Old Kinord
Enclosure(S) (Prehistoric), Field System (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Old Kinord
Classification Enclosure(S) (Prehistoric), Field System (Period Unassigned), Hut Circle(S) (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) 'Old Kinnord Group'
Canmore ID 17072
Site Number NJ40SW 3
NGR NJ 444 002
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17072
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Glenmuick, Tullich And Glengairn
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ40SW 3 444 002
(NJ 444 002) Circular Foundations (NR).
OS 6" map, Aberdeenshire, 2nd ed., (1902)
An extensive settlement (the Old Kinnord Group), containing several unusual features, lies on the strip of land between Loch Davan and Loch Kinnord.
The settlement is enclosed by a wall and comrises eighteen enclosures, ten or more hut circles, 'cairns', walls and rows of implaced stones, two earth-houses, and a 'chambered structure'.
Finds during excavation by Abercromby in 1903 were very few but included a stone disc, unidentified flints, charcoal, burnt earth and bone (both burnt and unburnt), the only identifiable fragment of which was not human.
The only pottery was a few fragments of dark ware, some wheel-turned, glazed on one or both sides. A quern fragment and an angular piece of iron were found in the filling of earth house C.
The lack of finds suggested to Abercromby that the enclosures were for stock, and the quern, fragment of iron and glazed pottery, that they were of comparatively late date.
Ogston, however, considered that the finds were no guide to the original age, and that the settlement was typical of 'Ancient British' remains elsewhere.
J Abercromby 1904; A Ogston 1931.
A settlement of three well defined huts A, B and H, three others not so well defined D, K and Z, and the remains of two earth houses F and C. They are enclosed by the remains of a stone wall which is itself surrounded by a field system comprising clearance heaps and field walls, the whole being heavily overgrown.
A, B and H are hut circles defined by unusually strong stony walls, c.2.5 metres thick, and measuring c.16.5m, c.17.5m, and c.15.5m in diameter respectively from crest to crest, H having a flattened north east side.
D, K and Z are circular enclosures defined by slight stony walls and measure c.18.0m, c.17.5m, and c.17.5m in diameter respectively. The latter, which has an oval annexe attached to its south side impinging on the boundary wall, is shown on the OS 6" but not by Ogston. (NJ 4441 0020).
The two earth houses C and F are as described by Ogston.
Enclosure K to the south west of D is possibly the denuded remains of another circle although too mutilated for positive identification.
All the other structures referred to by Ogston, including the alleged chambered structure, appear to be either mutilated clearance heaps or fortuitous arrangements caused by tumbled field walls and natural rock outcrops.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R L), 6 November 1968.
Abercromby's trenches are to be re-opened in 1974 by K Edward, Aberdeen University, in an attempt to date the structures by pollen analysis.
Information from Dr J Kenworthy, 6 May 1974.
Publication Account (1986)
This is an enclosed settlement surrounded by a system of large fields represented by stone banks and clearance heaps. The most substantial features are A and B on Ogston's plan which have stone walls, 2.5 m thick, sunken floors and diameters of 16.5 m and 17.5 m. Their entrances face east and north respectively. A small souterrain, C, can be seen clearly, opening off feature D which may be a house site similar to feature E at New Kinord (no. 70). In 1904, the Hon J Abercromby excavated huts H, B, A, and D and found a stone disc, flints, charcoal, pottery and a quern fragment. His conclusion that the structures were late cattle kraals was dismissed trenchantly, but probably rashly, by Ogston as 'untenable'.
Features Land K are enclosures, less substantial than D and R at New Kinord. Although structure H was interpreted as a hut it lies outside the main enclosure wall and is irregular in plan. A re-excavation of structure D produced no datable finds. However, a burnt hazelnut shell indicated woodland foraging, while soil pollen analysis suggested the existence of extensive pasture and some cereals.
Loch Kinord, over the ridge to the south, contains one of the few crannogs or lake dwellings in Grampian. It is the smallest islet in the loch, an oval, pile and stonebuilt feature, 22m by 19m.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
Publication Account (1996)
This is an enclosed settlement surrounded by a system of large fields represented by stone banks and clearance heaps. The most substantial features are A and B on Ogston's plan which have stone walls, 2.5m thick, sunken floors and dia meters of 16.5m and 17.5m. Their entrances face east and north respectively. A small souterrain, C, can be seen clearly, opening off feature D which may be a house site similar to feature E at New Kinord (no. 70). In 1904, the Hon J Abercromby excavated huts H, B, A, and D and found a stone disc, flints, charcoal, pottery and a quern fragment. His conclusion that the structures were late cattle kraals was dismissed trenchantly, but probably rashly, by Ogston as 'untenable'.
Features Land K are enclosures, less substantial than D and R at New Kinord. Although structure H was interpreted as a hut it lies outside the main enclosure wall and is irregular in plan. A reexcavation of structure D produced no datable finds. However, a burnt hazelnut shell indicated woodland foraging, while soil pollen analysis suggested the existence of extensive pasture and some cereals.
Loch Kinord, over the ridge to the south, contains one of the few crannogs or lake dwellings in Grampian. It is the smallest islet in the loch, an oval, pile- and stone-built feature, 22m by 19m.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).
Excavation (March 2016 - March 2017)
NJ 44475 00233 (centred on) A sample excavation and survey were undertaken, March 2016 – March 2017, at the roundhouse settlement at Old Kinord (NJ40SW 3). The work consisted of three small-scale trenches complemented by digital, airborne, and hand drawn surveys of the upstanding monuments, their architectural detail, and the wider settlement setting. A complementary airborne digital survey was undertaken at New Kinord, c500m E of Old Kinord.
This work formed part of a research project to understand, date and contextualise the unusual surviving roundhouse architectures in the context of the wider settlement and burial record of the Howe of Cromar. These monumental circular structures with associated earthworks interpreted as souterrains stand out with no precise equivalent in NE
Scotland.
Re-opening of three antiquarian trenches investigated two souterrain structures and the junction between two overlapping roundhouse walls at the main Old Kinord group. A site sequence was established, with the earliest dates associated with the lower roundhouse ranging between the
early 2nd and late 1st century BC, and layers associated with the abandonment of the upper roundhouse dating to the 1st century BC to the earliest 3rd century AD. The latter dates proved roughly contemporary with dates from the early abandonment contexts within the associated souterrain, ranging from early 1st century BC to 1st and 2nd century AD.
Micro-morphology confirmed the architectural survey and the field observations of a collapsed turf superstructure for the later roundhouse; further architectural and geoarchaeological analyses are under way to establish the construction of the earlier roundhouse and the souterrains. The wider survey including augering, plane table and airborne recordings
confirmed and further refined the extent of the immediate settlement area and soil built-up; a new circular structure was identified to the W of the main group at Old Kinord.
Results from the work at Old Kinord combined with the survey at New Kinord have shed new light on the complex site biographies and methods of monumentalising architecture which all reflect the unusual character of both sites.
Archive: Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen University Museum/ Marischal Museum, and NRHE (intended)
Funder: Aberdeenshire Council and Leverhulme Trust
Richard Bradley, Tanja Romankiewicz and Amanda Clarke – University of Reading and University of Edinburgh
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
