Dunnideer
Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Dunnideer
Classification Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Hill Of Dunnideer
Canmore ID 18156
Site Number NJ62NW 35
NGR NJ 612 280
NGR Description Centred NJ 612 280
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18156
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Insch
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ62NW 35 centred 612 280.
Centred at NJ 612 280 there is an unenclosed platform settlement consisting of five well defined oval hut platforms, on the S slopes of Hill of Dunnideer at c. 800ft OD. Each has been constructed by quarry- ing into the hillside and the debris piled immediately below to form a level area c.12.0m by c. 7.5m. It appears that these predate the unfinished fort (NJ62NW 1) as the outer marker trench has been diverted so as to miss one of the huts at NJ 6119 2806, and the SW rampart has been built upon and around the outer rim of another at NJ 6115 2812.
On the more inhospitable N slope of the hill, at NJ 6119 2826 and NJ 6135 2814, are another two platforms, one smaller and the other larger than the others, but also probably hut platforms. Another platform at NJ 6102 2806 is more likely to be a small quarry.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (AA) 12 March 1969.
This group of monuments is situated in an area of whin and rough grazing on the steep N- and S-facing flanks of the Hill of Dunnideer at an altitude of 225m OD
(Air photographs: AAS/77/3/SC/15, flown 16 November 1977).
NMRS, MS/712/58.
This site, and others on Dunnideer Hill, was affected by a fire that spread across the grass and exposed archaeological features, including pottery and other materials. Historic Scotland funded a project to assess the damage the fire did to the upstanding archaeology, and any remains exposed by it or the fire brigade's work (they stripped turf in an attempt to contain the spreading fire).
S Badger2006