Building record MAB19864 - MIDTOWN OF PITGLASSIE

Remains of cairn comprising of two concentric rings, 6m and 3m in diameter respectively, of mostly water-rounded boulders.

Remains of cairn comprising of two concentric rings, 6m and 3m in diameter respectively, of mostly water-rounded boulders. In Autumn 1978, excavation took place on this small round mound where digging in the 1950s had produced Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery and lithics. The excavation was organized by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment, now Historic Scotland. The excavation revealed an original annular mound, composed of circular banks of stone, earth and turf. The central area was filled with stone rubble, mostly disturbed and redeposited in the 1950s, but with one
remnant of a possible central cairn. Pre-mound activity included turf-stripping and cremation, followed by the formal deposition in a number of pits of cremated bone (from, probably, one individual), accompanied by pottery and lithics, including a Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead. In
addition to these specific deposits, pottery of Grimston Lyles Hill tradition, numerous quartz and further flint pieces were found within the mound and fragments of Beaker were recovered from the disturbed central area. Remnants of a possible circle of stone settings were found around the perimeter of the monument. Radiocarbon dates for charcoal from a cremation pit and the pre-mound surface provided dates of between 3964 and 3342 cal BC.

Period Notes
RC dates: GU-2014 charred material forming a deposit on a carinated bowl of early Neolithic type in the main pit in the area surrounded by the ring-mound 4935 BP +/- 105 (3966-3520 BC, 2 sigma): GU-2049 charcoal from a deposit at the base of the ring mound with bowl sherds of early Neolithic type 4660 BP +/- 50 (3630-3352 BC, 2 sigma). Calibrated dates derived from OxCal 4.1

DONATIONS & PURCHASES, 1969, PSAS 101(1968-69), 292 (Bibliographic reference). SAB406.

POTTERY

SHEPHERD, AN, 1979, DES,14 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1628.

HENSHALL, AS, 1983, STONE AGE TO THE '45,19-44, 40 (Bibliographic reference). SAB727.

RAPSON, S, 1984, POLLEN ANALYSIS, MIDTOWN OF PITGLASSIE (Bibliographic reference). SAB1508.

HENSHALL, A. S., 1984, POTTERY REPORT, MIDTOWN OF PITGLASSIE (Bibliographic reference). SAB734.

POWELL, FVH, 1984, SKELETAL REPORT, MIDTOWN OF PITGLASSIE (Bibliographic reference). SAB1413.

RALSTON, I, 1992, THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SANDS OF FORVIE AND THE YTHAN VALLEY (Bibliographic reference). SAB3054.

SHEPHERD, A, 1996, A NEOLITHIC RING-MOUND AT MIDTOWN OF PITGLASSIE, AUCTERLESS, PSAS 126, pp.17-15 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1629.

Aug 10 1978 , AAS/78/03/R1/30-36, AAS/78/03/R1/30-36 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB12313.

Aug 18 1978 , AAS/78/07/R4/21, AAS/78/07/R4/21 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB12453.

Aug 28 1979 , AAS/78/10/S10/11-22, AAS/78/10/S10/11-22 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB12314.

Record last edited

Sep 5 2017 2:11PM