Borrowstone
Cist (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Borrowstone
Classification Cist (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Borrowstone 3
Canmore ID 149903
Site Number NJ80NE 72
NGR NJ 8520 0787
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/149903
- Council Aberdeen, City Of
- Parish Newhills
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District City Of Aberdeen
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ80NE 72 8520 0787
See also NJ80NE 28 and NJ80NE 73.
(Location cited as NJ 8520 0787). Borrowstone 3. This cist was situated on the crest of a rolling hillside at an altitude of about 155m OD, and was destroyed by quarrying after being excavated by I A G Shepherd and M Greig on 28-30 January 1980. It was oriented E-W and measured 1.18m long by 0.6m broad internally, having been covered by two capstones which were aligned N-S. One of the capstones had collapsed under the weight of the tractor when the cist was discovered.
The cist was of very elaborate construction, the sides being built of imbricated pairs of slabs while the chocking stones were many and substantial. The cist was paved with small angular slabs under which there was found a deposit of charcoal which was not derived from burning in situ. Traces of burning were also found on top of the chocking stones on the NW angle of the cist and under the W capstone.
The inhumation was very badly decayed, only the skull, teeth, one tibia and patella surviving. The skull lay at the E end and the body was apparently laid on its left side, facing S. The Beaker, which had probably been deliberately smashed beneath a triangular slab, lay in the NW quadrant of the cist, apparently behing the corpse's buttocks.
[GRC ground photography listed; location of finds not stated].
NMRS, MS/712/75.
The finds from this cist are in Marischal Museum, Aberdeen; the accession number of the Beaker is ABDUA: 15641.
Information from RCAHMS (JRS), 27 August 2003.
I A G Shepherd 1986.