the messages inherent in their design were intended to be easily read. Eventually that ability was lost, but they continued to be understood by the people who subsequently lived amongst them as places of significance in the landscape. And perhaps it was only when this was forgotten or wilfully ignored that they began to be seriously damaged and sometimes completely destroyed. Maya Hoole (Archaeology InSites project manager) and A.T. Welfare (Archaeology Project Manager)