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

  SM6057_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600011949)

Summary

Description

The monument is the remains of enclosed and unenclosed settlements dating to between 1800 BC and AD 400. It also includes pits and a probable barrow potentially of earlier date. The settlements and other features lie buried beneath the ploughsoil and are visible as cropmarks captured on oblique aerial photographs. The monument lies at about 25m above OD on relatively flat, slightly elevated farmland S of the Lunan Water.

Towards the E of the site is a palisaded enclosure with two overlapping construction phases, both sub-circular and each enclosing an area about 40m in diameter. Within this two-phase enclosure lie several intersecting dark marks representing the remains of houses and yards. An annex or further phase of enclosure lies to the N. Beyond are numerous unenclosed roundhouses, many with sunken ring ditches or floors. Some of these sunken features are surrounded by ring grooves, interpreted either as wall trenches or the footings of palisades tightly enclosing the houses. Other curvilinear marks represent either roundhouses or souterrains. To the W of the area, a circular ditched feature with no entrance is probably a funerary barrow rather than a house, and a scatter of pits aligned N-S and extending for about 100m suggests possible earlier prehistoric activity.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of a post-and-wire fence that crosses the area from NNW to SSE to allow for its maintenance. At the E end of the S side, the scheduled area extends up to but excludes a post-and-wire fence aligned ENE-WSW. The monument was first scheduled in 1994, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as one of the most complex and extensive areas of prehistoric settlement evidence in eastern lowland Scotland, with high potential to make a significant addition to knowledge and understanding of prehistoric rural settlement and economy in Scotland. The number, extent and variety of the features preserved here is rare and the dark crescent- and disc-shaped marks indicate the presence of deep and relatively robust remains with the potential to retain excellent structural characteristics and assemblages of artefacts and ecofacts. The monument offers high potential to compare settlement form and character over a long time period and its importance is enhanced by its association with the wider archaeological landscape of unenclosed settlements and enclosures in the lower Lunan Valley. Our understanding of the distribution and character of later prehistoric settlements would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

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.