Dunnicaer Hillfort

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bay at Dunncaer

Dunnicaer Hillfort (also called Dun-Na-Caer, Dunncaer, Dinnacair or Stonehaven) is a Promontory Fort on the Scottish cliff coast , near the harbor of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire . Access is extremely dangerous.

The approximately 20 m high, isolated rock of Dunnicaer, a stack located approximately 700 m north of the former Promontory Fort and the later ruins of Dunnottar Castle , appears to have been inhabited in the past . The approximately 20 × 12 m peak is covered with lawn, and although there are loose stones around the edges, no traces of settlement can be seen.

In 1832 some young people climbed the rock and threw several stones from a low wall along the edge of the rock into the sea. A number of them was taken out later, and at least six were with Pictish icons provided. The Scottish architect Alexander Thomson (1817–1875) bought five of the stones in 1862 and had them brought to the approximately 27 km away Banchory House (now the Banchory Lodge Hotel), where four of them were built into a wall.

In 2015, a team from the University of Aberdeen found the remains of a house, hearth, and ramparts from the 3rd or 4th century AD on the rock. The archaeologist Gordon Noble deduces from this that despite its small size, people lived on the rock for at least part of the year. The archaeologists found evidence of walls, floors and a hearth. Samples in the trenches were carbon dated. This suggests that the site dates back to the 3rd or 4th century and is the oldest Pictish fort ever discovered.

Dr. Noble, a senior lecturer in archeology at the University of Aberdeen, described the lake stack as "exceptional archaeological finds" and said consistency over the specimens dated meant they were "confident that it was one of the earliest fortified sites occupied by Picts"

Web links

Coordinates: 56 ° 57 ′ 10.3 "  N , 2 ° 11 ′ 43.6"  W.