Document record MAB61861 - DALLADIES LONG BARROW

Site of a long barrow.

Site of a long barrow. It was intact when first recognised by Dr Wifred Dally of Edzell and was excavated in advance of destruction by the Dept of Archaeology, Edinburgh University. Before excavation the barrow, which lay east-west, appeared to be an unploughed, grass-covered mound. The barrow was composed of layered turf and top-soil derived from wide shallow lateral scrapes which partially removed a ditch, and was revetted by a drystone wall along its edges, basically trapezoidal in plan but curving outwards to the east to a probably width of 20m. The barrow had a massive three-phased mortuary structure of timber and stone, the first phase antedating the barrow, and phase II being given a radiocarbon date of 3240 +/- 105 BC. Finds included a plano-convex knife, a cup-marked slab, one Neolithic potsherd, two beakers, and some struck flints. A small square stone cist containing a cremation and a bronze fragment (possibly an awl) had been inserted in the mound 40m from the east end. Five other secondary burials, two of which were beaker type, were also found in the barrow. No trace now. The cup marked stone, broken on arrival at the NMS, is a flat sandstone slab, the main surface bearing nine well-defined cupmarks, measuring between 4cm and 7.5cm in diameter, alongside random pecking. The reverse side of the block has random peckmarks that may sketch put a motif that was never fully carved.

Period Notes
SRR-289 charcoal from a timber c 15cm in diameter, probably not oak, from the SW end of the Phase 2 mortuary enclosure context (30: VII: 71/2), in an earthen long barrow 4660+/-50 BP, calibrated to 3624 BC – 3353 at 2 sigma; SRR-290 charcoal from the NW end of the Phase 2 mortuary enclosure (context 30: VII: 71/1) in an earthen long barrow, 4540+/-60, calibrated to 3496 BC – 3026 BC at 2 sigma .
I-6113 Wood (seemingly not oak) charcoal from a timber c 15cm in diameter from the SW end of the Phase 2 mortuary enclosure under a stone-revetted earthen long barrow. 5190+/-105 BP, calibrated to 4321 BC – 3715 BC at 2 sigma ; this measurement conflicts with SRR289 from the same piece of wood, and SRR290 (, and may be anomalous.

SRR-553 Charcoal from a burnt oak plank on secondary burial Cist A with a beaker, set into an earthen long barrow 3630 BP +/- 90 (which equals 2279 BC - 1748 BC at 2 sigma).

The above calibrated dates are derived from OxCal run June 2026.

KC/916-9 (1971), KC/916-9 (1971) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15340.

KC/983-9 (1971), KC/983-9 (1971) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15341.

KC/991-3 (1971), KC/991-3 (1971) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB15342.

PIGGOTT, S, 1970, DES,27-28, 27-8 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1420.

PIGGOTT, S, 1972, CURRENT ARCH,3 SEPT, 295-7, 295-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1446.

PIGGOTT, S, 1973, ANT JOUR 47(1973) 32-6, 32-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1445.

PIGGOTT, S, 1974, Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire in PSAS 104 (1971-2) 23-47, 23-47 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1407.

SHEPHERD, IAG, 1988, THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY SUMMER CONFERENCE 1988: ABERDEEN AND NORTH EAST SCOTLAND, 52-3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1744.

MILLICAN, K, 2016, THE TIMBER MONUMENTS OF NEOLITHIC SCOTLAND, p. 104 (Bibliographic reference). SAB7307.

RCAHMS, n.d., S KINC LIST, No 4 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1512.

Record last edited

Jun 18 2026 10:33AM