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.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM13133_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600014455)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of a series of probably funerary monuments: a square cairn, another possible square cairn and a boat-shaped stone setting, all dating probably to between AD 200-900. These features are located within a circular stony area, approximately 12m in diameter, while the remains of an oval enclosed field, 22m E-W by 17m transversely, lie immediately to the west, suggesting that the probable funerary monuments may overlie prehistoric remains. The monument stands about 80m above sea level, on the summit of a small low hill that lies between the larger Hill of Sobul and Hill of Colvadale, overlooking Helliers Water.

The area to be scheduled is oval in plan and includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Statement of National Importance

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The square cairn is visible as a low stone-built structure, measuring 2.5m NE-SW by 2.5m transversely. The cairn is well defined by large edge-set kerbing stones on its NE and NW sides; the other sides are less well defined, with the kerbing stones no longer in their original settings. The interior is filled with smaller stones and is partly turf-covered. Adjacent to and NW of this cairn are the remains of another possible cairn consisting of a levelled stone-filled area, measuring around 3.5m NW-SE by 4.2m transversely. To the SE is a boat-shaped stone setting consisting of large edge-set kerbing stones. The setting measures 2m by 1m transversely, with its long axis aligned NNW-SSE, and it is pointed at its SSE end. This feature is also filled with smaller stones and partly turf-covered. All three features are sited on a low stone-covered hill. To the west is an oval enclosed field, 22m E-W by 17m transversely, with the enclosing dyke built mainly of turf and evenly-spaced stones. The probable funerary monuments may have been built over the remains of a prehistoric field system or settlement.

Excavations elsewhere have demonstrated that square kerb cairns were often used to cover and mark human burials and are normally early medieval in origin, dating most commonly from the mid to late first millennium AD. There has been little disturbance to this cairn and archaeological information is highly likely to survive beneath its surface. The excavation of similar cairns elsewhere shows that square cairns often incorporate or overlie graves containing long cist settings, and skeletal remains in the form of inhumations. Excavations of other square cairns have revealed one or more long cist burials beneath the cairn. One or more burials may survive beneath the cairns, positioned centrally or away from the centre. The boat-shaped stone setting may also mark a grave as it is similar in form to Viking graves from Denmark and Norway.

These buried deposits and human remains can help us understand more about the practice and significance of burial and commemorating the dead at specific times in the early medieval period. They may also help us to understand the changing structure of society in the area. In addition, the cairn is likely to overlie and seal a buried land surface that could provide evidence of the immediate environment before the monument was constructed, while botanical remains, including pollen or charred plant material, may survive within archaeological deposits deriving from the cairn's construction and use. This evidence can help us to build up a picture of the climate, vegetation and agriculture in the area before and during construction and use of the cairn.

Contextual characteristics

Cairns are well represented in the Shetland Islands, but this example is of particular interest because of its later date. Burials from the early historic period are relatively rare in Shetland and the north of Scotland. This cairn bears similarities to the square cairns in the cemetery at Ackergill, Caithness. Closer to this site, the two square cairns discovered during excavation of the Norse settlement at Sandwick, which lies 3km to the SSE, are also very similar. Given the relative lack of comparable sites in the area, this monument has the potential to further our understanding not only of funerary site location and practice, but also of the structure of early historic society and economy.

National Importance

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, particularly the design and construction of burial monuments, the nature of burial practices and their significance in the early historic period and later society. Buried evidence from cairns can also enhance our knowledge about wider society, how people lived, where they came from and who they had contact with. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our future ability to appreciate and understand the placing of such monuments within the landscape and the meaning and importance of death and burial in the early historic period.

References

Bibliography

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).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.