Earthwork record MAB44511 - DEN OF BODDAM

Flint-working site, consisting of roughly circular hollows along the top of the ravine, where the Buchan flint deposit surfaces.

Flint-working site, consisting of roughly circular hollows along the top of the ravine, where the Buchan flint deposit surfaces. The Buchan ridge gravels is the only major concentration of flint in Scotland. Survey recorded 458 pits (346 on the west side of the den and 112 on the east) but excavation revealed that not all pits are visible above ground. Oval-shaped pits were dug as deep as 4.5 m below the surface to reach flint cobbles of suitable quality. The pits were often very close together, and much of the spoil extracted from each new pit was thrown back into the adjacent abandoned one. The flint was tested for quality on the surface by knapping. The result of this testing can be seen in the millions of discarded flakes and fragmentary cobbles which litter the whole site. The debris of flakes, cobbles and hammerstones were found in areas between the pits where the flint had been processed. Surrounding areas also had flint extraction but evidence for this has been ploughed away. It has been suggested that the site covered 12 hectares and somewhere in the region of 1,000 pits. Excavation was carried out 1991-3 by NMS on the west side of the Den, beyond the main break of slope, in a pocket of ground previously cultivated. No surface indications of hollows were present, but stripping of topsoil over 130 sq metres in 1993 revealed seven extraction pits, two of which were fully excavated, revealing lenses of knapping debris, above which occur peat formation underneath the ploughsoil. A buried soil was also recorded between some of the pits, but contained no artefacts. Samples buried soils from the 1991 and 1992 excavations gave radiocarbon dates indicated two episodes of activity in the late Neolithic: 3483 - 3031 BC and 2565 - 2034 BC. Fieldwalking in 1993 (NK14SW0098) to the north and northwest of the excavations recovered debitage indicating further extraction pits. Hammerstones which had been collected at the site over several decades were reported to the Archaeology Service in 2019.

Period Notes
Three samples from humic fraction of peat growing in the top of filled in flint extraction Pit 19; GU-3438 4580 BP (Err: 60) which equals 3517 BC -3096 BC at 2 sigma: GU-3439 4530 BP (Err 50) which equals 3483 BC -3031 BC at 2 sigma: GU-3440 3840 BP (Err: 90) which equals 2565 BC -2034 BC at 2 sigma: Another sample AA-12233 3790 BP (Err: 60) which equals 2459 BC -2038 BC at 2 sigma. The above calibrated dates are derived from OxCal 4.1

JASAIR NK14 08.88.049-50, JASAIR NK14 08.88.049-50 (Air-vertical Photograph). SAB15138.

Author unknown, , KNOCK NEWS, no.108, pp 54-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1032.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 31/07/92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

FLINTS

THE SCOTSMAN, 0000, THE SCOTSMAN, 17/02/92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1819.

FLINTS

MURRAY, A, 1862, PSAS 4(1860-2) 386-7, 387 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1244.

FLINTS

JAMIESON, TF, 1865, PSAS 6(1864-5) 240-5, 243-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB898.

FLINTS

ORDNANCE SURVEY, 1871, Ordnance Name Book, No72(1868) 84 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1360.

FLINTS

GRAHAM-SMITH, GS, 1919, PPSEA 3,1 (1918-9) 33-59, 59 (Bibliographic reference). SAB599.

FLINTS

CHILDE, VG, 1946, SCOTLAND BEFORE THE SCOTS, 46-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB223.

FLINTS

SAVILLE, A, 1991, EXPLORATORY WORK AT DEN OF BODDAM: A FLINT EXTRACTION SITE ON THE BUCHAN GRAVELS NEAR PETERHEAD, NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND (Bibliographic reference). SAB1740.

SAVILLE, A, 1992, ARTICLES, 4-13, 4-13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3239.

FLINTS

SAVILLE, A, 1992, DES, 35 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3329.

FLINT EXTRACTION

SAVILLE, A., 1992, DIGGING FOR FLINT IN PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND (Bibliographic reference). SAB4828.

SAVILLE, A, 1992, PRELIM REPORT, DEN OF BODDAM, REPORT (Bibliographic reference). SAB3238.

FLINTS

SAVILLE, A, 1993, DES : DEN OF BODDAM, 33 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3319.

FLINT EXTRACTION

SAVILLE, ALAN, 1994, THE DEN OF BODDAM PROJECT: EXCAVATION AND SURVEY ON THE BUCHAN RIDGE GRAVELS, GRAMPIAN REGION, IN 1993. (Bibliographic reference). SAB1716.

SAVILLE, A, 1995, ARCHAEOLOGIA POLONA 33, 353-68 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3261.

SAVILLE, A, 1995, DIGGING FOR FLINT: DEN OF BODDAM/BUCHAN RIDGE GRAVEL PROJECT, ABERDEENSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB4821.

BRIDGELAND, DR, 1997, NEW EVIDENCE FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE BUCHAN RIDGE GRAVEL, ABERDEENSHIRE. IN SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 33 (1) (1997) 43-450, 43-50 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3768.

SAVILLE, A, 2006, FLINT TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH EXTRACTION SITES IN NORTH EAST SCOTLAND (Bibliographic reference). SAB4822.

SAVILLE, A, 2008, FLINT EXTRACTION & PROCESSING FROM SECONDARY FLINT DEPOSITS IN THE NE OF SCOTLAND IN THE NEOLITHIC (Bibliographic reference). SAB4823.

Aug 23 1981 , AAS/81/11/CT 23-7, AAS/81/11/CT 23-7 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB18691.

Jan 1 1991 , AAS/GR/91/CT98-112, AAS/GR/91/CT98-112 (Ground Photograph). SAB32839.

Jan 1 1992 , AAS/GR/92/CT02,05,10, AAS/GR/92/CT02,05,10 (Ground Photograph). SAB33236.

Jan 1 1992 , AAS/GR/92/CT13-14, AAS/GR/92/CT13-14 (Ground Photograph). SAB33237.

Jan 1 1992 , AAS-GR-13-09-001 - 013, AAS-GR-13-09-001 - 013 (Ground Photograph). SAB20057.

Jul 5 1979 , AAS/79/04/CT1-3, AAS/79/04/CT1-3 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15127.

Jul 7 1993 , AAS/93/10/G22/5-8, AAS/93/10/G22/5-8 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15130.

Jul 21 1983 , AAS/83/09/R16/6-8, AAS/83/09/R16/6-8 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15128.

Jul 22 1992 , LC 1-17, LC 1-17 (Ground Photograph). SAB33873.

Jun 13 1991 , KZ, KZ (Ground Photograph). SAB33865.

Jun 13 1991 , NH 1-10, NH 1-10 (Ground Photograph). SAB33427.

Author unknown, n.d., BUCHAN OBSERVER, 23/02/93 (Bibliographic reference). SAB113.

FLINTS

Nov 12 2019 , PUB-GR-11-129 - 139, PUB-GR-11-129 - 139 (Ground Photograph). SAB36797.

Oct 31 1990 , KT 20-37, KT 20-37 (Ground Photograph). SAB33845.

Sep 2 1987 , AAS(A)/87/03/S3/11-7, AAS(A)/87/03/S3/11-7 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15129.

Sep 2 1987 , AAS/87/03/CT1, 10, AAS/87/03/CT1, 10 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB19845.

Record last edited

Aug 13 2024 8:36AM