Details |
Remains of a barrow. It is grass covered, measures 25 metres in diameter and is 2 metres high. Its middle has been mutilated, probably by excavation of which there are three recorded. The first was by Mr Wilkie of Auchlishie, some years before 1863, when he found an urn and a spearhead, which in 1863 were in the possession of Miss Wilkie, Auchlishie but are now lost. It was excavated again in 1919 by the Kirriemuir-born vicar of West Cornforth, County Durham, the Rev T. Fenton Fyffe. The mound was recorded by Fenton Fyffe as cone-shaped, circa 17 metres in diameter and 5 metres high. The southern portion of the mound had been removed previously. A thin (10-40 cm) outer covering of soil masked a core of varied boulders and a cist. The cist, measuring 1 m x 0.61 m x 0.55 m, with an unpaved floor and clay-luted corners and oriented east-west was recorded. It was filled with over 30 cm of burnt soil and ash. On top of the ash was an Early Bronze Age Food Vessel, beads which were parts of a jet necklace and bracelet, three stones and a number of other finds that are now lost. The lost finds supposedly included shaped stones and a possible fossil shell. The surviving finds were formerly in Sunderland Museum, but are now in Dundee Museum. The Food Vessel is in excellent condition, but it had partially sagged during firing. Its dimensions are 98-102 mm high, rim diameter 136-138 mm, base diameter 68 mm. It is decorated with comb and jabbed triangular impressions. The 98 jet beads are the remains of two pieces of jewellery, a spacer place necklace and a bracelet. The necklace is incomplete and consists of 76 barrel-shaped beads, four trapezoidal spacer plates and a triangular fastener. The bracelet is also probably incomplete and consists of twelve barrel-shaped beads, a rectangular spacer plate and two triangular terminal plates. Analysis by X-ray fluorescence spectometry reveals that all of the jet is from Whitby. There is little wear and the maker was highly skilled. The necklace is similar to one found nearby at Pitreuchie. The worked stone is a tapering pear-shaped stone, polished to form an axe-like cutting edge, it is 105 mm long, 51 mm wide and 39 mm thick. The remaining two stones in Dundee Museum were considered to be worked by Fyffe, but are now considered merely natural. Further excavations in 1961 by Taylor and Wainwright revealed three successive layers of loose earth separated by stonework, possibly indicating intermittent construction. A cist was found 7.5 m east of that found in 1919. It contained the unaccompanied cremated remains of a woman aged 30-40.
|