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Site of cists, shown as Black Laws on the OS 1st edition map. Two short cists were examined at Balcalk in 1880 by John Sturrock. They were within a short distance of each other, and close to the surface of the ground. The first contained an inhumation and fragments of an urn. The second cist contained a crouched inhumation accompanied by a Food Vessel, a complete crescentic jet necklace, a flint knife, and a fragment of a bronze pin. It measured 0.99 m long, 0.61 m wide and 0.61 m deep and was filled with fine sand. The Food Vessel, 15.24 cm diameter, 13.97 cm high, was placed upright behind the right shoulder of the crouched inhumation. Underneath the Food Vessel were the bronze pin and the three-cornered flint knife. The beads of the jet necklace were found near to the neck and shoulders of the inhumation and it must have been worn at time of deposition. There are 147 beads of jet or cannel coal, comprising 140 fusiform (barrel-shaped) beads, two decorated triangular end plates, four decorated trapezoidal spacers and a triangular toggle. The finds were in the collection of John Sturrock, auctioned following his death in 1889, but not sold due to the intervention of the Crown. The Treasury intervened in the sale at the petition of Lord Home, in whose lands the cists were discovered. The Treasury made compensation to Sturrock's executors and waived claim to the items on the condition that Lord Home presented them to the NMAS. They are now in the RMS (NMS).
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO33NE0013 - BALCALK