Excavation of the Dalladies Long Barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire by Stuart Piggott
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Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire by Stuart Piggott SITE ETH barroe Th w aboufardescribee e b Dalladiesf th m o o n t t o s di , Fettercairn ScotlanE N n i , d 15 km inland and NW of Montrose, on the edge of a fluvio-glacial gravel outwash terrace above the River North Esk, (NGwhic 627673)W O e t RthiN ha th s o t t poinI . m runnins i t0 40 , gS lies at a height of about 40 m, and the local coastal plain of which the terrace forms a part rarely rises above 100-15 Hil e excepridg 0e m Garvochf th o lth f eo n i t , which reache, betweem 0 s26 n Laurencekirk and the coast, while the foothills of the mountains forming the Highland Massif rise steeply 6 km inland to the W. The immediate vicinity of the barrow is flat, and hardly above 40-50 m in elevation, and much of it only drained to make effective agriculture possible within the last century and a half: surviving patches of bog such as that between Bogmuir and Moss-side of Eslie, 4 km from the long barrow to the N (NO 645712), indicate the former condition of parts of the area, which is now farm land or afforested. (Fig 1; Henshall 1972, ) 8. C 562KN , The long barrow was recognised as an antiquity only recently, by Dr Wilfred Dally of Edzell and the Arbroath Antiquary Club, having been marked on the Ordnance Survey large- scale mapovan a s ls a enclosur e containin antiquityn a plantation r 1960e s fi a th ga t y sB no . t bu , plantatioe th vanished nha d (though root disturbanced san s found during excavation confirmed formes it r existence barroe th grass-coveres d wwa an ) standind an d g largel pasturen yi , though ploughed at its W end. It was a conspicuous feature on a low local crest of land, some 65 m long textbooa endE d 2-d s higan ,it 5 m an t kha long barrofield-workey an wo t r familiar withr fo , instance monumente th , Wessee th f o sx downland t unfamiliabu , thoso rt e wit hknowledga e limited to local antiquities in a context where round or long cairns of stones, not earthen mounds, were alone immediately recognised as prehistoric burial monuments. This is not an unimportant fact, but one directly related to our knowledge of the distribution of antiquities, itself dependent on the standard of field archaeology in any given area. It is well shown again by the manner in whic lone hth g barrow Lincolnshire th f so e Wolds were only recognise sucs da h around 1930 thoug e typbeed th heighteente ha e n th f defineo d Wiltshirhn i en d centure th t ea y (Phillips face th t y thab 1933) td thosan , f eastero e n Scotlan onlbeginnine w dar y no seee a b s na o g t distinctiv realisee b y ecompariny b dtypema s a , mape gth Atkinson i s n 1962 with thosf o e Henshall ten years later (1970; 1972). In the past unrecognised as antiquities by antiquaries and peasantry alike vulnerabld an , agriculture th o et heavilo es thas ha ty exploite Scottise dth h east coascoupla r fo tcenturiesf eo knowr ou , n long barrow regioe welth y f nso lma represent onlya portiooriginae th f o n l total, though informed fiel dr photograph ai wor d o kan t wely d ad lyma their number. 24 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1971-2 FIG 1 Location map, Dalladies and Capo long barrows FIG 2 Dalladies long barrow: cuttings diagram and section lines 1970-71 PIGGOTT: EXCAVATION OF THE DALLADIES LONG BARROW, FETTERCAIRN | 25 When discovered as an antiquity of outstanding importance, the barrow in 1968 was already onl yshora t distance fro encroachine mth g extensiv n edga f eo e are gravel-diggingf ao s wa d an , threatene immineny db t destruction. Onc archaeologicae eth l emergenc realiseds ywa ownee th , r of the land, Mr H J Kennaway, and Messrs Clark, the gravel extractors, offered every facility Departmene th o t f Archaeologo t Universite th f yo f Edinburgyo t onlno yy hgivinb g sanction excavateo t divertiny yearo b tw t t facs r workinbu e pi ,whil fo egth e th ef go thi s could take place. We are deeply grateful for this enlightened action, and for the continuous help and co- operation given us by Mr David Walker and the gravel pit personnel throughout our work. With financial provision from the Department of the Environment this was carried out under the joint direction of the writer, Miss M-J Mountain and Dr T F Watkins in two seasons; four weeks in 1970 and six in 1971, after which the site was finally removed (interim reports in Piggott 1972; 1973). THE EXCAVATION A contoured survey of the barrow at intervals of 0-25 m reinforced the superficial impression that at the NE it had been partly destroyed by ploughing in the past at a point where a field wall runs NW-SE t thabu , t otherwis symmetricaa s wa t ei l moun longm 5 d6 , witE axin ° ha s75 f tru o , risin eN heigha o g t f 2- abovo t5m surroundine eth g groun deastere leveth t a ln end, wher maximus eit m widt s 18m taperind hwa an , g westward laterall verticalld yan widta o yt h wherm 9 t mergef ei o d int plough-soile oth . There were some minor irregularities, mainly along the crest, which excavation showed to be the result of rabbiting, burying sheep or cattle, or former tree-stumps. There wer detectablo en eflankine signth f o s g quarry-ditche expectee b o t s n do analogy with the English long barrows. anticipation I ground-plaa f no n involving linea axiad an r l features, agai analogyn no , excavatioe th plannes nwa gria f basi n dwido do m c5 e cutting f whicso (fi, hg2) Cutting2 1 s wer 4 longitudinaa 1 givo f et o d firsetransversg a an m du t0 1 ld sectionean , concurrently with a series of small cuttings (1-6) to establish the western end of the mound and to search for quarry-ditches concealed by ploughing. The absence of such a ditch in the S part of Cutting 6, and the failure to detect significant anomalies by geophysical survey, was simultaneously explained f quarrie o moun e e th b excavates s founo a d t dwa t an grave d4 no t 1 Cuttingn d i bu ld an 2 s1 of layer turtop-soif d so fan l evidently obtaine strippiny db glarga e superficial arerelativela o at y slight depth onle y.Th linear features encountered were lateral stone revetment walls outsidd ,an e thes epaia verf o r y small lateral ditches thesd an , e were followe Cuttingn di s 8-11, 15-179 1 , thes nwa excavated en E e whan di Th . t 20 eventuall d an y became Cutting anticipan i , 21 sd 1-8an tion of an axial funerary feature, but an unbroken crescentic dry-stone fagade was found, and whe nmassiva e mortuary structure indeed appeared lyins wa f g o t i eccentricall, W N e th o yt the facade (figs 2, 3). At the conclusion of the excavation, what remained of the mound W of Cuttings 18 and 19 was removed mechanically under archaeological supervision, but no further features were found except two secondary cist burials, A and C, B and D having been found previously in respectively9 Cutting1 d an 3 s1 . STRUCTUREE TH SEQUENCD SAN E To anticipate an argument set out in detail below, a complex structural history must be assume accouno dt observee th r tfo d feature botn si mortuare hth y structur lone th gd barroean w c 26 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1971-2 within whic containeds i t hi former'e Th . s eccentric position relativ formae th o et l planninf go lattee th r might itself sugges differencta datn ei therd e an supporbetwee s ei o tw analoge y ntb th y for such a situation, while the fact that the mortuary structure has itself a complex history makes it credible that the first event on the site was the building of Phase I of its sequence, a structure probably roofed and presumptively funerary, carried on massive upright timbers set in large post-holes. This structure, some 8 by 5 m, lay on a NW-SE axis with its entrance to the NW. There follows an interval of unknown duration but probably of not less than half a century, at the end of which time the timbers had rotted and the site could be cleared and levelled. On e samth e basi r incorporatioc fo plan d an , a lon n ni g barro f quitwo e different orientation, Phas followsI eI , with boulde entranceW r paiN wall w poste f r o sidet ne th s backa ,t a d s a d san ,an builw f sandstonno o t e slabs integrally bonde witn di northere hth n long barrow revetment, itself built concurrently with the lower part of the mound, which can also be shown to have been tie wit n dmakini e Phashe th th f bouldeI geo I r walls buildine moune .Th th f gturtopo f d do fan - soil necessitated shallow surface stripping conditioe smalth o northere d tw th l an e ,f nth o f no ditches flankin barroe gth w suggest partls s thawa yt i t erase thin di s process, implying thae th t ditches were primara y featurbarroe th f o ew plan thereford an , e antedatine gth Phasf o I eI mortuary structure (itself strictly contemporary wit initiae hth l buildin barrowe th f g o how y )b - ever shor perioa t timef do .