Cremated bone from the Cordoned Urn (Urn 5)
The total weight of bone fragments recovered from this burial was 1876.05 g, which is consistent with the cremation of a single adult and would indicate very good post-cremation recovery and virtually complete burial of the remains. There were three unidentifiable pieces of burnt animal bone. One piece of human bone from this urn has produced a radiocarbon date of 3405±30 BP (SUERC–37076, 1862–1622 cal BC at 95.4%).
Table 5.2. Identified human bone fragments from the Cordoned Urn (Urn 5).
Area of skeleton No. fragments Specific bones identified
Cranium 97 Frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, sphenoid, zygomatic, maxilla, nasal, mandible, 6 teeth (no surviving enamel)
Vertebrae 26 4 cervical, 10 thoracic and 4 lumbar vertebrae
Ribs 37 Left and right ribs, upper, middle and lower
Upper limb 59 Humerus, radius, ulna, clavicle, scapula
Hands 19 Hamate, trapezoid, 2 metacarpals, 3 proximal phalanges, 6 middle phalanges, 6 distal phalanges
Pelvis 9 Os coxa, sacrum
Lower limb 31 Femur, tibia, fibula, patella
Feet 7 Talus, cuneiform, 2 metacarpals, 3 distal phalanges
BONE COLOUR AND CONDITION: THE CREMATION PROCESS
The cremated human bone from this burial was predominantly white in colour, although several elements were a darker grey. The skeleton was less thoroughly fragmented than in the case of Urn 1, and a significant proportion of bone fragments were over 20 × 20 mm in size. Fracture lines were curved and irregular, with notable warping. This indicates that the body was fleshed at the time of cremation, and that a temperature of 600– 900°C was maintained through the process. The animal bones were all burnt to the same colour and displayed the same fracture pattern as the human bones; it is therefore likely that these represent fleshed joints placed on the pyre along with the corpse before cremation.
IDENTIFIED FRAGMENTS
The majority (over 75%) of bone fragments from this burial were unidentifiable, but 285 fragments were identified to an area of skeleton or, in a small proportion of cases, a specific bone (Table 5.2). These identified fragments provide an MNI of one individual.
EVIDENCE FOR AGE-AT-DEATH AND SEX
Estimation of age-at-death was impeded by the fragmented and incomplete nature of the skeleton. No whole teeth (including enamel) were recovered. The state of the pubic symphysis and auricular surface of the pelvis were not recordable, and the sternal rib ends were not observable. All visible epiphyses were fused. Cranial sutures were unfused externally, although some fusion had commenced on the internal table; this provides an age estimate of 30–60 years, although cranial suture fusion is a relatively unreliable indicator of age if used in isolation. The vertebral deterioration noted in this skeleton (see below), however, would also suggest that this individual was an older adult. An age-at-death estimate of 30+ years is therefore suggested.
Sex assessment was again difficult due to the poor survival of the pelvis, from which no criteria were recordable. Only two cranial features were observable: the supra-orbital ridge was recorded as possibly male, and the occipital process as indeterminate. It was therefore not possible to assign a sex in this case.
PATHOLOGY
Two of the thoracic vertebrae of this individual had fused together, with development of marginal osteophyte along the edges of the vertebral bodies. The vertebrae showed no sign of wedging, and the articular processes were unaffected. It is probable that this pathology represents the result of degenerative joint disease such as osteoarthritis rather than an infectious process. One further thoracic vertebra exhibits degeneration of the joint surface and marginal osteophyte. Degenerative joint disease in the spine occurs in most individuals over the age of 40 years, and may be a simple consequence of age in this case.
Cremated bone from other contexts
A total of 473 fragments of cremated human bone were recovered from other contexts on the Hill of Tuach during the 2011 excavations.
The largest group of human bone recovered was found in a pit (Feature 11) in the centre of the stone circle. This context produced 171 fragments of bone, the majority of which were below 5 × 5 mm in size and unidentifiable, but included 11 cranial bone fragments (only the temporal and mandibular bones were specifically identifiable) and 29 long bone fragments. This bone cannot belong to the burials in Urns 4 or 5, as an extra left mandibular condyle is present. The total weight of this material was 54.61 g, which would be extremely low for an intact cremation burial, and it is unclear if this represents material associated with one of the burials recovered from this site during earlier excavations, a disturbed burial or a token burial. A piece of cremated bone from this pit has produced a radiocarbon date of 3420±30 BP (SUERC-36750, 1873–1632 cal BC at 95.4% probability).
Table 5.3 Charcoal identifications.
The other cremated human bone recovered from the site was spread across at least nine different contexts, and much of it was only recovered during sieving. This material includes 302 bone fragments, the majority of which are tiny (below 5 × 5 mm in size) and unidentifiable, but some cranial, rib and long bone fragments can be recognized. It is possible, though by no means certain, that all of these fragments could be associated with the material in Feature 11, as no identifiable repeated elements are present.
Charcoal found during the 2011 excavation
Phil Austin
All the charcoal was examined using standard processes and procedures as described in Hather (2000). The results are presented in Table 5.3. Samples 1–3 were directly associated with the cremation urns and the pits in which they were buried. Sample 4 consisted of charcoal from the other pits excavated in 2011. The contents of Samples 1–3 resemble those typically associated with pyre debris. Oak (Quercus) was the only wood identified.
The four sub-samples recovered from pit deposits share similar properties. Oak is again the dominant taxon in each sub-sample, and these deposits probably also contain pyre debris. Hazel (Corylus avellana) was represented in this group. Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) was also identified in one sample in this group. Since there is a modern plantation on the site, it is probably intrusive.
Figure 5.23. Pollen analysis for the buried soil (Alex Brown).
Pollen analysis
Alex Brown
Sections through the buried soil were sampled for pollen analysis, providing a broader environmental and landscape context prior to the construction of the monument (Fig. 5.23). Samples for pollen analysis were taken at intervals of 3 cm from the monolith and prepared following standard laboratory techniques (Moore et al. 1991). A minimum of 300 pollen grains of terrestrial species were counted for each level. Pollen percentages were calculated based on terrestrial plants. Ferns spores and Sphagnum were calculated as a percentage of terrestrial pollen plus the sum of the component taxa within the respective category. Identification of cereal pollen followed the criteria of Andersen (1979). Indeterminable grains were recorded according to Cushing (1967). The pollen diagram was produced using Psimpoll version 4.10 (Bennett 2002). The pollen diagrams were not zoned because of the small number of samples analysed.
Pollen was present in all samples in moderate concentrations, although largely in a poor state of preservation with significant quantities of crumpled and degraded grains. The pollen samples contain a relatively restricted range of plant species, most likely as a consequence of the poor state of preservation, introducing potential bias in interpretation favouring pollen of those taxa more resistant to decay. However, the pollen assemblages show significant consistency between all four samples with high values for pollen of Corylus avellana-type (hazel), Poaceae (grasses), Calluna vulgaris (heather) and herb pollen of Caryophyllaceae (pinks/carnations), Sinapis type (mustards and charlocks), Aster-type (daisies) and Lactuceae (lettuces), suggesting a largely open environment of heathland and grassland. Relatively small quantities of tree pollen were present, largely comprising Betula and Alnus glutinosa m
ost probably growing on nearby wetter soils. Occasional cereal-type pollen grains of the Hordeum group (barley) were recorded from 0–3 cm, suggesting possible cultivation in the vicinity, along with evidence for grazed and disturbed ground (e.g. Sinapis-type, Aster-type, Plantago lanceolata, Caryophyllaceae).
The pollen data suggest the environment prior to construction of the monument was largely open comprising heathland and hazel scrub with evidence for arable, grazed and disturbed ground in the vicinity. There are few well-dated pollen sequences from the surrounding landscape, although the wider palaeoenvironmental picture from north-east Scotland suggests the predominantly birch-hazel-oak woodlands were progressively cleared by the Early–Middle Bronze Age (Tipping 1994; Edwards and Ralston 2003), a picture consistent with the data from Tuach.
Radiocarbon dates
Five dates were obtained from features inside the stone circle:
SUERC-56457 Cremated bone in Urn 1 (Cordoned Urn). 3406±38 BP/1873–1617 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-56458 Cremated bone in Urn 3 (indeterminate urn type, possibly Collared Urn). 3393±38 BP/1870–1566 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-36749 Cremated bone in Urn 4 (Collared Urn). 3500±30 BP/1906–1743 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-37076 Cremated bone in Urn 5 (Cordoned Urn). 3405±30 BP/1862–1622 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-36750 Cremated bone in Feature 11. 3420±30 BP/1873–1632 cal BC at 95.4% probability
Another three dates are for small pieces of charcoal on the surface of the buried soil beneath the bank (Context 11):
SUERC-36753 Calluna charcoal. 2805±30 BP/1046– 855 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-36751 Rhamnus charcoal. 3670±30 BP/2139–1956 cal BC at 95.4% probability
SUERC-36752 Rhamnus charcoal. 3750±30 BP/2282–2038 cal BC at 95.4% probability
Synthesis
Richard Bradley
Two radiocarbon dates from beneath the bank indicate activity around 2000 BC, but they are not linked to any structural evidence. It seems more likely that the first monument on the Hill of Tuach is associated with the deposition of cremated human remains between about 1900 and 1600 BC. That is consistent with the kinds of pottery recovered during both the 1855 and 2011 excavations and with the radiocarbon dates for cremated bone found within the stone circle. All three of the cinerary urns recovered by Dalrymple were found beside the monoliths belonging to the stone circle, but it is uncertain whether they were placed there when those stones were first erected. That the burials post-date the erection of the stones is suggested by their spatial patterning and by the fact that none of the stones seems to have impinged on the grave pits.
Figure 5.24. (above) The layout of the Early Bronze Age stone circle; (below) The layout of the site in the Late Bronze Age.
How were the deposits organised? Dalrymple found cinerary urns beside two of the standing stones and another three unurned burials in the same position (Fig. 5.24). He also encountered some kind of stone setting at the centre of the site where there were another three unurned deposits of cremated remains in pits, together with a fourth pit containing ‘a small quantity of charcoal and black mould’ (Stuart 1865, xx). New work in the same area found two more burials inside inverted cinerary urns towards the north of Trench 2 and a further six pits at the centre of the site, only one of which contained a significant amount of human bone. That provides a total of 12 deposits of cremated remains and seven pits from the two excavations. These deposits were located in two zones. One group was located beside the standing stones and may have included both of the urned cremations excavated in 2011. Although the presence of growing trees prevented a full examination, they would have been between 1.5 and 2.5 m inside the ring of monoliths. The other features were located in the central area, where at least four of them were beside some kind of stone setting. Thus both parts of the site contained cremation burials, but those with ceramic vessels were located closer to the perimeter, whilst the pits were probably restricted to the centre of the monument. Not all of them included human remains, and two of them contained distinctively-coloured red or black pebbles. Although five samples of cremated bone were dated to the Early Bronze Age, it is possible that others were contemporary with the perimeter earthwork. Analysis by Dr Rick Schulting suggests that it is unlikely that the first burials took place earlier than 1800 BC. The overall span of the dated cremations was between 0 and 164 years at 68.2% probability and between 0 and 368 years at 95.4% probability.
The results of pollen analysis show that the buried soil beneath the bank was a sealed horizon. Pine trees, which produce very large quantities of pollen, are hardly represented, even though they cover the site today. That is why there is no reason to reject the radiocarbon date for Calluna charcoal from the old land surface. It means that the surrounding earthwork cannot have been constructed until the Late Bronze Age. That supports the argument, based on practical considerations, that the earthwork must have been built after the stone circle was erected.
In some respects the form of this enclosure recalls the evidence from other sites, although few of them are closely dated. They are characterised by their small internal area and the unusual width of the earthwork perimeter. They can be located on sloping ground and are often directed towards a body of water or the position of an older monument. Not many have been excavated, but the examples at Lairg and Pullyhour are assigned to the end of the Early Bronze Age (Bradley 2011, chapter 4). The enclosure at Pullyhour was later rebuilt; this phase has a terminus post quem in the Middle Bronze Age. The evidence from Tuach suggests that earthworks of this type may have had an even longer currency.
Another common feature is the presence of an entrance on the downhill side. At several sites this appears to have been blocked when the enclosures went out of use. The same may have happened at Tuach, but the evidence is not entirely conclusive. It is clear that this part of the site included a small concentration of worked flint and quartzite pebbles. This material was essentially unstratified, but Trench 4 contained half of the worked flint from the project; almost all the remaining artefacts were found in Trench 2. Two pebbles were on the bottoms of pits assigned to the Early Bronze Age, but it is uncertain whether their counterparts beyond the stone circle were deposited at the same time. Nor are the variations in the distributions of flint, quartz and pebbles easy to explain, as the upper levels of the monument were so badly disturbed in 1855. The entrance to the enclosure at Migdale was associated with a concentration of pieces of quartz. It was mentioned by a participant when the work was filmed for a television programme (www.imdb.com/title/tt0723700/), but this information was not included in the project report. It may be no coincidence that there was a standing stone in the entrance to this earthwork. At Tuach there was a monolith in the equivalent position.
It is difficult to decide how to characterise this site, for it features a number of elements that can also be found separately. Moreover it brings them together in a form that it is difficult to match. The stone circle has its closest parallels among the monuments of Tayside discussed by Aubrey Burl (2000, 243–51). The earthwork, however, resembles small henge monuments of a kind shared between north-east and northern Scotland (Bradley 2011, chapters 5 and 6). Similar enclosures can be associated with Cordoned Urns and cremation burials. In this case a problem is that the bank and ditch at Tuach were built long after the monoliths were erected.
That introduces a third component, for there may have been upwards of a dozen such burials on the present site, as well as a series of shallow pits containing much smaller amounts of bone. Like the cremation urns, these pits contained burnt oak, although in one case hazel was also represented. (The one piece of pine charcoal is probably residual.) Oak accounts for a very small proportion of the pollen from the buried soil, suggesting that that the contents of the pits had been collected from a pyre. Where pits and urned burials have been found inside ring cairns or related earthworks they are often described as ‘enclosed cremation cem
eteries’ (Ritchie and MacLaren 1972, 13–17). Rather than assigning the structures at Tuach to such a broad category it may be wiser to accept that this site was unusual. Just as the structural sequence is distinctive, so is the combination of elements out of which the monument was formed. That could be because in its final form it combined both Early Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age structures.
There are obvious connections with other sites near Kintore. In 1855 the monument on the Hill of Tuach was excavated as part of a larger campaign which also included the nearby sites at Fullerton (Coles 1901, 218–19) and Broomend of Crichie (Bradley 2011, chapters 1 and 2). Although their dates are different, they share certain features in common. Each included some kind of stone setting with a burial, or burials, at its centre. On all three sites cremations had been placed at the foot of the monoliths, and in every case the perimeter was defined by a circular earthwork. Little remains of the monument at Fullerton, but the crop mark of a possible henge has been identified nearby (Harding and Lee 1987, 357–58). There seems to have been another stone circle and several ploughed out barrows in the vicinity (Coles 1901, 217–19). The larger enclosure at Broomend of Crichie was also associated with a series of other structures and formed only part of a more extensive complex.
Dalrymple was aware of the links between these sites, but could not have known that they were used at different times. The henge at Broomend of Crichie contains a series of cremation burials, but, apart from the deposits associated with Collared Urns and the lost battle axe from Tuach, they seem to be earlier than any of those found in 2011. It is the post circle outside the enclosure at Crichie that was contemporary with the stone setting at Kintore (Bradley 2011, 40–42). The site at Fullerton is more difficult to characterise but, as noted above, it produced sherds of Middle to Late Bronze Age Bucket Urns (‘Flat-rimmed Ware’). A fragment of cremated bone from Dalrymple’s excavation has been radiocarbon-dated to 1120–830 cal BC (Sheridan 2003, 169). It is likely that this was deposited during an episode of secondary, Late Bronze Age reuse of the site, since the central (and presumably primary) grave contained unburnt human remains as well as cremated remains and a pot – not a characteristic Late Bronze Age funerary practice. The Fullerton radiocarbon date is similar to the terminus post quem from the bank at Tuach.
The Use and Reuse of Stone Circles Page 17
