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Stone Circles Loanhead of Daviot
A large stone circle located at the edge of a broad shelf above a slope.
The 10 stones and recumbent are set in a circle 19.5 m in diameter: the area had been levelled before the stones were erected.
Around each standing stone are small stone settings, some of which contained cremation burials and fragments of deliberately smashed pottery.
Note that the stone beside the E flanker has 5 cup marks and that the recumbent was originally one block.
Within the circle is a very low cairn with a pronounced kerb and a 'reserved' area around the recumbent.
The excavation of 1934 revealed:
- a fire marked patch in the centre of the circle, beneath the cairn
- a 500mm (2") thick layer of black earth and charcoal over the whole central area
- patches of burnt bones of adults' and infants' skulls
Another area of cremation burials is to be found beside the circle. The two low curved dykes and small stone piles represent an enclosed cremation cemetery of the Bronze Age. Excavation revealed cremated burials in urns beneath the little cairns and a central burial consisting of the cremated body of a man laid straight in a slight hollow beneath his funeral pyre.
Directions
- Grid ref: NJ 747 288 Ordnance Survey Landranger series sheet no. 30
5 miles NW of Inverurie, lying between the A920 Old Meldrum/Colpy and the B9001 Inverurie/Rothienorman roads. Signposted. C 100 m walk from the car park.
