Proc SocAmiq Scot, (1991)1 12 , 51-94, fiche 1:A4-A12 Machrie Moor, Arran: recent excavations at two stone circles Alison Haggarty* including specialist reports on: Pottery Audrey Henshall Calcined bone Richard Grove Urn Trevor Cowie Bone point Andrew Foxon and including short extracts from specialist reports on: Charcoal Roderick McCullagh Geolog soid yan l David Jordan Residue pottern so ardmary& k fills Brian Moffat Chipped stone assemblage Daragh Lehane-Magee ABSTRACT The HBM-sponsored excavations Machriestoneon at 11 circles Moor,and 1 Arran, revealed land previous the which on of theyuse were situated, with features dating backthe to earlier Neolithic. The exact positions occupied by both stone circles were found to have been preceded timberby monuments, comprising several elements casethe ofin circle Evidence1. for fenced land ploughingdivisionsard and between timber the stone and phases alsowas recovered. Both stone circles contained singlea inserted cremation deposit. Stone circlehad 1 been dug into in 1861 by James Bryce but circle 11 was previously untouched, having been almost totally buried in peat. The ceramic assemblage, although not extensive, produced examples of pottery traditions spanning over a millennium. CONTENTS Introduction .................................................. 53 Geology and Soil ............................................... 53 Historical Background ............................................ 53 Previous Excavations ...........................................5 .5 Introduction to the Phases ......................................... 56 Phase 1: Earliest features .........................................7 .5 Grimston/Lyles Hill series pottery ................................. 58 * 238 Portobello High Street, Edinburgh 52 SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1991 Phase 2: Timber monuments ........................................ 60 Site 1 ................................................... 60 Central setting ........................................... 61 Main ring ............................................... 62 Outer ring .............................................. 63 Small sub-circular setting ..................................... 63 Various pits and pestholes .................................... 64 Large pesthole ..........................................4 6 . Site 11 .................................................. 64 Grooved Ware ........................................... 65 Phase 3: Stakelines and ardmarks ..................................... 67 Impressed wares ...........................................1 7 . Beaker pottery ............................................. 72 Phas Ston: e4 e circles ...........................................2 7 . Circle 1 .................................................. 72 Circle 11 ................................................. 73 Phas Inserte: e5 d burial othed san r features .............................6 7 . Site 1 ................................................... 76 Bone point ..............................................8 7 . Urn ...................................................9 7 . Site 11 .................................................. 79 Phas Late: e6 r events pre-peat ......................................0 8 . Phase 7: Later events post-peat ...................................... 81 Phase 1: Discussion .............................................. 83 Pottery .................................................. 83 Phase 2: Discussion .............................................. 85 Pottery .................................................5 8 . Phase 3: Discussion .............................................. 86 Pottery .................................................. 87 Phas : Discussioe4 n .............................................7 8 . Phas : Discussioe5 n .............................................8 8 . Bone point ............................................... 88 n ...................................................Ur 9 8 . General discussion .............................................. 91 Chipped stone assemblage .....................................1 9 . Residue pottern so y .........................................1 9 . Conclusions .................................................. 91 Acknowledgements ............................................. 92 References ..................................................2 9 . FICHE Catalogue of Neolithic pottery Audrey Henshall 1: A4-A12 HAGGARTY: MACHRIE MOOR, ARRAN: RECENT EXCAVATION STONO TW ET SCIRCLEA 3 5 S INTRODUCTION Machrie Moor lies on the west side of the Isle of Arran at the end of the String Road which runs west from Brodick separating the mountainous north from the more lowland plateau-like south e mooTh . notabl s ri numbee th r varietd efo ran f upstandinyo g monuments preserved there, apparently representativ f moseo t aspect f lifprehistoriso n i e c times. Sites interprete s funeraryda , ritua domestid l presenan l foral e e th f chambere mo car n i t d tombs, stone circles and hut circles. Of the six known stone circles occupying an area less than 400 m by 150 m close to the abandoned Moss Farm buildings, two, numbered Site 1 (NR 9120 3239) an912R d (N 1Sit 1 3241)e1 furthese th , t east from Moss Farm discussee ar , d here (illu. 1) s GEOLOGY AND SOIL The moor, which comprises an undulating, roughly triangular, area, is bounded by the Machrie Watenorthe th Shiskine o t rth , e easeffectivele d Gleth an t o nt Blackwaterfoote yth / Machri mucf o c ewesthe ar roa higheth n o dA .t r ground nortaroune easd th ho an tt createt di sa bowl effect. Machrie Moo s underlaii r y Permiab n n sandstone a whiccoverin s ha h f o g consolidated glacial till with undulations in the till surface filled with sand. The till which underlies the site appears to be derived mainly from the local sandstones and varies considerably in composition, especially texture. This has led to variability in the soils developed in it. Parts of the moor have peat growth in basins over 3 m in depth but the area occupied by Sites 1 and 11 has a covering of blanket peat up to 0.7 m deep. At the east edge of the trench b ye pea circlth t1 1 echange s from blanke basino t t e differencth , e being thas i t iron pa n present beneath the blanket peat impeding drainage but is absent from below the basin peat. modere Th n soipeata s i l y podzol with very poor drainage abov thi ea fre d nean iron npa drainage below. Above the iron pan are the remains of the upper parts of the pre-peat soil mixed with the roots of peat plants and other organic matter. Immediately over the pan is a f root o d fin t an se ma particles washed down from e profilehigheth e podzolizatiop u rTh . n proces serves sha obscuro dt archaeologicae eth l stratigraph wayso tw n .y i Abov pane eth , root preservation and chemical reduction have darkened the soil and weakened colour contrasts while below the pan the red/brown colours of sesquioxide deposition have similarly reduced contrast additionn I . e iro n itsels founth ,npa wa fo completel t d y envelop some features, follow the cuts of others and occasionally to pass within features in a manner totally unrelated theio t r stratigraphy. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Five of the six stone circles by Moss Farm have been known for many years and were describe Jamey db s Sken 1832n e i descriptions Hi . thesf so othe d ean r 'Druidical Monuments' e mooth n r o were accompanie a pla f y theio nb d r relative position addition i s o mort n e detailed sketche groue f individuawholth a o f s spo d a ean l monuments (National Monuments Record SAS 464). John MacArthur related the legends associated with the Machrie sites and described the five stone circles together with three other monuments in the vicinity which he believed were also stone circles. He provided sketches of two of the sites but no plan (1861, 40, 50-1). Rather more detailed descriptions of the five circles and five other monuments on the moor were published along wit hplaa Jamey nb s Bryce followin survega made yh f thes eo othed ean r I SOCIET 4 5 ANTIQUARIEF YO SCOTLANDF SO , 1991 Machrie Moor Stone Circles ILLUS 1 Location plan HAGGARTY: MACHRIE MOOR, ARRAN: RECENT EXCAVATIONS AT TWO STONE CIRCLES 55 Arran monument e summeth n i s f 186o r 0 (1862, 502- pd i 4an 17) . Previous descriptionf o s e circlesomth f o es exist e RevTh . dJ Headrick r examplefo , , writin varioun go s aspectf o s Arran in 1807, gives a clear account of the two circles with tall sandstone slabs, Bryce's nos 2 & 3 (1807, 154-5), and a painting by W A Nesfield depicting the best-preserved circle with tall slab firss swa t exhibite 1828n di . MacArthu Bryced an r , however, wer firse elisl o th fivt t al te circles together with measurements of their diameters. The measurements given by the two men did not agree, and although Bryce was consistently more accurate, even some of his figures have been revised by more recent surveys. Elements of their descriptions have been found to be inaccurate by subsequent writers such as Roy, McGrail and Carmichael (1963, 59). sixte Th h groue circl recordeth s f epo surveyorwa e th y Ordnance db th f so e Survep yma (1st edn) of the area as 'a small circle composed of two stones' with a diameter of 19 ft (ONB 1864, no 2, 38). The site was then apparently disregarded for many years until Roy et al during their survey wor othen ko r circle groue th n spi relocate Thi. dit s informatio relayes r nwa D o dt Euan MacKi o publishewh es archaeologica hi e sit n th di e l guid o Scotlant e a circl s a de completely