The Use and Reuse of Stone Circles

by Richard Bradley

  These sites conform to a more general pattern. Most of the large stone and earthwork monuments seem to have been abandoned during the Early Bronze Age and it was only the smaller constructions that were used after that time. Where activity did continue at the biggest sites it usually took place outside them (Bradley 2011, 169–70). What is remarkable is that at Tuach a substantial earthwork was built during the Late Bronze Age. It is possible that there had been burials of similar date inside that earthwork, comparable to those discussed in Chapter 9, but Dalrymple’s excavation cut into the interior to a depth of 40–50 cm and the shallowest features may have been removed entirely. If the site had been reused as a cemetery, no evidence remains today. In contrast to Broomend of Crichie, there was very little cremated bone in the filling of his excavation.

  In their account of excavations at Kintore, Cook and Dunbar (2008) identify a significant expansion in settlement during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. At the same time the position of an older, more specialised monument – a cursus or a long barrow – was respected. That interpretation might well extend to the Hill of Tuach. The earliest roundhouses at Kintore were built between about 1800 and 1300 BC, and more were constructed between 1300 and 800 BC. That would mean that the initial phase of activity at the stone circle would overlap, or even predate, the first creation of domestic buildings of a kind which can be identified by excavation. As settlement intensified during a subsequent phase, the older monument was enclosed by a bank and ditch. The pollen from the buried soil suggests that the surrounding area was farmed. Whether or not the stone circle was reused for later burials, any coexistence between ceremonial and domestic architecture ended in the Late Bronze Age. Although the creation of a massive earthwork preserved the monument and set it apart from the surrounding landscape, it also made it less accessible. It even seems possible that the enclosure was provided with an entrance that was later blocked. If so, the closing of that monument only increased the distance between the past and the present. It may be that rituals associated with domestic sites assumed a greater importance at this time, and from then onwards there is less evidence for the formal disposal of the dead. The connection between the local inhabitants and those buried inside the circle apparently came to an end.

  Some of these themes raise issues that extend well beyond the monuments in the vicinity of Tuach. They will be considered again in Chapters 7, 8 and 9.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Laikenbuie, Auldearn, Inverness-shire: excavation of an Early Iron Age ring cairn and other features

  Ronnie Scott and Annette Jack

  Introduction

  Laikenbuie is located 5 km south of Nairn (NGR NH 9086 5220). It occupies an area of glacial till overlying Middle Old Red Sandstone in between the Moray plain and an extensive tract of moorland further to the south. The ring cairn is also at the transition between the fertile land of the Nairn basin and the foothills of the Grampians. It was marginal land at the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey map, but some of the ground has been cleared of vegetation in recent years. Other parts are occupied by commercial forestry. The structures described in this chapter were found in the course of converting one of these areas to grazing land. The aim of the project was to characterise them with a view to securing their long-term preservation. This did not require large-scale excavation. Further areas may be surveyed in the future as the surface cover is removed.

  Above-ground structures

  The sites include a series of 82 small circular cairns extending over an area of 4 ha (Figs 6.1–6.2). They are located on a south-facing slope overlooking a valley with a stream. Those revealed by land clearance have been surveyed by the Association of Certificated Field Archaeologists (ACFA) but it is likely that the distribution of these features extends into other areas which are still covered by woodland to the north and by dense scrub to the west. In some cases larger boulders form a kind of kerb. Six of the cairns are of similar dimensions but have a dished interior. Occasionally there are indications of an entrance to the south. Although they bear a superficial resemblance to stone-built roundhouses, this may be deceptive as they have been damaged by cattle. It would require excavation to establish whether they were the sites of domestic buildings. Another nine cairns have a more irregular outline. There are also two low banks and ditches which run down the slope defining the edge of the densest concentration of features. Among these small structures is a well-preserved circular enclosure with a substantial outer kerb, and the site of an oval stone building of the proportions of a shieling. A saddle quern was found during the removal of vegetation, and to the west of the cairnfield several lithic artefacts were found in a small recently-cleared area. None can be dated. No other prehistoric surface finds are recorded.

  Sample excavation 2003–2006

  One of the smaller cairns (3) was investigated in 2006. This showed that the monument was an earthen mound, 7 m in diameter and 0.95 m high, capped by a superficial layer of boulders and delimited by a kerb (Fig. 6.3). Its lower level merged with the filling of an irregular pit which resembled a tree hole (Fig. 6.4). There was a little charcoal on the old land surface, but Dr Richard Tipping advised that the subsoil was unsuitable for pollen analysis. It seems possible that this feature built up around the stump of a fallen tree. Few artefacts were found in the excavation, but a flint flake and eight small quartz flakes were discovered in the topsoil covering the monument. None had any diagnostic features. A single sample of unidentifiable charcoal from the old land surface was submitted for radiocarbon dating. It provides a terminus post quem for this structure in the sixth millennium BC but does not shed any light on its age.

  At the same time the turf was removed from a dished cairn 6 m in diameter with an external kerb (mound 2). It was hoped to establish its original character, but again the evidence was ambiguous. The entire structure was covered by a superficial level of rubble, and without more extensive excavation it could not be established whether this had been some kind of ring cairn or a ruined roundhouse. Again it seems most likely that this was a clearance cairn piled around the stump of a fallen tree which had subsequently decayed: a possibility raised by Dr Tipping on a visit to the site. The linear earthwork bounding the main distribution of cairns was also investigated. It proved to be the site of a low rubble wall superimposed on a bank of earth. There was a shallow ditch to its east. Again no dateable material was found. The results of all these excavations were inconclusive.

  Figure 6.1. Survey of the cairnfield, showing the positions of the excavated monuments: 1 is the ring cairn and 2 and 3 are the mounds sampled by excavation. Survey by the Association of Certificated Field Archaeologists.

  Figure 6.2. General view of the cairnfield from the north with the boundary banks visible towards the right. The ring cairn is hidden by the trees in the foreground (Jim Bone).

  Figure 6.3. Rubble overlying the earthen mound (3) (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.4. Section of the mound (3) and possible tree hole.

  Figure 6.5. The remains of the ring cairn before excavation, looking south (Ronnie Scott).

  Excavation of the circular enclosure, 2003–2006

  Towards the upper limit of the cleared area there was a more conspicuous circular monument (Fig. 6.5). It was slightly oval, measuring 10 m from north to south and 11 m from east to west. It was bounded by a substantial kerb of orthostats up to 80 cm high and its interior was distinctly hollowed (Fig. 6.6). The perimeter seemed to be raised above the level of the surrounding area (Fig. 6.7).

  Again the excavation was designed to characterise the monument and was conducted on a modest scale. The superficial cover was removed to elucidate the plan of this structure, but only limited areas were explored to a greater depth (Fig. 6.8). Here the work extended to the natural subsoil and was intended to answer three questions:

  • Was this structure the remains of a substantial roundhouse, or should it be interpreted as a ring cairn?

  • Was the monument associated with any human rema
ins?

  • When was it built?

  The first question was the easiest to answer, for the outer perimeter consisted of a substantial kerb with an estimated 33 orthostats rather than the foundations of a wall (Fig. 6.9). It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to erect a superstructure, for the kerbstones were of different heights and some of them were pointed (Fig. 6.10). With one exception, they had been set upright on the ground and did not have any sockets. They revetted a substantial deposit of large boulders which extended 1.5 m into the interior (Figs 6.11–6.12). Although a few upright stones were recorded against its inner edge, they did not create a formal kerb, and it is better to consider this deposit as a rubble bank (Fig. 6.13). It delimited a roughly circular area 6 m in diameter (Fig. 6.14). Thus the monument had originally formed an open enclosure and can be identified as a kind of ring cairn. Unworked quartz pebbles were scattered over the interior and there was a hammerstone of the same material. A group of three fine-grained white stones – one of them a piece of waterworn quartz – had been placed on the surface just outside the kerb on the east side of the monument (Fig. 6.15). Smaller quartz pebbles – again entirely unworked – were recorded on the original ground level or in the material of the cairn.

  Figure 6.6. Outline plan of the ring cairn and elevation of the kerb on its southern perimeter, emphasising the colours of the stones used in the structure.

  Figure 6.7. The surface remains of the ring cairn (1) and two profiles across the monument.

  Figure 6.8. (left) The extent of excavation; (right) details of the excavated features.

  Figure 6.9. A deposit of rubble outside the kerb of the ring cairn on the north-east side of the monument (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.10. Detail of the kerbstones on the southern perimeter of the monument (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.11. The outer perimeter on the southern side of the monument with the packing of rubble behind it (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.12. Section of the monument showing the deposit of rubble retained by the boulder kerb (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.13. Excavating the interior of the ring cairn, with the kerbstones to the left (Ronnie Scott).

  At the centre of this structure was a shallow pit, 55 × 70 cm in dimensions, and 5 cm deep. Its entire contents were wet-sieved, but without result. On the other hand, a small slab setting was identified nearby, and this proved to cover a circular hole, 25 cm in diameter and 10 cm deep. It was either a pit or a post socket. No cremated bone was found in either feature, nor did it occur anywhere else on the site. Again Dr Tipping advised that the old land surface beneath the monument was unsuitable for pollen analysis.

  At a later stage the interior of the monument was filled by a layer of rubble, which was both looser and smaller than the material used to build the enclosure. The rubble bank was also overlain by two small circular cairns of the kind that occurs elsewhere at Laikenbuie. A third example lay outside the excavated area but was probably superimposed on the outer edge of the monument. Six red sandstone pot lids were found on the surface (Fig. 6.16). Artefacts of this form have an extended history and these examples could be of any date (Clarke 2006, 37–38).

  Figure 6.14. Section of the ring cairn.

  Figure 6.15. The group of white stones found together just outside the kerb on the east side of the monument (Ronnie Scott).

  Figure 6.16. Six flaked discs or ‘pot lids’ found on the surface of the ring cairn (Ronnie Scott).

  The monument possessed a distinctive character. It was oblong rather than circular and its focal point seems to have been towards the south where there was a straight length of five kerbstones. Two larger pink granite uprights, both rather pointed, flanked two smaller pieces of banded gneiss. In the middle of this setting excavation revealed a small boulder of white granite. Other sections of the kerb command attention, for again they were composed of stones of several different types and colours. There were at least five sections of red stones, separated from one another by others which were either white, green or, occasionally, grey. The flattened section of kerb on the south side of the monument had its counterpart in the northern sector. Again red and white stones were important here, but in this case their shapes may have been less significant. Just outside the eastern limit of the ring cairn a large waterworn quartz boulder about the size and appearance of a human skull had been placed at the foot of the kerb. All these materials could have been found in the vicinity. The surface of the monument contained a high proportion of pieces of sandstone, so that the structure has a distinctive red colour, especially after rain.

  The ring cairn at Laikenbuie is towards the top of a south-facing slope and commands a wide view over the far horizon. The stone setting on its southern perimeter defines a more specific view from the centre of the enclosure, for it seems to be directed towards a conspicuous notch on the skyline 2 km away. The monument need not have had an exact celestial alignment. Rather, it faced downhill towards the southern sky: an orientation only emphasised by the prevailing slope. It is at the point where two major river systems, the Nairn and the Muckle Burn are closest to each other. It is also where both of them change direction. The Nairn flows from the southwest to the north and the Muckle Burn from the south to the northeast. The southern setting of five stones faces the pass that leads between the river valleys. It could well have been on the route between the hinterland and the coastal plain.

  Radiocarbon dates

  One sample provides a terminus post quem for the construction of the circular mound (3):

  Beta-398991 Unidentifiable charcoal from the old land surface. 5470–5310 BC at 95.4% probability

  Two dates on single fragments of Corylus charcoal provide a terminus post quem for the construction of the ring cairn:

  SUERC-16909 Corylus charcoal from old land surface. 2440±45 BP/760–400 BC at 95.4% probability

  SUERC-16910 Corylus charcoal from old land surface. 2465±35 BP/770–410 BC at 95.4% probability

  Discussion

  To return to the questions asked earlier, the most conspicuous monument at Laikenbuie proved to be a ring cairn, rather than a domestic building. Unlike most structures of that kind, it did not date from the Bronze Age but from the Early Iron Age.

  It is more difficult to decide how it was related to the other structures on the site. Much depends on whether any of the small circular structures had been the sites of roundhouses. At present the case is unproven and it seems more likely that they were clearance cairns. There is no direct evidence of their date, but at least two (and possibly three) examples were built on top of the ring cairn. Thus these structures may date from separate periods. The identification of an oval stone building within the cairnfield raises the possibility that the small cairns are associated with the clearance of marginal land within the historical period. The same could apply to the earthwork boundary on the site. Unfortunately, cairns and boundary banks might have been constructed at many different times and those at Laikenbuie may belong to more than a single phase.

  The ring cairn raises other issues. Its structure is clearly defined even though it lacked a substantial inner kerb. Only part of the monument was excavated and that may be why no human remains were found there. The most surprising feature is its date. It depends on two radiocarbon determinations which are virtually the same as one another. Although comparable monuments can date from the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age credentials of this example are obvious.

  Fortunately, there is a strikingly similar monument at Balnuaran of Clava only 18 km away. Before its excavation Balnuaran of Clava South had been identified as the remains of a roundhouse, but it shared a number of features with the monument at Laikenbuie. Both structures are slightly raised above the surrounding area; they are of virtually the same size; and each is bounded by a rubble bank with a boulder kerb on the exterior. Again the inside of the enclosure at Clava is slightly hollowed and is filled with smaller, less compact rubble (Bradley 2000, 60–63). There were two reasons for regarding Ba
lnuaran of Clava South as kind of ring cairn. The outer margin of the bank is defined by a kerb of irregular boulders which could not have supported a superstructure of any kind – this was not a house. At the same time the monument included a few small fragments of cremated human bone. The land surface sealed by the monument provided four radiocarbon dates, all on charcoal from short-lived species. Three of them are in the Late Bronze Age, between about 1000 and 800 BC, but the fourth, which came from the same context, was 768–397 BC at two sigma. At the time it seemed possible that the charcoal sample was intrusive and that the other three would date the monument, but there was no stratigraphic evidence to support this view. In the light of the new dates from Laikenbuie it seems just as likely that the Late Bronze Age charcoal was residual and that the terminus post quem for the monument at Clava was in the Early Iron Age. That compares closely with the two dates from Laikenbuie: 760–400 BC and 770–410 BC. If that was the true age of Balnuaran of Clava South, it might explain why these two monuments shared so many features in common.