Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Cat Stane

Long Cist Cemetery (Early Medieval)

Site Name Cat Stane

Classification Long Cist Cemetery (Early Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Carlowie; Carlowrie; Catstane; Edinburgh Airport; Edinburgh Airport

Canmore ID 50730

Site Number NT17SW 2

NGR NT 1492 7432

NGR Description Centred NT 1492 7432

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

C14 Radiocarbon Dating

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/50730

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 Edinburgh, City Of
  • Parish Kirkliston (City Of Edinburgh/midlothian)
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District City Of Edinburgh
  • Former County Midlothian

Archaeology Notes

NT17SW 2 centred 1492 7432

(NT 1492 7432) Long Cists found AD 1864 (NAT)

OS 1:10000 map (1974).

See also NT17SW 1 (Cat Stane).

Prior to Hutchison's excavation in 1864, the Cat Stane (NT17SW 1) stood at the NW corner of a slope or knoll of earth, dry, sandy, and free of stones, different from the clay soil of the rest of the field. His excavation revealed 51 cists, oriented E-W.

Their average depth was 15" below the surface, with about 1' of space between the cists in each row. The cists, with the exception of the "short cist", were paved with flat stones, and filled with sand and earth, in which human bones, usually much decayed, were present. The extended skeletons had their heads to the W. Four crania (W Turner 1917) one of which is in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS - presumably Accession no: ET 34, noted in the Catalogue as from Kirkliston) were removed for examination by Sir W Turner.

The "short cist", unpaved, was not built of slabs, but of ordinary stones, like those used for packing round the slabs of the long cists as supports. No trace of bones was found, only the charred appearance of there having been a fire in it. No artifacts were found.

This cemetery was probably enclosed, as fragments of a stone wall were found along the N and NE sides of the area occupied by the cists. This long cist cemetery is datable to the early 6th century (C Thomas 1968;

A S Henshall 1958).

R Hutchison 1868; NMAS 1892; C Thomas 1971

The Cat Stane, together with the area to its SE, where the cists were found, although falling within the extension to Edinburgh Airport, has been fenced off for preservation.

Visited by OS (BS), 12 August 1974.

A rescue excavation was carried out by the DoE at this site in 1974.

CBA 1975.

Hutchison's plan is purely schematic as regards distance and scale. He also fails to give measurements of the spaces between the rows of graves, and does not give sufficient measurements to place the cemetery exactly in relation to the Catstane; all that is certain is that the third grave in his fourth row is about 20 yds from the Catstane. Thomas's plan is also misleading as to scale; his third grave in the fourth row is shown as being some 21ft from the Catstane instead of 20 yds. It is clear that Hutchison's plan and those based uncritically on it are to be treated with caution.

F M Ashmore in A Rutherford and [J N] G Ritchie 1976 (pp. 187-8).

The 1974 excavations uncovered a cist 17.45m E of the Catstane. It was formed of vertical freestone slabs set into the ground and with capstones formed of the same material. Due to the circumstances of the excavation it was not possible to open it but it appeared to be indisturbed and the capstones to be in situ (A Rutherford and G Ritchie 1975).

A series of trenches were dug to the E and SE of the Catstane in 1977. Parts of four rows of long cists constructed of shale and sandstone slabs were located; a number of cists showed obvious signs of disturbance in keeping with earlier excavation on the site but others appeared to be undisturbed. Apart from one or two of the shale-lined cists, however, bone preservation was extremely poor.

T Cowie 1977.

Scheduled (with NT17SW 1) as 'Catstane, inscribed stone and long cist cemetery 690m E of Carlowrie...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 22 July 2011.

Activities

Excavation (1974 - 1977)

The 1974 excavations uncovered a cist 17.45m E of the Catstane.

T Cowie 1977.

References

MyCanmore Image Contributions


Contribute an Image

MyCanmore Text Contributions