| Details |
Surviving portion of a large prehistoric burial mound of the Neolithic to early Bronze Age dates, with dated features from the Mesolithic to Iron Age. This may be the alleged unopened burial mound noted in passing by the House of Dun in 1897. When visited by the OS in 1958 the northern portion was 2.5m high and it was circa 20m in diameter. Nineteenth-century quarrying into this mound, combined with severe rabbit and tree root disturbance led to the excavation of the site over several seasons from 1994-7. This fieldwork was carried out under the auspices of an NTS Thistle Camp project, using volunteers under the supervision of a team of professional archaeologists. The barrow appears to have been constructed as an earthen mound overlain by a stone capping to give the appearance of a cairn. The cairn material seems to be of a number of phases, consisting of both rounded glacial boulders and angular sandstone blocks. A large central feature was found to cut through the 'cairn' material, the earthen mound below and into the buried land surface. This feature was stone filled in its lower levels, with an earth fill above and an earth and stone cap. The compact fill and the lack of slumping in the profile of the mound suggest that this does not represent antiquarian disturbance. The monument is of multi-phase construction. Six phases of activity have so far been identified on the site. Phase One: The earliest features, probably Mesolithic, were two parallel sets of shallow slots and three larger pits in sandy earth. Burnt hazelnut shells and blades of Arran pitchstone were recovered from one of the pits. This was followed by a series of discontinuous patches of pre-barrow surface. The majority of these layers appeared to represent preserved turf lines, except on the south-west side of the site where there was evidence of disturbed scrub vegetation. Perhaps also Early Neolithic in date, a 1.5m deep pit in the centre of the site was lined with drystone walling to form a passage grave. The chamber was 2m in diameter with a 2m long passage facing west. The construction of this monument was absolutely contemporary with the first mound construction, which was made up of a number of different deposits of stone, earth and timber. The floor of the chamber produced a large quantity of very small pieces of fragmentary human bone and some flintwork, including a small scraper. After a period of use the passage was blocked. Rim fragments from an Early Neolithic bowl were found in the blocking material. A large slab of rock found in the post-medieval disturbance possibly formed the capstone to the chamber. The destroyed upper walls of the chamber had been corbelled inwards to support this stone. During the construction of the Early Bronze Age earthen ring bank the passage grave roof had been partly destroyed and the chamber had been filled in. Following this, parts of the upper walls either collapsed as a result of this disturbance or were deliberately destroyed. The collapsed layers were incorporated into the remodelled and enlarged mound to form the central area of the ring cairn. Further dumps of material were also added to the outside edge of the mound. These dumps overlay a number of pits containing Early Bronze Age ceramics, including a single pit containing two complete Collared Urns and an Accessory Vessel and another pit with a complete Food Vessel. Phase Two: A circular bank of sandy earth and large sandstone blocks which surrounded a central, unembanked area. Sherds of two beakers and three arrowheads of tranchet, leaf-shaped and barbed-and-tanged type were recovered from this bank material. This phase of bank construction was interrupted on the E side by a feature interpreted as an entrance, through which the central area would have been visible. A narrow stone-filled slot ran east-west through the entrance feature and suggests a structural element, although no post-holes were found. Sherds of five Early Neolithic bowls were found in contexts disturbed by rabbit activity on the outside of this entrance. On the north edge of the entrance were many large tabular sandstone blocks, over which a very loose and gritty yellow sand extended across the feature. This fill indicates deliberate blocking rather than gradual silting. Phase Three: To the east of the entrance a secondary cremation burial was cut into the second phase of ring bank: A vessel of indeterminate form with no surviving outer surface was discovered amongst a considerable depth of charcoal, the remains of a large fire. A third vessel, a bipartite urn, came from a cut feature on the north edge of the ring bank and was associated with a five-pointed faience bead. On the northeast edge of the ring bank was a small undisturbed cist circa 0.5 x 0.3m, containing a large amount of broken bone as well as a flint flake with a retouched edge, and a broken bone pin with a (possibly hourglass) perforation just below the articular end. Phase Four: Following the construction of the second phase of ring bank, the primary filling of the entrance, and the building and use of the cist, rounded glacial boulders were deposited over the whole site, so that the mound appeared to be a cairn. The entrance had been filled by the boulder covering, and in this layer a complete inverted Collared Urn (Longworth's primary series) with its cremation in-situ was found, one of five such associated with secondary burials. Parts of a second primary series Collared Urn, and a fragmentary Food Vessel Urn were also found. A fragment of what may be a second bead (probably of a canneloid shale) was found in the fragmentary Collared Urn. The fragmentary Collared Urn and several vessels found in the previous season were inserted into the boulder layer. An interrupted kerb of three large irregular stones, which retained the boulder cairn phase of building, was found beyond the outer edge of the earthen ring bank on the northeast side of the monument. This kerb seems to have respected the earlier alignment of the site and did not cross the line of the entrance. However, the kerb was found only in the northeast quadrant, and whilst it may have existed in inaccessible parts of the site it might not have been more extensive or continuous. Phases Five and Six: Two large cut features in the centre of the monument extended into the old ground surface. They contained objects of 18th-century date and disturbed prehistoric and early medieval material. The passage grave has been backfilled but has been left largely intact, and may in the future be consolidated for presentation to visitors.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO66SE0079 - FORDHOUSE BARROW, DEN WOOD