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Prehistoric settlement activity comprising clusters of pits and later agricultural activity including enclosures and rig and furrow, visible as cropmarks and recorded during evaluation and excavation in 2004. A variety of crop marks, including rectangular enclosures, sub-circular enclosures and pits, overlain by cropmarks of two areas of rig and furrow were recorded by the RCAHMS during aerial reconnaissance in 1983. One of the rectangular enclosures is located at the south-west corner of the field. The furrows, which appear to radiate outwards from a point on the south of the field, are oriented northeast-southwest on the east and northwest-southeast on the west. Where they part, a triangular area contains what appears to be overlapping enclosures. Prior to development over part of the area covered by these cropmarks a trial trenching evaluation was carried out by CFA in May 2004. A total of 55 trenches were excavated, comprising 10 percent (7740 m sq) of the area to be developed. This was followed by a programme of excavation in June and July 2004 in the Phase 1 and Phase 3 development areas in the east and west of the site respectively. Two trenches were excavated in the Phase 1 area, uncovering areas of broad-rig cultivation, an aqueduct and associated stock enclosure and field system ditches although plough damage was extensive in these areas and surviving archaeological features had been badly truncated. Finds indicate use from the medieval period (15th century) to the 18th century. The enclosure was roughly D-shaped in plan, defined by ditches and with internal sub-divisions. Its north entrance was partially defined by ditches forming part of the associated field system. Elements of the field system are evidence on the aerial photographs and were recorded in a number of the evaluation trenches. Features uncovered in Trench 2 also included a hearth and rubbish pits of 19th-20th Century date. One pit containing Neolithic pottery was also identified, and a scattering of lithic material of probably Neolithic date were recovered across the site. Otherwise, with the exception of a sherd of medieval pottery the finds from the Phase 1 area were of post-Medieval or modern date. Excavation in the Phase 3 area further investigated the remains of a rectilinear enclosure (visible on aerial photographs) and pits containing prehistoric pottery identified during the evaluation. The enclosure, om the west side of the excavated area, measured circa 50m by 30m, with a possible entrance on the south side. The ditch yielded some small sherds of prehistoric pottery and a piece of worked flint. Within the enclosure were 19 internal features, all pits of varying sizes, with few artefacts and no evidence to relate these features to the enclosure. Two pits within the enclosure were radiocarbon dated to 3700-3520 BC and 2200-970 BC. To the east was what appeared to be a separate spread of 78 pits, many containing quantities of prehistoric pottery. Six groupings of pits were identified with others distributed between them, the clusters laying on the crest of the slope running through the site. The majority of pottery recovered is of early Neolithic date. A pit cut by the enclosure ditch on the east side comprised the largest single assemblage of prehistoric pottery (Late Neolithic Grooved Ware) from the site as well as 11 pieces of chipped stone including a fragment of a stone axe head. A total of 20 lithic artefacts of various raw materials were recovered by the excavation, including 15 pieces of debitage, three cores and two tools and would appear to date from the later Neolithic/Bronze Age. Additionally, two rubbers (or grinding stones) and a hammerstone cannot be firmly dated. At least three phases of prehistoric activity have been identified on the site: the early Neolithic represented by pits dug across the area, later Neolithic indicated by Grooved Ware pottery in some of the pits in Pit Group A, and Early Bronze Age also indicated by material recovered from some of the pits. The enclosure seems to have been constructed some time after the late Neolithic and it is thought likely to relate to the medieval or later field system. Other features recorded indicating later activity on the site included two broad rigs running northeast to southwest across the site, two parallel gullies, a stone-lined culvert, and part of the field systems identified in the earlier phase of excavation.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO53NE0006 - CLAYHOLES