Cairnwell Ring Cairn

Cairnwell Ring Cairn is a ring cairn (sometimes more correctly called "Ring Bank Enclosure") with a stone circle not far from Badentoy Avenue and Cairnwell Farm, northwest of Portlethen in Kincardineshire , Scotland .

The Ring Cairn has a diameter of about 4.8 m inside and a set ring made of loose material, the width of which varies from 0.8 m in the north to over 1.0 m in the south. 15 curb stones, most of them inclined or tilted inwards, formed the inner circle. They are up to 0.5 m high; possibly a plate in the southwest was larger. There are eleven outer curbs, most of which were inclined outwards. The largest slab on the southeast side is 1.7 m wide, 0.9 m high and 0.2 m thick.

Of the 13 stones of the outer circle that surrounded the Ring Cairn in 1858, only three have survived. The excavation of 1858 revealed five ceramic deposits and “black mold” with fragments of bones and charcoal inside. After the excavation, the monument was relocated 175 m to the northwest and made accessible to the public.

The Cairnwell Ring Cairn has been completely excavated. The square originally enclosed a pit arch from the Middle Neolithic (around 4320 BC) around a stone circle from the same period (3070 BC). After a long hiatus , a pyre was burned in the stone circle and a wooden fence was built inside with the entrance to the south. Five cremations in pits and urns were found in the middle of the enclosure. The enclosure was later supplemented with the Ring Cairn, which respected the existing enclosure. The Ring Cairn was then widened to integrate the outer stone circle.

Nearby is the Craighead of Badentoy .

literature

• Kathleen Mcsweeney: The excavation of Cairn well ring-cairn, Portlethen, Aberdeenshire.

Web links

• Description
• Pictures and map
• Entry on Cairnwell Ring Cairn  in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database
• The excavation of Cairnwell ring-cairn pdf.

Coordinates: 57 ° 4 ′ 6.3 "  N , 2 ° 9 ′ 22.1"  W.