Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2

Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland

March 2011
Choose a site visited on your field trip, and making use of diagrams, field sketches, plans and about 1200
words, describe one site and its setting within its landscape.

Recumbent Stone Circle

Strichen NJ 93698 54481
Contents Figures
Page Page
Summary 2 1. Plan of Strichen RSC 2
Recent History 2 2 Photo NE of Circle Mormond Hill 3
Orientation 3 3 Plan of Area including prehistoric sites 4
Evidence 5 4 Collared Urns and Stone Battle Axe 5
Discussion 8 5 John Ainslie Map 1789 6
Bibliography 8 6 Collared Urn 6
Photo Log (attached) 7 Satellite Image of Strichen Old Church 7

Map OS 1:50k Northern Scotland Region 6.

Red Dot : Strichen Recumbrent Stone Circle

Black Dot: Other Recumbrent Stone Circles
Red Line : 90m contour
Blue Line: River Ugie North/South

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011
Summary:
This report has been complied from a site visit to a Recumbent Stone Circle (RSC) at Strichen on the 10th
May 2011. The purpose of the visit was to observe the circle’s setting in the landscape.

Resent History:
The recumbent stone circle has had a chequered history over the last 200 years. The circle we see today is
a reconstruction based on evidence gained through excavation in 1980(P Abramson, I Hampshire-
Monk,1980,12-13)i. It is believed that the stones were last in their original situ prior to 1830 when a tenant
farmer removed all except the recumbent and its two flankers. Although Lord Fraser Strichen, (later Lord
Lovat), ordered the stones to be replaced, the circle was erected wrongly on the south side of the
recumbent and a surrounded bank of earth was built. I have included the earth bank on fig.2. It is still
clearly seen on the ground and future investigators should be warned this has never been a binary circle
monument.

Once again in 1960 the outer stones were removed and then later in 1965 the recumbent and flankers were
also taken away so tree-felling operations could proceed. After an excavation by A. Burl in 1979 the original
locations of the stones were unearthed and the recumbent was replaced, from its resting place in a nearby
quarry, to its prehistoric position. The circle was re-erected to the north of the recumbent.

Fig.1

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011

Orientation:
Strichen RSC lies to the south of the summit of a knoll in the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire. Standing at
its centre and aligning grid-north to 12 o’clock; a ridgeline is observed not more than 1km away, which runs
from 4 o’clock, through 6, to 1 o’clock,(please refer to Photo Log Fr. 9 - 17) . This ridgeline averages
around 20 meters higher than the height above sea level of the Stone Circle, and thereby obscures the
landmass beyond and gives the observer a feeling of standing inside a natural bowl. The remaining eastern
gap around the 3 o’clock position is plugged by another knoll or ‘Rath’ that accommodates Strichen
churchyard with its redundant church. The north eastern prospect is also dominated by the ridgeline of
Mormond Hill with its summit’s of Waughton and Mormond, fig 2.

Fig.2
Strichen RSC with Waughton Hill with the White Horse and Mormond Hill with the radio masks. North East.

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011

Fig.3

Map Ref Description Abn. Council SMR Ref

A Recumbent Stone Circle NJ95 SW0054
B Boundary Stone NJ95 SW0054
C Cist Cluster NJ95 SW0003
D Cist, Arrow Heads, Stone Axe NJ95 NWE0006
E Cropmarks, Rigs NJ95 NW0014
F Collared Urn, Calcined remais N\J95 SE24
G Rubbing Stone NJ95 SW0053
H Cropmarks, circular with internal rectangle NJ95 SE0049
Z Remains of Church, Medieval settlement NJ95 SW0008

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011

Evidence:
The following evidence has been extracted from RCAHMS and Aberdeenshire Council SMR and refers to
the table in fig.3 to form a date line of occupation based on finds and features.

A. Recumbent Stone Circleii: According to H.A.W. Burl study on RSC’s (Burl,1981)iii they should
date from the first quarter of the second millennium BC, and none are later than 1400BC. However C14
analyse on charcoal found in a possible stone hole on the 1980 excavation carried out in 2001 give a
reading of 2370 +/- 130 B.P, which would make the circle between 700 – 400CalBC, well into the late
Bronze Age and early Ironiv . Although a discussion on how this charcoal came to be placed there is
warranted, a late date for this RSC is plausible considering its actual scale. It is thought that RSC’s were
constructed with ever smaller diameters over time, and Strichen having one of the smallest diameters in the
Aberdeenshire, would put it at the end of the RSC period. Another indicator would be the grading of the
stones to each other, as the practice of placing the tallest nearest to the recumbent and falling away so the
smallest was opposite, went out of fashion in the later circles. But as this is a reconstruction the only clues
we may have been gathered from the size of the excavated stone-holes themselves. Date: For reasons I
will elaborate on later under ‘Discussion’, I would say the circle dates from the period romantically coined
as the ‘Weapons, Warriors and Warfare’v (c.1500BC to AD100).

B. Boundary Stonevi: This stone is marked on the 1888 OS map. What relevance it has to the circle is
unknown, but a line may be drawn moving north from the centre of the recumbent, across the circle to the 6
o’clock position stone, through this boundary stone to the crop markings reported at point E at Tarfat. It
could have aided people coming from Tarfat locating the RSC as the RSC is obscured from this direction
once you are in the valley. (Photo Log Frame. 25,26,27). Date unknown.

C & D. Cist’svii: Site of cists; found in 1866 with several urns containing human remains. Many of the
urns had flint arrowheads placed on either side and one urn 278mm high by 276mm diameter, was inverted
over calcined bones with the two halves of a broken decorated stone battle-axe (of Roe's type IIIE(N)) on
either side of it. Another imperfect urn, 176mm diameter at its shoulder, was inverted over a child's
cremation. The purpose of inverting the urns over the remains may have to serve to keep the spirit tied to
the land, in much the same way as a stone cairn may have been erected to stop the spirit floating away.
But I feel the urn was protecting the occupants, providing a shelter or house. The weapons also point to a
need for the occupants to defend themselves. They were not inside the urns so were not intended to be
taken into the next world, but outside to defend against what ever evil could threaten to follow them from
our world. Or because they are objects of value, they could have been payment to the ferry-man that exists
in many cultures that assist the dead on their way. Date: The period for cinerary urns is given as between
2100 – 1450BC.

Fig.4
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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011

E. Crop Marksviii: Crop marks, field boundaries and rigs were seen on aerial photography taken on 19
June 1997, showing rig-and-furrow cultivation of a field boundary on arable ground on this gentle SE-facing
slope. As rig and furrows only tend to survive best in marginal areas were it was only farmed at times of
population pressure or economic expansion (Barber, 2001)ix, we may assume that the population in this
area was at sufficient numbers to provide manpower for the RSC construction. (There are two accounts of
massive depopulation in the archives, the first follows the Battle of Mons Graupius 84ADx, if Tacitus and
John Ainslie mapxi is to be believed (fig.5) and the second after the Battle of Baraxii when Edward Bruce
(King Bob’s brother) carried out clan cleansingxiii of the Comyns and their supporters in 1308AD known as
the Rape of Buchan). Date: not known, maybe Iron Age.

Fig.5

F. Collared Urn: This urn was found in 1970 holding the cremations of more than two individuals
(fig.6). A woman in her twenties and a child of not more than two years old were identified by their teeth.
The location is interesting for although it is over 1km west of find C & D, they share a relationship in that
they were once near to a possible ancient track way that passed through this area. Travelling from
Peterhead on the East coast, the route went through Howford’s Farm (F), over the church rath (Z), pass
the cists (C&D), through Tarfat (E) and onto Aberdour and the bronze age settlement of Fort Fiddesxiv at
Troup Head on the north coast. Date: Between 2000 – 1450BC.

Fig.6

G. Rubbing Stone: Site of a now destroyed rubbing stone that is depicted on the 1867 1st edition OS
map. The significance of this stone is not known. It may have been used to sharpen metal edges like
ploughs or knives. Date: Not known.

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011
H. Cropmark: Reported on the Aberdeenshires’ Councils SMR as a possible circular enclosure with an
internal feature. Considering the location of this feature to the river and its wetlands, the possibility that it
may be of significant value to our understanding of prehistory in this area is huge (ritual). Date: BC1400 –
400AD?

Z. Church Rath: Although a ruined 17th century church now occupies the rath, this area once formed
the medieval settlement of Strichenxv . (Strichen village was moved to the north bank of the River Ugie and
was first known as Mormond Village until the mid 1800’s). However there is strong evidence that this site
may have been in constant occupation from the earliest of times to its abandonment in the late 18th century.

‘The perception of the landscape by those who created it led to the avoidance or inclusion of
landscape features and it may be possible to read some of this evidence to provide an understanding of
these perceptions. In rural Ireland, for example, areas around ‘fairy thorn trees’ were left uncultivated and
both there and in Scotland, grave yards or traditional burial grounds were similarly avoided. Ancient
monuments, similarly, would not have survived in cultivated areas were they not deliberately excluded from
cultivation.’ (Barber J. 2001)

Fig.7
Satellite image of Strichen Old Church.
Areas marked in red could need further investigation.

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Student ID: 5080099 KL155K Assignment 2
Andrew David Sturdy Introduction to Prehistoric Scotland
March 2011

Discussion

Standing as on an island surrounded by the immediate landscape, Strichen RSC setting seems unlike
many earlier RSCs which appear to have been placed to command exceptional views across plains.
Instead Strichen RCS sits on a pedestal within a landscape that cloaks it as if it is inside a great
amphitheatre. There is also a sense of meeting about the place as if you are on a conjunction or at the hub
of adjoining thoroughfares, (although those inside the circle are not the watchers of passerby’s, but are the
watched). The landscape may afford this place a certain amount of privacy from the outside world which
makes it feel exclusive, but if you were invited to stand on its rim, you would be most privy to the events
unfolding inside this sacred place.

The landscape of Strichen RSC is of the type that crosses the boundaries of periods such as Stone,
Bronze, Iron etc. where as such labels could be used in other parts of the UK that demonstrate abrupt
changes in the archaeological record, I feel such labels will be found wanting in Strichen and throughout
Buchan. Prehistoric Strichen was never on the margins between conflicting cultures or torn between
fanatical political powers, so the probability of continuity and survival of its beliefs, culture and way-of-life is
far greater. Even up to the agriculture improvements of the 18th century we read of the exasperations of
local Lords’ trying to get their tenants to use modern metal ploughs over traditional wooden ones that were
reminiscent of the Neolithic Age (Alexander W. 1894)xvi.

However; Strichen can not hide behind its ridgeline for ever, Mormond Hill, which was not discussed as it is
deserving of investigation on its own, dominates the whole of Buchan but its skyline is set to change. (Why
such a prominent landmark with obvious prehistory potential has failed to fall under the archaeologist
microscope is a mystery?). The threat to losing our understanding of sites like Mormond and Strichen is
accelerating; with the academic world seems transfixed on the Highlands of Scotland, the developers are
poised to destroy what remains in the east while its gaze is averted. (Aberdeenshire Council Local Plan
designates 80 houses to fill the sky line around the NE of the settlement, and twelve 100m wind turbines
are being proposed across the summit of Mormond Hill). If, as I believe, that the prehistoric landscapes is
still visible from the RSC, it may only be so for a very few years to come.

i
P Abramson, I Hampshire-Monk,1980, The Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, The Scottish Group, Council for
British Archaeology, 12-13
ii
Aberdeenshire SMR 2011, NJ95SW0001, Strichen Stone Circle
iii
H.A.W. Burl 1981, The Recumbent Stone Circles of North East Scotland
iv
ADS, Archaeology Data Service, Arch Search, Radiocarbon date, Sample number BM-2317R, Submitted PA 1981,
Charcoal, ref 5/ST81
v
KL1558, 2011, Centre for Lifelong Learning, Scottish Archaeology Workbook, Archaeological Identification:
Prehistoric Scotland, 111 - 138
vi
Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 SW0054, Boundary Stone
vii
Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 SW0003, Cist Cluster: NJ95 NWE0006, Cist and Axe.
viii
Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ95 NW0014, Rig and Crop marks
ix
Barber, John 2001, Guidlines for the preservation of areas of rig and furrow in Scotland, Scottish Trust for
Archaeological Research 2001
x
Tacitus 98AD, ‘Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola’, Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb,
chapter 29
xi
John Ainslie 1789, Scotland, drawn and engraved from a series of angles and astronomical observations.
xii
Watt William 1900, A History of Aberdeen and Banff, 64-65
xiii
Watt William 1900, A History of Aberdeen and Banff, 66
xiv
Aberdeenshire SMR, 2011, NJ86NW0001, Fort Fiddes and Pict settlement
xv
Rev. Simpson Alexander 1842, The New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845), Volume XII – Aberdeen,
Parish of Strichen
xvi
Alexander William 1826-1894, Northern Rural Life, Limited Edition 1981