Scheduled Monument
Blackhillock, hut circle 310m NNE ofSM11389
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 16/02/2006
- Type
- Prehistoric domestic and defensive: hut circle, roundhouse
- Local Authority
- Aberdeenshire
- Parish
- Glenbuchat
- NGR
- NJ 39730 16210
- Coordinates
- 339730, 816210
Description
This monument is a hut-circle, the footings of a prehistoric house between 2000 and 3000 years old, situated in rough pasture, with the remains of several small cairns situated on the slope below.
The circle measures 12m in overall diameter, and consists of a low stony bank, 2m wide and 30cm high, with a possible entrance on the SW.
The area to be scheduled is a truncated circle with a diameter of 30m, centred on the hut circle, to include the hut circle and any related archaeological deposits nearby, but bounded on the ENE by a dyke and on the SE by a track, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The dyke and track are excluded from the scheduling.
Statement of National Importance
Statement of National Importance
The monument's archaeological significance can be expressed as follows:
Intrinsic characteristics: The monument is a relatively well-preserved example. It is surviving as an upstanding feature, which is rare in this region, and subsequent beneficial land-use as pasture has probably resulted in the preservation of further archaeological deposits within and immediately outwith the visible structure. It therefore has the potential to reveal further information about local variations in domestic architecture and building use, as well as upland prehistoric land-use.
Contextual characteristics: As a well-preserved hut-circle in a region where few upstanding hut-circles have been identified, this monument has the potential to reveal much about the attitudes to house-building and living in houses of later prehistoric communities in North-East Scotland, which can be compared and contrasted to nearby lowland cropmark sites and others outwith the region to create an understanding of regional identities and differing lifestyles, economies and belief systems.
National Importance: The monument is of national importance because it is quite well preserved, which is rare for this class of monument in this region. It has the potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of later prehistoric upland land-use and society, both in this locality and, by association, the rest of Scotland.It also has the potential to provide information about upland land-use and human impact on the landscape over a greater time span. The loss of this rare and well preserved example in this area would impact upon future ability to understand these issues.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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