Description
The monument comprises the remains of a group of five burnt mounds, visible as low grass-covered mounds, which are likely to date to between 2000 BC and 1000 BC. The monument is located at around 15m above sea level, on grazing land sloping eastwards and overlooking Trondra and the mainland. The mounds are roughly positioned along a fresh water course, below a small lochan, and occupy an overall area of approximately 100m WSW to ENE by 45m NW to SE.
The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan comprising four circular areas (three of them overlapping) centred on each of the individual components. These areas include 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 monument survives as an upstanding group of earthworks in good condition overall, although localised disturbance by burrowing animals has exposed evidence of heat-cracked stones in the matrix of the mounds. A single mound is located next to the lochan and two pairs of adjacent mounds lie some 40m and 75m to the ENE. The mounds are each sub-circular, though the middle two mounds together form a crescentic shape. Their diameter varies from 4m to 11m, and they stand to a maximum height of 1.5m.
Burnt mounds are made from heaps of burnt and fire-cracked stone, occurring usually within a matrix of dark soil and perhaps charcoal or ash. The stones represent the accumulated waste from the use of hot stones to heat water, probably for a variety of purposes. After several immersions, the stones would crack and break and were discarded to form burnt mounds. Burnt mounds are often accompanied by troughs that held the water and there is sometimes evidence for associated shelters and the hearths in which the stones were heated. Burnt mounds typically lie close to a stream or other water source. This group of five burnt mounds in close proximity may indicate a more complex or longer use of this location than is usual for single burnt mounds.
The monument has not been excavated and therefore retains excellent potential to inform our understanding of the date and nature of burnt mounds, their function(s) and duration. The mounds and the ground around and beneath them may contain artefacts or ecofacts that can increase our understanding of how they were used. The mounds may have accumulated directly on an old ground surface and may seal important environmental information that could increase our knowledge of the landscape and land-use before and during the mound's creation. The fact that the monument comprises a group of burnt mounds in close proximity adds significantly to the research potential.
Contextual characteristics
There are around 1,900 recorded examples of burnt mounds in Scotland with notable concentrations in some areas, including Shetland. The greater number in Shetland may also reflect survival because of a lack of later development or agricultural improvement. Burnt mounds in the Northern and Western Isles and northern Scotland are often particularly large. They often show the classic crescentic shape and may have been reused on many occasions over a significant period. They may also have served different social and practical functions to smaller mounds.
In Scotland, excavated examples typically date to the middle Bronze Age, around 1500 BC, but the overall range of dates varies from the late Neolithic through to the early historic period (around 2400 BC to AD 900). A common interpretation of these monuments in Scotland is that they were used to boil water for cooking. However, researchers have also suggested that they could have been used as saunas or sweat-lodges (possibly medicinal as well as sanitary); as baths; or for textile production (dying and fulling), brewing or leather working. Burnt mounds are often found in relatively isolated locations in Scotland, but in Shetland they sometimes occur in association with settlement remains.
National Importance
This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular prehistoric society and the construction and use of burnt mounds and their placing in the landscape. The good preservation of the monument and the presence of a group of mounds in a relatively small area enhance this potential. The loss of this monument would impede our ability to understand the nature of later prehistoric ritual and domestic practice, both in Shetland and in Scotland.