Sites to Visit

Stone Circles

A great range of both Standing and Recumbent Stone Circles can be found across the North East of Scotland.

Henges

Henges are ceremonial enclosures with a bank outside the ditch dating from the late Neolithic (third millennium BC). The few known in the north-east are small examples of such structures.

Several very impressive single standing stones survive in striking locations, possibly covering burials or marking access points to significant areas of landscape. They appear to date from the Bronze Age (second millennium BC).

Pictish Symbol Stones

Carved stones with intricate designs and symbols are often classed as Pictish Symbol Stones, dating from the third to ninth centuries AD.

Round Cairns and Other Burial Mounds

During the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, a large number of, usually circular, burial mounds were erected in prominent locations to bury important members of the community.

Long cairns and Barrows

The first farmers during the Neolithic (around 4,000 - 3,000 BC) buried some of their ancestors in long cairns and barrows that were mounds of turf or stone, often sited on prominent hillcrests.

Clava cairns

Named after the group at Balnuaran of Clava, near Inverness, these burial cairns were erected in the early Bronze Age (around 2000 BC) with a stone circle surrounding either a chambered tomb or a ring cairn.