Document record MAB62816 - URY ESTATE

Three prehistoric structures, including two adjacent middle Bronze Age hut circles, recorded during trial trenching evaluations and targeted excavation carried out by Cameron Archaeology in September 2014 and April-May 2015 ahead of proposed housing development.

Three prehistoric structures, including two adjacent middle Bronze Age hut circles, recorded during trial trenching evaluations and targeted excavation carried out by Cameron Archaeology in September 2014 and April-May 2015 ahead of proposed housing development. In phase 1, a total of 23 trenches, and two areas were excavated. A single hearth was recorded in Trench 2. Two stones remained in situ in the centre of the hearth which was filled with charcoal. An early to middle Neolithic radiocarbon date of 3485 - 3104 BC was obtained from a sample of charcoal from the hearth. No finds were recovered. A 20 by 20 m box trench around the hearth uncovered no other features. An irregular charcoal spread in Trench 6 proved to be the remains of a burnt tree bole. No other features were identified during the evaluation and the only finds recovered were two unworked flints from the topsoil. Further excavation carried out by Cameron Archaeology in September 2015 uncovered the foundations of three prehistoric structures - two (Structures 1 and 2) interpreted as 'hut-circles' of Middle Bronze Age date, the third possibly a more temporary shelter or outbuilding. A number of refuse or storage pits were also recorded, as well as postholes and shallow deposits Artefacts recovered included a nearly complete and heavily worn saddle quern, pierced stones (probably loom weights), stones with a single cup mark, a double sided cup and ring marked stone from Structure 1, flint and quartz tools and waste flakes, and undecorated pottery fragments. A total of 132 sherds of prehistoric pottery were recovered. Significant amongst the pottery was a small, unusual, oval-shaped coarseware vessel with a rounded bottom, and a largely complete flat-rimmed vessel or barrel urn with three pinched cordons below the rim. This is believed to be from a rudimentary pottery kiln. The pottery all dates to the Middle Bronze Age, although the stone finds date from the late Neolithic to the middle Bronze Age. The double-sided cup and ring marked stone is unusual in that cup marks are more often found on bedrock. It is a relatively thin slab decorated on one face by a well-executed cup and ring motif comprising a central and off-centre cup, five concentric rings and a radial line extending along the face and around its edge. The reverse has a more poorly executed cup and ring motif with a centre cup and three concentric rings. It may have been used as a cist slab. Its location within one of the Middle Bronze Age structures) is also interest as it dates it up to a millennium later than the traditional date for this rock art. The 20 lithic artefacts, of which ten are flint and the other ten quartz, include 19 pieces of debitage and one notched piece: they predate the structures and indicate a general date of later Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Two radiocarbon samples from the investigations returned Mesolithic dates, one from a partially stone-lined pit, the other from the interior of Structure 2, but these are not likely to indicate in situ deposits. Radiocarbon samples from the structures give Middle Bronze Age dates ranging between 1506-1415 BC ad 1280-1060 BC.

Period Notes
Charcoal from hearth 2014 excavation; SUERC-61765 (GU38265). 4556+/-34, calibrated to 3485-3104 BC (OxCal 4.2 run 24/08/15). SUERC-81920, calibrated to 1506-1415 cal BC; SUERC-81919, calibrated to 1280-1060 cal BC. . GU-48934, 3017+/-28, calibrated to 1388-1131 BC; GU-48935, 3031+/-28, calibrated to 1396-1207 BC; GU-48936, 3051 +/-28, calibrated to 1401-1228 BC; GU-48937, 2970+/-28, calibrated to 1280-1060 BC; GU-48938, 3190+/-28, calibrated to 1506-1415 BC; GU-48939, 5299+/-28 calibrated to 4233-4045 BC; GU-48940, 3094+/-28, calibrated to 1427-1283 BC; GU-48941, 2997+/-28, calibrated to 1374-1226 BC; GU-48942, 3001+/-28, calibrated to 1376-1127 BC; GU-48943, 3008+/-29, calibrated to 1383-1128 BC; GU-48944, 3149+/-28, calibrated to 1499-1318 BC; GU-48945, 3119+/-28, calibrated to 1448-1296 BC; GU-48946, 3041+/-28, calibrated to 1396-1217 BC; GU-48947, 3055+/-28, calibrated to 1407-1231 BC: GU-48948, 5938+/-28,calibrated to 4852-4727 BC.

CAMERON ARCHEOLOGY, 2014, A WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION (WSI): PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN, WSI (Bibliographic reference). SAB6633.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2014, REPORT ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION: PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, Eval rep (Sep 2014) (Bibliographic reference). SAB6878.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, A WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION (WSI) PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, PHASE 2B EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN, WSI (Bibliographic reference). SAB6686.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, A WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION: PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, PHASE 2B EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE (V.2 - EXC FEATURES 101, 201), WSI v.2 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6879.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, A WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION: PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, PHASE 2B EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE (V.3 - EXCAVATION), WSI v.3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6880.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT EAST LODGE, PHASE 2B, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN:: REPORT AND DSR, Excavation report, DSR (Bibliographic reference). SAB6717.

ARCAHEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2015, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND. NEW SERIES, VOLUME 15, 2014, p.23 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5542.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, POST-EXCAVATION RESEARCH DESIGN (PERD) PHASE 2B, EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN, PERD (Bibliographic reference). SAB6718.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, REPORT ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION FOR PHASE 2B, EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN, Evaluation report (Bibliographic reference). SAB6689.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2015, REPORT ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION; PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE, STONEHAVEN, Evaluation report (final) (Bibliographic reference). SAB6647.

LENFERT, R, 2021, MESOLITHIC EVIDENCE AND A MIDDLE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT AT EAST LODGE, URY ESTATE NEAR STONEHAVEN, ABERDEENSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB2810.

Record last edited

Jul 14 2025 10:54AM