Skelmuir Hill

NJ94SE 27 centred 986 414

See also NK14SW 3.01 and NK04SE 41.

(Area: NJ 986 414) A group of huts or shelters associated with flint-working occurs on the ridge of Skelmuir Hill.

They survive as pits 15' to 30' in diameter now largely ploughed to saucer-shaped depressions up to 55' in diameter. Two of them (I and II on the plan, which shows only the most obvious huts) were partially excavated by Graham-Smith in 1918-19, disclosing a very light walling composed of pebbles and large stones surrounding the excavated area. It had probably never risen much above ground level.

The interiors produced no domestic refuse but Hut II had obviously been used as a flint work-shop since it produced hearths, flint flakes and stone anvils. Stone anvils occur plentifully in the area, as do nodules, cores and broken flakes, but no completed implements were found.

Childe compares the site with those of the flint workers of East Anglia and the South Downs referring to the excavations as 'pits' rather than 'huts' or 'shelters' and tentatively assigning it to the Beaker period. Similar sites occur elsewhere in the area, notably at Den of Boddam (NK14SW 3).

G S Graham-Smith 1919; V G Childe 1946

A few of the hollows indicated on the plan of Graham-Smith are still faintly discernible but insufficient survives for accurate survey. The farmer at Moss-side (NJ 9841) has ploughed the field in each of the three years he has been at the farm but has found nothing. Numerous pieces of flint were noted at the time of investigation.

Visited by OS (RL) 27 April 1972

Flints from Skelmuir are in Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, donated by G S Graham-Smith (72.40).

(Undated) information in Museum Accessions Register.

(NJ 986 414). Four machine test-pits were dug to investigate the geological and archaeological deposits at this location, where previous archaeological excavations took place in 1918. One test-pit was placed so as to partially re-excavate one of the 1918 trenches and samples of knapping debris and anvilstones were recovered. Further work at this site is planned.

Sponsor: National Museums of Scotland.

A Saville 1993.

NJ 986 414. Archaeological and geological research excavations were undertaken for three weeks in July 1994 in a field currently under pasture. The two areas investigated by G S Graham-Smith in 1918 were re-excavated in order to reassess the previous work and its findings. This was accompanied by more extensive trial-trenching and subsequent excavation of selected features.

It is now apparent that pits were dug across the whole hilltop to extract flint pebbles from the Buchan Ridge Gravel, which immediately underlies the topsoil. Sampled pits varied from 2m to 3m in depth. Primary knapping debris and the characteristic quartzite cobble anvils were abundant, but no finished implements were located.

Geological work allowed the flint-bearing deposits to be characterized and provided new information on the origin of the Gravel. It is now almost certain that the Buchan Ridge Gravel is of marine beach origin.

Sponsor: NMS.

A Saville 1994.

Air photography (AAS/94/12/G23/1-15, dated 12 July 1994 and AAS/94/14/G27/6-7, dated 19 July 1994) has recorded these remains.

NMRS, MS/712/9 and MS/712/21.

NJ 986 414 Further archaeological and geological research excavations were undertaken for three weeks in July 1997 in the field previously investigated in 1994 (Saville 1994). Two areas were stripped of topsoil by machine for archaeological study; a third machine trench was dug for geological purposes.

One of the archaeological areas, approximately 100 sq m in extent, contained a single circular shaft, 3.2m deep, with a diameter of 3.9m near the surface, narrowing to a cylindrical 1.4-1.8m diameter for most of its depth. The fill contained virtually no artefacts and it would appear that the shaft was a test-pit, dug in the search for flint-bearing gravel in an area where the gravel is deficient.

The second archaeological area, again approximately 100 sq m, was by contrast almost entirely covered by extraction pits, with masses of flint-knapping debris contained in their upper fills. Only some lower fills were excavated, indicating a mixture of deeper (c 2m) and shallower (c 1m) pits reflecting contrasts in the depth and nature of the flint-bearing gravel. Baulks of undug deposit separating the pits could be as narrow as 150mm.

Both areas have thrown further light on the local methodology of flint extraction in prehistory and have confirmed the previous hypothesis that the pitting is intensive wherever the relevant flint-bearing deposit is present.

The geological trench permitted sampling of a further extraction pit, c 2.3m deep, with well-stratified deposits of knapping debris in association with charcoal.

Sponsors: National Museums of Scotland, Durham University, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Royal Archaeological Institute.

A Saville and D Bridgland 1997.

(Name cited as Skelmuir Hill, and location as NJ 9860 4136). Prehistoric flint pits; large pits, 2-3m in depth, dug into the Buchan flint deposit. Primary flint knapping debris and characteristic quartzite cobble anvils were abundant, but no finished implements were located during excavations in 1994.

NMRS, MS/2059.