Aikey Brae
Aikey Brae is a recumbent stone circle on Parkhouse Hill near Old Deer in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire. It is believed to date from the late Bronze Age, at the end of the period in which this type of stone circle had started appearing.
This form of circle has a single, massive stone lying flat, flanked by uprights: at Aikey Brae the recumbent stone is about 21 tons and there are five stones still erected in total.
The site has been excavated most recently by Chris Ball and Richard Bradley. It is a scheduled ancient monument.
- Location map: 57°30’50"N, 2°4’13"W
Type
The circle at Aikey Brae is a type known as a 'recumbent stone circle', a type constructed in the early Bronze Age. The identifying feature of these is that the largest stone, the recumbent, is laid horizontally, with its long axis generally aligned with the perimeter of the ring between the south and southwest.[1][2] A flanker stone stands each side of the recumbent and these are typically the tallest stones in the circle, with the smallest standing on the north-eastern aspect. In a typical recumbent type, the rest of the circle is composed of between six and ten orthostats graded by size.[1] Over seventy of these circles are found in lowland Aberdeenshire. The most similar monuments are the axial stone circles of southwest Ireland. Recumbent stone circles generally enclosed a low ring cairn, though over the millennia these have often disappeared.[2] They may have been a development from the Clava cairns found nearby in Inverness-shire and axial stone circles may have followed the design.[2][3] Whilst cremated remains have been found at some sites, the precise function of these circles is not known.[4]
Description
The stone circle at Aikey Brae has five stones still standing (including the recumbent) and five that are fallen. It is found on the summit of Parkhouse Hill, near to Old Deer and so is also known as Parkhouse Hill stone circle.[5] The recumbent stone is one of the largest in Aberdeenshire, weighing about 21 tons.[6]
The circle is between 50 feet and 54 feet wide and surrounded by a ring bank.[2] The trees adjacent to the site were felled in October and November 2019.[7]
Investigation and protection
Aikey Brae became a scheduled ancient monument in 1925.[5]
In the 1980s, Clive Ruggles and Aubrey Burl both assessed the site in terms of archaeo-astronomy. Excavations were carried out by Chris Ball and Richard Bradley in 2001. They found the kerbstones in the ring bank were alternately red and white. Radiocarbon dating suggested the circle was from the Late Bronze Age.[2] Artefacts found included 43 items of worked stone, quartz flakes and flint scrapers. Ball and Bradley found that Aikey Brae resembled other Buchan circles and was not slowly built over time like the Tomnaverie stone circle.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Welfare, Adam (2018). "Recumbent stone circles". The old stones: A field guide to the megalithic sites of Britain and Ireland. London. pp. 314–315. ISBN 9781786781543.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Welfare, Adam (2011). Great crowns of stone: The recumbent stone circles of Scotland. Edinburgh: RCAHMS. pp. 1, 31, 33–37, 236, 252-255, 275–8. ISBN 9781902419558.
- ↑ Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany. Yale University Press. pp. 41, 256. ISBN 0-300-08347-5. https://archive.org/details/stonecirclesofbr0000burl.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bradley, Richard; Phillips, Tim; Arrowsmith, Sharon; Ball, Chris (2005). The Moon and the Bonfire: an investigation of three stone circles in north-east Scotland. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. p. 105. ISBN 0903903334. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1147153&recordType=MonographSeriesChapter. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Parkhouse Hill stone circle (Aikey Brae) - scheduled monument detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ "Stone me – how did they do it?". Press and Journal. 7 January 2016. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/797783/stone-me-how-did-they-do-it/.
- ↑ Kuc, Morag (17 October 2019). "Aikey Brae stone circle to close temporarily for forestry works" (in en). Buchan Observer. https://www.buchanobserver.co.uk/news/people/aikey-brae-stone-circle-close-temporarily-forestry-works-2025699.