Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Aithernie

Cairn (Period Unassigned), Cist (Period Unassigned), Cinerary Urn(S)

Site Name Aithernie

Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned), Cist (Period Unassigned), Cinerary Urn(S)

Canmore ID 31344

Site Number NO30SE 3

NGR NO 3769 0339

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/31344

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

Toggle Aerial | View on large map

Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Fife
  • Parish Scoonie (Kirkcaldy)
  • Former Region Fife
  • Former District Kirkcaldy
  • Former County Fife

Archaeology Notes

NO30SE 3 3769 0339.

(NO 3769 0339) Tumulus (Site of)

OS 6" map (1920)

A tumulus, in the corner of a field upon the estate of Aithernie and situated upon the apex of a conical hill, was opened c.1821 when digging for sand. The base of the tumulus was about 40 yds square and laid with a coating of clay. It contained about twenty stone cists cemented with clay puddle. Above the cists was a cairn of small stones about 3ft deep, and over this a mixture of hardened clay and sand. Two cists contained urns about 6ins high which held "a blackish substance" covered with oak bark. Five inverted urns, 24ins high and 14ins diameter, were found, filled with calcined bones. In one coffin, smaller than the rest, were found a quantity of beads made of charred wood, about half an inch long. Although all the cists contained human bones...a much greater quantity were scattered around the cemetery and were protected only by the dry stones which formed the cairn.

NSA 1845 (G Brewster)

No trace of this feature is now visible.

Visited by OS (RDL) 18 October 1962

Activities

Field Visit (18 August 1925)

Tumulus, near Aithernie Den.

There is no existing indication of a tumulus at this site, which lies at an elevation of 250 feet above sea level, at a distance of nearly 500 yards almost due east of Balgrummo farm-house and at the north-east extremity of a small wooded area abutting on the roadway. It is recorded in the New Stat. Acct. (1) that the mound was opened about the year 1821 to obtain moulding-sand for a foundry in the neighbourhood, and that it was found to contain about twenty stone coffins. The description is as follows: "The base of this tumulus was about 40 yards square, and laid with a coating of clay; and the cistvaens or coffins were constructed of rude slabs, placed on edge with a covering stone, and cemented with clay puddle. Above the coffins was a cairn of small stones, about three feet in depth, and over this was spread a composition of clay and sand, so hard that it required the aid of a pick-axe to penetrate it. In two of the coffins, near the end, was placed a small urn made of clay and rudely ornamented, and about six inches in diameter and the same in depth. These urns contained a blackish substance, which was covered with oak-bark; but the bark immediately mouldered down, upon being exposed to the atmosphere. Five of the coffins contained each a larger urn of similar materials, about 14 inches in diameter and 24 in depth. These were placed with their mouths inverted upon a square stone, and were filled with calcined bones. In one coffin, smaller than the rest, were found a quantity of beads made of charred wood, and about half an inch in length. All the coffins, except the five which held the larger urns, contained human bones; but a much greater quantity of these relics of mortality were scattered about the cemetery, and were protected only by the dry stones which formed the cairn”.

RCAHMS 1933, visited 18 August 1925.

(1) ix, p. 268.

References

MyCanmore Image Contributions


Contribute an Image

MyCanmore Text Contributions