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 2710 bc +/- 50 (which equals 976 BC - 797 BC 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. 2585 bc +/- 55 (which equals 890 BC - 524 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. 3240 bc +/- 105 (which equals 1770 BC - 1266 BC at 2 sigma); this measurement conflicts with SRR289 (4660 +/-50 BP (which equals 3630 BC - 3352 BC at 2 sigma)) from the same piece of wood, and SRR290 (4535 +/-55 BP (which equals 3491 BC - 3029 BC at 2 sigma)), 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 4.1

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, 1972, PSAS 104(1971-2) 23-47, 23-47 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1407.

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

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

Dec 31 2021 11:53AM