The excavation of Na Clachan Aoraidh, a four poster stone circle in northern Perthshire - Clare Ellis and Matt Ritchie
The stone circle of Na Clachan Aoraidh – the ‘Stones of Worship’ – is set high on the limestone ridge of Cnoc na Craoibhe above Loch Tummel (NN 8386 6200, NN86SW 3). The site is a ‘four poster’ stone circle – a square arrangement of four large stones on a low stone-built circular platform. An illegal bonfire was set within the central hollow of the stone circle, a scheduled monument (SM 1572) on Scotland’s National
Forest Estate. It was unclear from surface observations whether the fire had had a detrimental effect upon any archaeological deposits, and an excavation was commissioned by Forestry Commission Scotland in order to evaluate any damage, and ascertain the extent and nature of the surviving archaeological deposits.
Conclusion (Extract)
The primary aim of the excavation was to determine the extent of damage caused by the illegal bonfire. Physical signs of the bonfire were limited to the topsoil with little or no impact upon the archaeological deposits below. ... A cremation deposit was placed within the hollow of a tree throw and it was around this that the monument was constructed. Whether this is an example of the fortuitous exploitation of a natural hollow or the deliberate placing of a monument over a former significant natural feature in the form of a sacred tree is impossible to determine.
...
There is no evidence to indicate that a funerary pyre was located under the monument, as is clearly the case elsewhere in other Bronze Age burial monuments . Rather, the evidence indicates that the cremation was brought to the site already mixed within a soil rich in ash. ...
Quartz, including two cores that had been burnt, was probably brought to site as part of the funerary pyre deposit. However, a relatively small amount of fractured quartz was also deliberately scattered over the cobble platform of the monument presumably to imbue it with more ‘glitter’ than that afforded by the greyish white psammite cobbles, and perhaps encourage the play of sun and/or moonlight across the monument.
The Late Bronze Age date obtained from the cremation and ash of the central deposit at Na Clachan Aoraidh is intriguing; clearly further dating of a range of these monuments is required in order to better understand their chronology.
Especially see page 36 / 16 - a illustrated storyboard by Alan Braby exploring the archaeological evidence: the community gathering to say farewell to their dead; the deposition of the woman’s ashes and bone fragments in a shallow pit; and the orientation of the later stone circle towards the summer solstice sun rising over the
mountains of Carn Liath and Beinn a’Ghlo in the north-east.
Full report available here:
http://www.tafac.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/v24-EllisRitchie-p21-38.pdf
With thanks to the Tayside And Fife Archaeological Journal who have refreshingly put their journal online
http://www.tafac.org.uk/category/journals/
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