Documents

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The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM4635_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600010547)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises a Pictish cemetery of first millennium AD date. It lies in rough pasture below a break in slope, on a low shoulder of ground overlooking an area of prehistoric field systems on flat ground near the top of a wide valley. The monument was first scheduled in 1989, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains (this includes cairns subsequently identified): the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The cemetery includes at least 14 square to trapezoidal mounds up to 0.2 m high and 5.5 m across, ten round mounds of varying size but up to 10 m across, and what is probably an earlier roundhouse. A ditch, with causeways across each corner, surrounds each square mound. All but one of the round barrows has a ditch or part of a ditch around it and one has an additional bank. Some of the barrows cluster together in roughly linear groups. A number of square and round barrows lie in the surrounding area, which is inter-dispersed with prehistoric clearance cairns and field boundary dykes. Four of the cairns within the cemetery have been partially excavated, one producing a fragment of a Pictish symbol stone.

The area to be scheduled is an irregular polygon on plan, bounded by fences to the N and W, to include the cemetery, outlying burial cairns, some of the adjacent clearance cairns and dykes, and associated archaeological deposits, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling excludes the fences, and the top 0.3m of the trackway that dissects the area, to allow for their maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

Cultural Significance

The monument's archaeological significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics: The monument is an extremely well-preserved example of a rare monument type, with cairns and barrows that display a number of the key component characteristics of their class. Other excavated examples of Pictish cemeteries show that there is a high probability of un-mounded cist burials in the vicinity, and subsequent landuse as pasture means that there is a high likelihood of preservation of any archaeological features associated with the cemetery. The presence of both upstanding remains and preserved deposits means that this site has the potential to inform our understanding of the ritual and practices of this poorly understood period in Scotland's past. Additionally, through examination of the different forms and styles of monument architecture it has the potential to contribute to future research into the structure of Pictish society, through its kinship, kin-group or social divisions, and/or how that society developed and changed through time.

Contextual characteristics: It is only one of a small number of identified Pictish cemeteries unique to Scotland. The majority are only visible as cropmarks. Of the very small number of upstanding cemeteries, this is one of the two best examples. This monument is therefore in an almost unique position to tell us about how the different types of cairns and barrows that form these monuments appeared above ground, how they were constructed, what sort of archaeological deposits composed their upper levels, and how they were experienced and encountered. The juxtaposition with rare, upstanding nearby settlement remains that may be contemporary is unparalleled anywhere in Scotland. Comparison of this monument with the few others of this class scattered elsewhere in Scotland can inform about regional identity, conversion and/or the political, social and cultural cohesion of society in Scotland in the first millennium AD, a period which is little understood.

National Importance:

The monument is of national importance because it is a rare, fine and distinctive example of a cemetery of the first millennium AD with well-preserved associated archaeological deposits. It has been sampled by excavation and produced a fragment of Pictish symbol stone. The known extent of the cemetery has already substantially expanded and has the potential to increase understanding of Pictish burial customs, sepulchral architecture and social structures. Its relationship to a possible rare example of an early medieval settlement is unparalleled. Its loss would significantly detract from our ability to experience and understand these forms of monument and interpret the society that buried their dead in them, both in this locality and throughout Scotland.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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