Document record MAB55571 - BORROWSTONE QUARRY, KINGSWELLS

Site of a cist (Borrowstone Cist 3) discovered during gravel quarrying in 1980, and destroyed by quarrying following excavation.

Cist revelaed during topsoil stripping for quarrying operations. It was situated on the crest of a rolling hillside. Excavation recovered a beaker, a skeleton, a flint flake, and several quartz flakes. The internal dimensions of the cist measured 1.18 metres long by 0.6 metres wide. There were two capstones, imbricated pairs of side slabs, and small angular slabs paved the floor. Charcoal was found beneath the capstones and the floor.

A decayed skeleton lay on its left side with the skull to the east, facing south. Placed at an angle to the body's legs were quartz flint flakes, and a relatively early beaker appeared to have been deliberately smashed on burial. Grave goods were recovered with the body, these included jet buttons and necklaces, bronze daggers, armlets, and earthenware beakers.

Six short stone cists were found on the site of the quarry at Borrowstone Farm from 1976 to 1984. See also NJ80NE0025, NJ80NE0030, NJ80NE0033, NJ80NE0034, and NJ80NE0042 for other cists found in this quarry.

COUNCIL FOR SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGY, 1981, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND 1980, pp.9-10 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8212.

SHEPHERD, A, 2012, STEPPING OUT TOGETHER: MEN, WOMEN AND THEIR BEAKERS IN TIME AND SPACE' IN ALLEN ET AL (EDS) IS THERE A BRITISH CHALCOLITHIC? (Bibliographic reference). SAB1775.

May 30 1974 , NJ80N 2415229, NJ80N 2415229 (Air-vertical Photograph). SAB36334.

Record last edited

Jun 17 2026 10:00AM