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

  SM12476_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600014265)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of a hut circle of possible late Bronze-Age or Iron-Age date. It is visible as an interrupted, roughly-circular ring of turf-covered stony walling situated about 290m NW of Shields farm.

The hut-circle is situated on level ground and is now overgrown with grass in an area of rough grazing approximately 40m above sea level. The hut-circle is around 12m in diameter over a spread wall that measures 2.8m thick and stands up to 0.5m in height. What may be the entrance is visible on the NW while a track running through the hut-circle has created breaks on the NE and SE.

The area proposed for scheduling is circular on plan, centred on the hut circle, to include the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found, 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 monument consists of a well-preserved later prehistoric roundhouse dating to the first or second millennium BC. Given the site's location in land currently used for winter grazing cattle, it is likely that archaeologically significant deposits relating to construction, occupation and abandonment of the hut-circle remains in place. In addition, it is likely that deposits survive that could provide data relating to the later prehistoric environment. The site offers excellent potential to contribute to our understanding of later prehistoric roundhouses and the daily lives of the people who occupied them.

Contextual characteristics

Upstanding remains of unenclosed hut-circles in Aberdeenshire are generally found in areas that have not been subjected to intensive arable cultivation. Such sites are often found in close proximity to visible remains of field-systems. At Shields, the hut-circle lies close to fragments of what may have been an associated agricultural enclosure and a number of cairns can also be observed in the area surrounding the hut-circle. At least two ring cairns and a cairn field lie further to the N and, as a whole, the wider landscape offers good potential to improve our understanding of the relationship between the agricultural/domestic and the ritual/funerary practices of the period.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular Bronze- or Iron-Age society and the nature of later prehistoric domestic practice. The good level of preservation, lack of recent cultivation and the survival of marked field characteristics enhances this potential. The loss of the example would significantly impede our ability to understand the later prehistoric period in NE Scotland.

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.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

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.