Waterside

NJ81NW 35 8045 1635

NJ 8045 1635. There is a cairn of small stones, covered with sandy soil and turf, on top of a knoll, in an area of broad rig cultivation. It is c. 40' in diameter and 4' - 5' high. The southernmost part of the cairn has been separated from the rest by a dyke; there is another major disturbance on the SE, and other minor disturbances. In a rabbit-scrape on the S side were found a small sherd of fairly fine brown pottery - ? Bronze Age, and a small calcined flint flake, probably a knife.

Information from Dr J Kenworthy, 4 October 1974.

(Name cited as Wester Fintray). This cairn is situated on top of a knoll in an area of rough pasture at an altitude of 75m OD.

In March 1976 a trench, measuring 0.8m by 0.5m by 0.5m and set about 10m from the dyke, was cut through the crest of the mound by J Rennie of Waterside, Kintore. This revealed 'flattish stones at 2 levels laid on very soft sand'; there was a layer of boulders (which were removed by Rennie) at a depth of about 0.35m and sandy earth beneath that. The hole was infilled on 9 April 1976.

NMRS, MS/712/77 (visited 9 April 1976).

(Classification amended to Cairn; Pottery; Flint Flake; Stone: Cup-marked). This cairn is situated on the leading edge of a broad terrace, and overlooks the River Don flowing some 200m to the SW. The cairn lies on the N boundary of a plantation and its N edge is crossed by a stone wall separating the plantation from the adjacent field. Now grass-grown, it measures about 19m in diameter and on the W is up to 2m in height, but the centre and the S flank have been dug into, and field clearance has been heaped onto its N side. The present whereabouts of a small sherd of possibly Bronze Age pottery and a small calcined flint flake, which were recovered from a rabbit scrape on the S side of the mound in 1974, are not known.

A cupmarked granite boulder is situated 2m SE of the cairn. Measuring at least 1.05m from N to S by 0.9m transversely and 0.5m in thickness, the stone bears six cupmarks on its sloping SE face. The largest cup measures about 70mm in diameter and 15mm in depth.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, RL), 10 June 2003.

NJ 810 159 Following on from the substantial rescue excavations around Kintore between 2000 and 2004 (e.g. DES 2003, 20; this volume, 16, 17), the Kintore Landscape Project was established to place the results of the excavations within a wider landscape context.

The current phase of work in October 2004 comprised two elements: the extraction of a pollen core from the Rollo Mire and a programme of fieldwalking, metal detecting, test pitting and excavation across Wester Fintray Farm. The latter phase of work was conducted with the aid of local volunteers.

Test pitting and fieldwalking across the farm revealed a background of Neolithic and Bronze Age lithic activity as well as a narrow blade lithic manufacturing site of Mesolithic date, which was associated with charcoal-rich features.

Test pitting over an enclosure (NJ81NW 53) revealed a pit full of ferrous metalworking debris.

A single slot trench, 6 x 2m, was placed over an area of truncation within a cairn (NJ81NW 35), and charcoal was recovered from layers underlying the cairn. Immediately to the SE of the cairn lay a cup-marked boulder. A small slot around the boulder revealed that it had been buried by a bank associated with nearby rig. Additionally, a seventh cup was identified, and the excavation indicated that the boulder was deliberately positioned with chocking stones and appears to be in situ and not the product of recent field clearance. Two further possible cups were identified on two pieces outcropping bedrock to the SE of the cairn and forming a rough line of orientation.

Mr Rennie has recovered five polished stone axes and axe-hammers from the farm over the years. These include a pristine fully polished example made from an, as yet, unidentified banded stone. The other artefacts all occur on varyingly modified local stones such as granite and quartzite.

Examination of lithics from the Kintore area held in various museums revealed a significant number of artefacts recovered through the activities of various past field collections. These are largely Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in date.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsors: HS, Challenge Fund.

Murray Cook, L Dunbar and R Engl 2004.

Scheduled as 'Valleyview, cairn 90m ENE... a stony mound near the summit of an un-named hill, at 70m above sea level.'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 20 February 2009.