Easter Moy

NH45SE 5 4954.

(NH 4954) On 4th June 1907, on the farm of Easter Moy, workmen excavating material for the repair of a road came upon a prehistoric grave. In their search for material, they found a sandstone slab which, falling outwards, disclosed the cavity of a cist in which stood an urn. On further clearance, another slab, in line with the first, fell outwards. These two slabs formed one side of the grave and, on their removal, the whole interior became visible. The grave was aligned due east and west and measured 3ft 1 1/2 ins in length, 21ins in breadth and 15 1/2 ins in depth while an average depth of 2ft of mould lay on top of the covering slab. There was no stone in the bottom but the floor had been carefully levelled and smoothed and an inch and a half of sand and clay spread over its entire surface. The urn, which had been placed at the west end of the cist, fell to pieces when handled; four small flints, including a flint scraper, and a small quantity of fragments of charred wood were found in the cist at the spot where the urn stood.

The inside of the larger of the two sandstone slabs forming the north side of the grave bears circular or oval depressions of varying dimensions. As this stone was left in situ, it was not accessible to thorough examination and it is not known if these depressions are artificial. (Fragments of bone and a worked flake from this site are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS - Accession no: EQ 308)

W Mackenzie 1908