Carsie Mains

This pit-defined structure is situated adjacent to the pit-circle NO14SE 88. It measures about 15m in length by 6m in breadth, and at least one rounded end can be distinguished.

Information from RCAHMS (SH) 12 January 1993.

Aerial photography has recorded the cropmarks of pits, including several pit features, scattered across the E half of the field immediately to the S of Hare Myer Cottage. A rectangular pit-defined enclosure measures approximately 15m by 6m, and consists of two parallel alignments of five pits, two centrally placed pits at the W end, and an indeterminate circular marking at the other. Similar nearby cropmark sites have been interpreted as Neolithic ritual enclosures, notably Littleour (NO14SE 59), or mortuary enclosures, such as Upper Gothens (NO14SE 94). A further possible pit-enclosure is visible 40m to the N, consisting of at least five distinct pits in a sub-circular or oval setting, and a pit-circle (NO14SE 88) has been recorded 15m to the WNW.

A sinuous pit-alignment is visible to the SE of these features. It runs in a SW-NE direction (NO c.1767 4159 to c.1776 4174), a distance of approximately 95m, stopping just short of the pit-circle (NO14SE 88). The pits are noticeably larger than those of the described pit enclosures (some over 2m in diameter), and the alignment may bifurcate towards the S end with a short alignment of three smaller pits running in a westerly direction.

Three linear cropmarks have been recorded 50m to the S of the pit-enclosures. These are set at right-angles to one another, and may represent traces of modern agriculture or drainage.

Information from RCAHMS (KB) 2 September 1999

NO14SE 84 177 417.

NO 177 417 A rectilinear structure visible as a cropmark (NO 14 SE 84) was exposed and partly excavated by a joint team from the universities of Stirling and Glasgow. It was superficially similar to a Neolithic timber structure excavated at Littleour, some 1.5km to the SSW. The structure measured c 17m roughly E-W by 7m wide. It was defined by two lines each of five posts, with the ends closed off by three further posts. In the interior were two lines of smaller posts, each some 1.5m in from the long sides. There was a further small post close to the long axis and, near the W end, a curved possible slot. Most other features excavated were tree-pits, of which many were recognised in the excavated area.

The other feature, the timber ring (NO 14 SE 88), consisted of 15 posts set in shallow post-holes in a circle 12.5m in diameter. One post at least seemed to have been burned in situ.

No artefacts, apart from flint flakes from a tree-hole, were recovered from either site. The tree-pits provide some stratigraphic relationships. Where they coincided, the post-holes of the rectilinear timber structure appeared to pre-date the tree-pits, while the post-holes of the timber ring clearly cut through the filled-in tree-pits.

Sponsor: Arts & Humanities Research Board.

G J Barclay and K Brophy 2002

Field boundaries, recorded as cropmarks on oblique aerial photography (RCAHMSAP 1995), are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire 1865-1884, sheet LXIII NE).

Information from RCAHMS (BN) 30 April 2008.