Wester Fintray

NJ81NW 53 80886 15770

Cropmarks of a circular enclosure and pits; also faint trace of rig and furrow.

Information from Mrs M Greig (Grampian Regional Council), 24 April 1995.

Air photographs: AAS/94/12/G25/2-5.

NMRS, MS/712/21.

(Location cited as NJ 8090 1580: nominated as Site of Regional Importance). Air photography has recorded the faint cropmarks of a circular enclosure (showing as dark traces and blobs) and rig on a rise at an altitude of 72m OD.

[Air photographic imagery listed].

NMRS, MS/712/35.

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.

NJ 8105 1637 Following on from the substantial rescue excavations around Kintore between 2000 and 2004 (e.g. DES 2004, 15, 16), the Kintore Landscape Project was established to place the results of the excavations within a wider landscape context.

The third phase of work took place at Wester Fintray Farm in October 2005, following work in 2004 and earlier in 2005, and comprised the machine-excavation of a series of linear slots across and within two cropmark enclosures (NJ81NW 53 and NJ81NW 38.2) with the specific aim of recovering dating evidence. Additionally, a grid excavation took place over the centre of the lithic scatter identified in 2004. All of the work was conducted by volunteers.

Sections were excavated across the ditches of both enclosures: NJ81NW 38.2 was broad with a flat base, measuring around 4.6m wide and 0.7m deep, with a line of stones at its base. There was no trace of a recut. There were traces of a collapsed bank at its eastern side (the outer edge of the enclosure). The lower fills were charcoalrich and the base of a large hand-thrown pot was recovered from the fill. Two sections across NJ81NW 53 revealed contrasting ditch profiles: one was 1.5m wide and up to 1m deep, with two or three recuts. The second profile was 0.9m wide and up to 0.4m deep,

and was recut at least once. The variance might be due to the two features being unrelated. Within the enclosure was at least one roundhouse with a sunken floor.

The trenching also identified a large area of burning, associated with concentrations of charcoal and slag, covering an area 9 x 6m. The grid excavation recovered numerous lithics and identified six cut features, including two pits around 0.6m in diameter and 0.5m deep. The pits did not seem to relate to the lithic scatter, and appeared to be too large to have been a post-built roundhouse. It is expected that 2006 will see the final season of fieldwork on the Kintore Landscape Project and that attention will be focused on Bruce's Camp (NS71NE 03), a hilltop enclosure just outside Inverurie.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsors: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Glasgow Archaeological Society, MacKichan Trust, CBA Challenge Fund, AOC Archaeology Group.

Murray Cook, L Dunbar and R Engl 2005.

Scheduled as 'The Hedges, enclosure 480m S of... the remains of a later prehistoric enclosed settlement visible in [as] cropmarks on aerial photographs... in low-lying arable land at 55m above sea level, on a rise on the N flank of Strathdon.'

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