Aberdeen City HER - NJ90SE0003 - CRAB'S CAIRN

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNJ90SE0003
NameCRAB'S CAIRN
NRHE Card No.NJ90SE4
NRHE Numlink 20240
HES SM No. 4060
HES LB No. NULL
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Incomplete
Details Remains of a cairn. Crab's Cairn is the least prominent of the four large stone cairns on the ridge on Tullos Hill. They form the remains of an important Bronze Age cairn cemetery, probably dating to the early 2nd millennium BC. Its position lies 335 metres south east of Tullos Cairn. It was recorded in the Book of St Fittick that 'an urn 6 inches high' was found within the cairn in the late 18th century. No further information on this has been found. The cairn measures 11m in diameter and 1.1m high and consists of a mass of loose boulders and stones. This cairn is in dense gorse undergrowth and has been crossed by a 19th-century field boundary as well being damaged by 20th-century rubbish dumping. The naming of the cairns on Tullos Hill is recent. Brown's map of the area in 1777 is the first very detailed map of the area (it is held in the city archives). It reveals that Tullos cairn was so named in 1777 but none of the rest of the cairns had their modern names at that point. Crab's cairn do not seem to be names known at that time, although they have assumed their names by at least 1867. recorded in 2004 CFA survey - NJ90SE0586. A watching brief was carried out by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit in 2009 during ground works for a kissing gate in proximity to the cairn, but no archaeological features were observed.
Last Update18/01/2023
Updated Bycpalmer
CompilerACU
Date of Compilation13/09/2017

Google Map for NJ90SE0003

National Grid Reference: NJ 9632 0375



Event Details

Event DateEvent TypeOASIS ID
2009 Watching-Brief aberdeen3-70193
2004 Field Survey
2000 Field Observation
2017 Field Observation
2021 Field Observation

Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types