Document record MAB62519 - KEABOG, PITDRICHIE 2

Site of short cist burial with beaker and flint knife, found in January 1977 during quarrying works.

Site of short cist burial with beaker and flint knife, found in January 1977 during quarrying works. The Stonehaven police were called and they recovered part of a skull and three fragments of pottery, and they then contacted the Grampian Regional Archaeologist. Prior to his arrival, persons unknown lifted some of the bones and placed them to one side: sufficient remained in situ, however, for the orientation and position of the body to be assessed. The cist lay slightly further up the knoll, 42 m due north of Cist 1 (NO78SE0015) found in 1976. The capstone had been lifted by a machine during gravel extraction and as a result some gravel had spilled in. The cist measured internally 0.9 m east/west by 0.77m north/south and was 0.6m deep. It lay within a large sub-oval pit 1.6 m by 1.85 m and circa 0.7 m deep. The slabs were of a schist-like stone with a massive capstone 1.85 m long by 1.1 m broad. A levelling bed for the capstone was made up of six small slabs lying against and partly covering the west end slab. A number of large cobbles made up the top of the pit fill against the south side slab, with the rest of the fill being of tightly packed gravel with an occasional large cobble. The south slab, 1.11 m by 0.67 m by 0.18 m, had been erected first, hard against the pit sides, then the north slab, 1.23 m by 0.63m by 0.2m, was inserted, followed by the two end slabs which must have been put in at an angle then slewed round to wedge up the side slabs. The east slab measured 0.69 m by 0.59 m by 0.09 m and the west slab 0.53 m by 0.51 m by 0.09 m. Two smaller slabs were placed behind the gaps in the north-east and south-west end stones. The fill of the cist, which had been seen on the removal of the capstone, was loose gravel. This gravel gave way to a fine red silt in which lay the body. The body lay in a crouched position on the cist floor. The lower part of the skeleton which lay in the silt had decayed away while the upper part which had been in gravel was less decayed. The skeleton was lying on its left side with the skull pointing east and facing south. Behind the skull lay a black pebble and the neck and rim portions of an N3(L) (step 6) beaker, the remainder having decayed in the silt. The toes lay in the south-west corner beside a red pebble. Near the hips was a triangular flint flake knife. The skeleton, which was incomplete and in a poor state of preservation, was that of a young male adult of approximately 169 cm (5 ft 6 ins) in height, who had suffered a skull fracture and possibly a fracture of the thoracic spine some time before his death. Other features of the skeleton include a depressed nasal root, porous bone texture over the brow ridges, shallow pituitary fossa, shallow slope of clivus, pronounced bilateral prominences on the chin, and pits on the endocranial aspect of the frontal bosses. Evidence of a healed skull fracture, some 5 cm in extent, lies behind the right parietal eminence. The asymmetry of the lowest thoracic vertebral bodies and the presence of lipping suggest a possible crush fracture in this region. Both clavicles show lesions at the site of attachment of the costo-clavicular ligaments, possibly the result of habitual stress at the sterno-clavicular articulation. The beaker is represented by two large fragments of a tall, long-necked pot, estimated height 195mm. The fabric differs from that of the beaker from Cist 1 (NO78SE0015) in being more reddy brown in colour, unslipped and with substantial inclusions of mica. The neck is long and slightly cup-shaped while the belly is high and full. The rim bears a slight internal bevel. All the decoration has been executed in thick, square comb impressions. The care with which the decoration has been applied varies, the upper zone on the neck being considerably more regular than the one below. This beaker is a long-necked variant of Clarke's Late Northern group (N3(L)) (1970) and would belong in step 6 of the scheme of Lanting and Van der Waals (1972). The flint knife found at the hip of the skeleton is a large secondary flake of grey flint, sub-triangular in form and with a patch of cortication on its dorsal surface. It is 65 mm long, 60 mm wide and 9 mm thick and is skilfully retouched on the left and right edges. The cist is now on display in the Tolbooth Museum, Stonehaven.

Period Notes
GU-1123 Human bone from the inhumation of a young man with a fractured skull = 3695 +/-95, calibrated using OxCal 4.1 (16/11/2012) to 2456 - 1781 BC. OxA- V-2172-22 = BP 3910+/-33, calibrated using OxCal 4.1 (16/11/2012) to 2476 - 2291 BC.

STEERS, JA, 1937, GEOG JOURNAL 90, 500-8, 19-20 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1826.

BEAKER

BRUCE, M, 1978, SKELETAL REPORT (Bibliographic reference). SAB108.

SHEPHERD, I. A. G., 1987, TWO BEAKER CISTS AT KEABOG, PITDRICHIE, NEAR DRUMLITHIE, KINCARDINE AND DEESIDE. , PSAS 117, pp.33-40 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1720.

Jan 1 1977 , AAS/GR/77/CT66-86, 184, AAS/GR/77/CT66-86, 184 (Ground Photograph). SAB32494.

Jan 25 1977 , CC 6-37, CC 6-37 (Ground Photograph). SAB12365.

Jan 25 1977 , CD 4-21, CD 4-21 (Ground Photograph). SAB12366.

Jan 25 1977 , Untitled Source (Ground Photograph). SAB12364.

RCAHMS, n.d., S KINC LIST, No110 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1512.

Record last edited

Sep 3 2024 11:11AM