Statement of National Importance
The national importance of the monument is demonstrated in the following way(s) (see Designations Policy and Selection Guidance, Annex 1, para 17):
a. The monument is of national importance because it makes a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past, or has the potential to do so as a Neolithic ritual mound with evidence for later activity in the form of the buried remains of a Bronze Age cairn and an 18th or 19th century folly. It adds to our understanding of Late Neolithic monumentality, ceremony and ritual, Bronze Age burial practices and the continuing significance of place.
b. The monument retains structural attributes which make a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past. In particular, there is the potential for the preservation of buried features and deposits. Study of the form and construction techniques of both the ritual mound and the round cairn has the potential to increase our understanding of these monuments and similar monuments elsewhere.
c. The monument is a rare example of a Late Neolithic ritual mound, and the only known example of this type in Scotland.
e. The monument has research potential which could significantly contribute to our understanding or appreciation of the past. It can help us understand the nature of ceremony and ritual during the Late Neolithic, changing belief and ritual practice during prehistory as well as the long-term use of place. Study of the ritual mound has the potential to significantly add to our understanding of late Neolithic monumentality and long-distance connections between regions. Study of the round cairn can add to our understanding of Bronze Age funerary practice and the siting of burial monuments in the landscape.
f. The monument makes a significant contribution to today's landscape and our understanding of the historic landscape. It formed a prominent part of the prehistoric landscape and, along with the Late Neolithic enclosure at Dunragit, was part of a large ritual complex of monuments. It remains a significant feature in the landscape today.
Assessment of Cultural Significance
This statement of national importance has been informed by the following assessment of cultural significance:
Intrinsic characteristics (how the remains of a site or place contribute to our knowledge of the past)
The monument is a Late Neolithic ritual mound with evidence of later use in the form of an Early Bronze Age round cairn and an 18th or 19th century folly. The mound is a visually impressive monument standing almost 10m high. It is oval in plan with a flat top and composed of compacted sand. The upper part of the mound was stepped, and three or four distinct ledges were identified by small-scale excavation. The mound was likely constructed by augmenting a natural sand mound with locally sourced material. It is considered to have had a ceremonial or ritual function. A sequence of Optically Stimulated Luminesce dates indicates activity on the mound during the third millennium BC.
Excavation has revealed the buried remains of a round cairn and folly on the summit of the mound. The round cairn measures about 8m in diameter and was composed of a core of large, rounded, boulders beneath a mass of more angular stones, bounded by a kerb. Two small flint scrapers and fragments of burnt bone were found within the body of the cairn. A scatter of stone from the cairn was found to have collapsed down the side of the mound, indicating that the cairn was originally quite tall and unstable. Dating indicates it had collapsed by about 1200BC. The folly cut through this cairn and was shown by excavation have been a small stone building with a wooden floor and west-facing doorway. A concentration of 19th century bottle fragments and china sherds were found in and around the building. The excavators considered the folly to have been built in the 18th or 19th century. It is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map, published 1894. A small glass bottle with a scrap of paper within it was also recovered within the folly. A pencil written message on the paper indicated that the folly had been demolished in 1908.
Dating evidence indicates the mound was built and used during the Later Neolithic, the round cairn during the Early Bronze Age and the folly during the 18th and 19th centuries. The excavations at Droughdool indicate that there is good potential for the survival of archaeological deposits, including artefacts and environmental remains such as pollen and charcoal, within, beneath and around the monument, relating to all phases of the construction and use of this site. The archaeological deposits have the potential to provide information about the date of the monuments, their form, function and development over time, ritual and funerary practice as well as contemporary economy, land-use and environment. Scientific study of the structure of the monument has the potential to enhance our understanding of the development sequence of this monument. It will increase our understanding of Neolithic ceremony and ritual, Bronze Age burial practices and changing society and belief. The later re-use of the monument as the site of a folly during the 18th and 19th centuries adds to the interest of the monument.
Contextual characteristics (how a site or place relates to its surroundings and/or to our existing knowledge of the past)
The ritual mound lies about 400m south of the Late Neolithic enclosure at Dunragit (SM5852) and likely formed a part of this larger monumental complex. Dating indicates that the mound was broadly contemporary with Dunragit enclosure. The entrance avenue of the middle ring of the enclosure is aligned on the mound and the mound commands extensive views across the Dunragit monumental complex. It has been suggested that the mound may have served as a viewing platform on which a small pre-eminent group could observe/be observed by those gathered in the enclosure. When viewed from the centre of the Late Neolithic enclosure, anyone on the mound would have been silhouetted against the sky and framed by the entrance avenue of the middle ring.
No direct parallels for the ritual mound at Droughdool can be identified in Scotland. Although barrows such as Pitnacree (SM6147) and Courthill, Dalry (Canmore ID 40989) are of Neolithic date, they are much smaller and clearly burial mounds. The closest parallel for Droughdool is Silbury Hill in Wiltshire (National Heritage List for England number 1008445). This large flat-topped mound stands 39.3m high and was built in several stages, perhaps over several generations. It was completed around 2400BC. It is part of a complex of monuments around Avebury, including Avebury henge and the West Kennet palisade enclosures. Further large flat-topped prehistoric mounds adjacent to large Late Neolithic enclosures are found at Knowlton in Dorset (National Heritage List for England number 1020580), Marden in the Vale of Pewsey (National Heritage List for England number 1014617) and Mount Pleasant in Dorset (National Heritage List for England number 1002463). Most of these mounds lie on or close to water and the mound at Droughdool is similarly located in close proximity to water. During the third millennium BC it was located on the edge of an estuary. At high tides the area between the Droughdool mound and the Dunragit enclosure would have been filled with water, with the mound appearing to stand on a small island when viewed from the enclosure.
Round cairns of Bronze Age date are found throughout Scotland and there are more than 300 burial cairns in southwest Scotland. Droughdool cairn has been compared to the cairn at Mid Gleniron A (SM1944; Canmore ID 61594), which is located around 5.5km northeast. When excavated, Mid Gleniron A was found to be composed of large boulders with a capping of small stones. A cremation was uncovered in the centre and the monument dated to the Early Bronze Age. Further burials of Early Bronze Age date, one of which had been covered by a cairn, were uncovered during excavation at East Challoch and Boreland Cottage around 2km northeast of Droughdool. Most surviving cairns of Early Bronze Age date are located on marginal or high ground. The cairn at Droughdool is unusual as it was built on top of an existing artificial mound.
Follies of 18th or 19th century date are also found throughout Scotland, but the location of this folly adds to the interest of the monument and reflects the later use and prominence of the mound.
The monument, therefore, has the potential to enhance our understanding of ceremony and belief during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The ritual mound can tell us about Late Neolithic ceremonial and ritual practice, the role of large mounds and monument complexes within Neolithic society, as well as the placement of monuments within the landscape. As a prominent mound, it would have been an important component of the wider prehistoric landscape of settlement, agriculture and ritual. It has the potential to enhance our understanding of important, and long distance, connections between regions during the Late Neolithic. Study of the monument in relation to similar monuments identified elsewhere can enhance our understanding of Late Neolithic monumentality and the role of mound building during the Late Neolithic.
The round cairn has the potential to enhance our understanding of the development of Bronze Age monumentality and burial, the nature of belief systems, ceremony and ritual, as well as the place of such monuments in contemporary society. It has the potential to enhance our understanding of the continuing importance of place and the siting of burial monuments in the landscape. The folly has the potential to tell us about the continued prominence of the ritual mound within the contemporary landscape and its importance as a distinctive landscape feature.
Associative characteristics (how a site or place relates to people, events, and/or historic and social movements)
There are no known associative characteristics that contribute to this monument's national importance.