kl155k ass 2 intr prehistory

8/6/2019 Kl155k Ass 2 Intr Prehistory

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland

March 2011

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Choose a site visited on your field trip, and making use of diagrams, field sketches, plans and about 1200words, describe one site and its setting within its landscape.

Recumbent Stone CircleStrichen NJ 93698 54481

Contents FiguresPage Page

Summary 2 1. Plan of Strichen RSC 2Recent History 2 2 Photo NE of Circle Mormond Hill 3Orientation 3 3 Plan of Area including prehistoric sites 4Evidence 5 4 Collared Urns and Stone Battle Axe 5Discussion 8 5 John Ainslie Map 1789 6Bibliography 8 6 Collared Urn 6Photo Log (attached) 7 Satellite Image of Strichen Old Church 7

Map OS 1:50k Northern Scotland Region 6.

Red Dot : Strichen Recumbrent Stone CircleBlack Dot: Other Recumbrent Stone CirclesRed Line : 90m contourBlue Line: River U ie North/South


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Summary:This report has been complied from a site visit to a Recumbent Stone Circle (RSC) at Strichen on the 10thMay 2011. The purpose of the visit was to observe the circles setting in the landscape.

Resent History:The recumbent stone circle has had a chequered history over the last 200 years. The circle we see today isa reconstruction based on evidence gained through excavation in 1980(P Abramson, I Hampshire-

Monk,1980,12-13)

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. It is believed that the stones were last in their original situ prior to 1830 when a tenantfarmer removed all except the recumbent and its two flankers. Although Lord Fraser Strichen, (later LordLovat), ordered the stones to be replaced, the circle was erected wrongly on the south side of therecumbent and a surrounded bank of earth was built. I have included the earth bank on fig.2. It is stillclearly seen on the ground and future investigators should be warned this has never been a binary circlemonument.

Once again in 1960 the outer stones were removed and then later in 1965 the recumbent and flankers werealso taken away so tree-felling operations could proceed. After an excavation by A. Burl in 1979 the originallocations of the stones were unearthed and the recumbent was replaced, from its resting place in a nearbyquarry, to its prehistoric position. The circle was re-erected to the north of the recumbent.

Fig.1


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Orientation:Strichen RSC lies to the south of the summit of a knoll in the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire. Standing atits centre and aligning grid-north to 12 oclock; a ridgeline is observed not more than 1km away, which runs

from 4 oclock, through 6, to 1 oclock,(please refer to Photo Log Fr. 9 - 17) . This ridgeline averagesaround 20 meters higher than the height above sea level of the Stone Circle, and thereby obscures thelandmass beyond and gives the observer a feeling of standing inside a natural bowl. The remaining easterngap around the 3 oclock position is plugged by another knoll or Rath that accommodates Strichenchurchyard with its redundant church. The north eastern prospect is also dominated by the ridgeline ofMormond Hill with its summits of Waughton and Mormond, fig 2.

Fig.2Strichen RSC with Waughton Hill with the White Horse and Mormond Hill with the radio masks. North East.


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Fig.3

Map Ref Description Abn. Council SMR Ref

A Recumbent Stone Circle NJ95 SW0054

B Boundary Stone NJ95 SW0054C Cist Cluster NJ95 SW0003

D Cist, Arrow Heads, Stone Axe NJ95 NWE0006

E Cropmarks, Rigs NJ95 NW0014

F Collared Urn, Calcined remais N\J95 SE24

G Rubbing Stone NJ95 SW0053

H Cropmarks, circular with internal rectangle NJ95 SE0049

Z Remains of Church, Medieval settlement NJ95 SW0008


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Evidence:The following evidence has been extracted from RCAHMS and Aberdeenshire Council SMR and refers tothe table in fig.3 to form a date line of occupation based on finds and features.

A. Recumbent Stone Circleii: According to H.A.W. Burl study on RSCs (Burl,1981)iii they shoulddate from the first quarter of the second millennium BC, and none are later than 1400BC. However C14

analyse on charcoal found in a possible stone hole on the 1980 excavation carried out in 2001 give areading of 2370 +/- 130 B.P, which would make the circle between 700 400CalBC, well into the lateBronze Age and early Ironiv. Although a discussion on how this charcoal came to be placed there iswarranted, a late date for this RSC is plausible considering its actual scale. It is thought that RSCs wereconstructed with ever smaller diameters over time, and Strichen having one of the smallest diameters in theAberdeenshire, would put it at the end of the RSC period. Another indicator would be the grading of thestones to each other, as the practice of placing the tallest nearest to the recumbent and falling away so thesmallest was opposite, went out of fashion in the later circles. But as this is a reconstruction the only clueswe may have been gathered from the size of the excavated stone-holes themselves. Date: For reasons Iwill elaborate on later under Discussion, I would say the circle dates from the period romantically coinedas the Weapons, Warriors and Warfarev (c.1500BC to AD100).

B. Boundary Stonevi: This stone is marked on the 1888 OS map. What relevance it has to the circle is

unknown, but a line may be drawn moving north from the centre of the recumbent, across the circle to the 6oclock position stone, through this boundary stone to the crop markings reported at point E at Tarfat. Itcould have aided people coming from Tarfat locating the RSC as the RSC is obscured from this directiononce you are in the valley. (Photo Log Frame. 25,26,27). Date unknown.

C & D. Cistsvii: Site of cists; found in 1866 with several urns containing human remains. Many of theurns had flint arrowheads placed on either side and one urn 278mm high by 276mm diameter, was invertedover calcined bones with the two halves of a broken decorated stone battle-axe (of Roe's type IIIE(N)) oneither side of it. Another imperfect urn, 176mm diameter at its shoulder, was inverted over a child'scremation. The purpose of inverting the urns over the remains may have to serve to keep the spirit tied tothe land, in much the same way as a stone cairn may have been erected to stop the spirit floating away.But I feel the urn was protecting the occupants, providing a shelter or house. The weapons also point to aneed for the occupants to defend themselves. They were not inside the urns so were not intended to be

taken into the next world, but outside to defend against what ever evil could threaten to follow them fromour world. Or because they are objects of value, they could have been payment to the ferry-man that existsin many cultures that assist the dead on their way. Date: The period for cinerary urns is given as between2100 1450BC.

Fig.4


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E. Crop Marksviii: Crop marks, field boundaries and rigs were seen on aerial photography taken on 19June 1997, showing rig-and-furrow cultivation of a field boundary on arable ground on this gentle SE-facingslope. As rig and furrows only tend to survive best in marginal areas were it was only farmed at times ofpopulation pressure or economic expansion (Barber, 2001)ix, we may assume that the population in thisarea was at sufficient numbers to provide manpower for the RSC construction. (There are two accounts of

massive depopulation in the archives, the first follows the Battle of Mons Graupius 84ADx, ifTacitus and

John Ainslie mapxi

is to be believed (fig.5) and the second after the Battle of Baraxii

when Edward Bruce(King Bobs brother) carried out clan cleansingxiii of the Comyns and their supporters in 1308AD known asthe Rape of Buchan). Date: not known, maybe Iron Age.

Fig.5

F. Collared Urn: This urn was found in 1970 holding the cremations of more than two individuals(fig.6). A woman in her twenties and a child of not more than two years old were identified by their teeth.The location is interesting for although it is over 1km west of find C & D, they share a relationship in thatthey were once near to a possible ancient track way that passed through this area. Travelling fromPeterhead on the East coast, the route went through Howfords Farm (F), over the church rath (Z), passthe cists (C&D), through Tarfat (E) and onto Aberdour and the bronze age settlement of Fort Fiddesxiv atTroup Head on the north coast. Date: Between 2000 1450BC.

Fig.6

G. Rubbing Stone: Site of a now destroyed rubbing stone that is depicted on the 1867 1st edition OSmap. The significance of this stone is not known. It may have been used to sharpen metal edges likeploughs or knives. Date: Not known.


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H. Cropmark: Reported on the Aberdeenshires Councils SMR as a possible circular enclosure with aninternal feature. Considering the location of this feature to the river and its wetlands, the possibility that itmay be of significant value to our understanding of prehistory in this area is huge (ritual). Date: BC1400 400AD?

Z. Church Rath: Although a ruined 17th century church now occupies the rath, this area once formedthe medieval settlement of Strichenxv. (Strichen village was moved to the north bank of the River Ugie and

was first known as Mormond Village until the mid 1800s). However there is strong evidence that this sitemay have been in constant occupation from the earliest of times to its abandonment in the late 18 th century.

The perception of the landscape by those who created it led to the avoidance or inclusion oflandscape features and it may be possible to read some of this evidence to provide an understanding ofthese perceptions. In rural Ireland, for example, areas around fairy thorn trees were left uncultivated andboth there and in Scotland, grave yards or traditional burial grounds were similarly avoided. Ancientmonuments, similarly, would not have survived in cultivated areas were they not deliberately excluded fromcultivation. (Barber J. 2001)

Fig.7Satellite image of Strichen Old Church.Areas marked in red could need further investigation.


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Discussion

Standing as on an island surrounded by the immediate landscape, Strichen RSC setting seems unlikemany earlier RSCs which appear to have been placed to command exceptional views across plains.Instead Strichen RCS sits on a pedestal within a landscape that cloaks it as if it is inside a greatamphitheatre. There is also a sense of meeting about the place as if you are on a conjunction or at the hub

of adjoining thoroughfares, (although those inside the circle are not the watchers of passerbys, but are thewatched). The landscape may afford this place a certain amount of privacy from the outside world whichmakes it feel exclusive, but if you were invited to stand on its rim, you would be most privy to the eventsunfolding inside this sacred place.The landscape of Strichen RSC is of the type that crosses the boundaries of periods such as Stone,Bronze, Iron etc. where as such labels could be used in other parts of the UK that demonstrate abruptchanges in the archaeological record, I feel such labels will be found wanting in Strichen and throughoutBuchan. Prehistoric Strichen was never on the margins between conflicting cultures or torn betweenfanatical political powers, so the probability of continuity and survival of its beliefs, culture and way-of-life isfar greater. Even up to the agriculture improvements of the 18th century we read of the exasperations oflocal Lords trying to get their tenants to use modern metal ploughs over traditional wooden ones that werereminiscent of the Neolithic Age (Alexander W. 1894)xvi.

However; Strichen can not hide behind its ridgeline for ever, Mormond Hill, which was not discussed as it isdeserving of investigation on its own, dominates the whole of Buchan but its skyline is set to change. (Whysuch a prominent landmark with obvious prehistory potential has failed to fall under the archaeologistmicroscope is a mystery?). The threat to losing our understanding of sites like Mormond and Strichen isaccelerating; with the academic world seems transfixed on the Highlands of Scotland, the developers arepoised to destroy what remains in the east while its gaze is averted. (Aberdeenshire Council Local Plandesignates 80 houses to fill the sky line around the NE of the settlement, and twelve 100m wind turbinesare being proposed across the summit of Mormond Hill). If, as I believe, that the prehistoric landscapes isstill visible from the RSC, it may only be so for a very few years to come.

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P Abramson, I Hampshire-Monk,1980, The Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, The Scottish Group, Council forBritish Archaeology, 12-13ii

Aberdeenshire SMR 2011, NJ95SW0001, Strichen Stone Circleiii

H.A.W. Burl 1981, The Recumbent Stone Circles of North East Scotlandiv

ADS, Archaeology Data Service, Arch Search, Radiocarbon date, Sample number BM-2317R, Submitted PA 1981,Charcoal, ref 5/ST81v

KL1558, 2011, Centre for Lifelong Learning, Scottish Archaeology Workbook, Archaeological Identification:Prehistoric Scotland, 111 - 138vi

Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 SW0054, Boundary Stonevii

Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 SW0003, Cist Cluster: NJ95 NWE0006, Cist and Axe.viii

Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 NW0014, Rig and Crop marksix

Barber, John 2001, Guidlines for the preservation of areas of rig and furrow in Scotland, Scottish Trust forArchaeological Research 2001x

Tacitus 98AD, Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb,

chapter 29xiJohn Ainslie 1789, Scotland, drawn and engraved from a series of angles and astronomical observations.

xiiWatt William 1900, A History of Aberdeen and Banff, 64-65

xiiiWatt William 1900, A History of Aberdeen and Banff, 66

xivAberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ86NW0001, Fort Fiddes and Pict settlement

xvRev. Simpson Alexander 1842, The New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845), Volume XII Aberdeen,

Parish of Strichenxvi

Alexander William 1826-1894, Northern Rural Life, Limited Edition 1981

kl155k ass 2 intr prehistory

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