Inchmarnock, Northpark

NS 019 611. A group of three cists, as shown on plan, was found in 1960 on the 50' raised beach, 150 yds from the sea. When excavated, a jet bead was found among the earth filling of cist 1. Cist 2, also earth-filled, was ruinous. Nothing was found in it. Cist 3, a rebated cist, contained the skeleton of a woman, accompanied by a flint knife and a lignite collar of 135 beads (now in Rothesay Museum). The latter has been dated approximately to 1500 BC.

Mr Boag, the farmer who found the cists, stated that some years ago, a flint knife, which has since been lost, was ploughed up near the find spot of the cists.

Information from OS (IF) 25 June 1976

D N Marshall 1963; I S Munro 1973

NS 0201 6124. A cist (almost certainly cist 3) is situated on the crest of a coastal slope. It is now turf-covered so that most of the capstone is obscured. However, the burial is visible through a small gap in the S end. Cists 1 and 2 have been infilled (J Middleton, Midpark Farm, Inchmarnock) and cannot be traced on the ground, but 8.0m to the N of cist 3 there are two large recumbent stone slabs; these are possibly the side slabs from one of two defaced cists.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (TRG) 18 November 1976

NS 020 600 (island centre) The Archaeology of Inchmarnock Research Project, initated by the island's new owner, Lord Smith, was undertaken over the period 1999 to 2004 with the aim of providing as complete a record as possible of the island's archaeology; of identifying and understanding better what was there, precisely where it was, and how it might be preserved for future generations.

The overarching objectives of the project were to consider how Inchmarnock's inhabitants made use of their island landscape in the medieval and later period and how the island itself related to the wider world.

The preliminary results of each season's fieldwork, together with assessments of the artefacts and environmental remains recovered, were reported on an annual basis. In tandem with this was an extensive radiocarbon-dating programme, providing the chronological framework for the investigation.

Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith

Headland Archaeology, C Lowe 2008

NS 0201 6124 Anne Speirs of Bute Museum, Jessica Herriot and I re-excavated this cist, with the assistance of Jock Turner and Fram Murray, in order to retrieve and study the human remains that Dorothy Marshall had re-buried in 1960. This young adult female had been buried wearing a spacer-plate necklace. Analysis of the necklace in advance of restringing by the author and colleagues at NMS revealed that it was mostly of Whitby jet, and had been put together from parts of at least five necklaces. After excavation Dr K McSweeny and colleagues at Edinburgh University re-examined the somewhat weathered bones and a sample of bone was submitted to Groningen University for radiocarbon dating. The rest of the remains have gone to Bradford University for isotopic analysis, which will reveal information on diet and whether the woman had been brought up in the area where she was buried. We plan to undertake facial reconstruction in 2007. During the excavation we found four jet fusiform beads, bringing the necklace's total to 139 - the largest number of any jet or jet-like spacer plate necklace in Britain.

Archive to NMRS; proposed publication of results in a booklet published by Bute Museum. Newly-discovered beads on display in Bute Museum following notification of Treasure Trove.

Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith

Dr Alison Sheridan, 2006.

NS 01998 61227 Group of three cists discovered 1960 during ploughing. Two had been disturbed previously and were earth filled, containing only a single jet bead. Third cist was intact, containing female skeleton, flint knife and a necklace of 135 lignite beads (Marshall 1963). Cist constructed with rebated sill stones (Scott 1963).

Lowe 2008

All that is now visible of these cists in an area of improved pasture are the two recumbent slabs recorded by the OS in 1976.

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH, GFG, JRS) 3 June 2009