| THE GRAMPIAN REGION of Northeast Scotland has over 5000 places of prehistoric interest, ranging |
| from earliest longcairns (e.g. Blue Cairn of Balnagowan NJ 490 005, 4th Millennium BC), where Neolithic |
| people buried and worshipped their ancestors communally, to Pictish symbol stones carved in the early- |
| Historic period (formerly called 'Dark Age', e.g. Picardy Stone Insch NJ 609 302, AD5th/6th CC), |
| proclaiming the power of individual families and territorial riches; to Christian cross slabs and decorated |
| ecclesiastic monuments (AD9-11thCC). |
|
| AROUND 5000 years ago the first farmers took time off from worship of ancestors and tending field and |
| flock to build the first 'recumbent' stone circles in central Aberdeenshire, which were to serve as annual |
| calendars keyed to the movement of heavens and seasons, as ritual places of worship, and to celebrate |
| nature's seasonal changes with fire festivals at times of watching the sun & moon rise and set. |
|
| EARLIEST recumbent stones were placed horizontally in circles along Donside to form a windowsill flanked |
| by huge uprights staring at the southwestern horizon. From the recumbent, by contrast, the northern sky can |
| also be viewed from an amphitheatre of up to 12 stones, and some of the most spectacular circles like Easter |
| Aquhorthies, (Inverurie NJ 732 207 early 3rd Millennium BC) have a near-360° vista. This recumbent feature |
| served the stone circle tradition throughout Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and parts of Moray for |
| at least 3000 years, progressing through that time period to form the six-stone circles of Banffshire, four-stone |
| settings in parts of Kincardinshire and Moray, and eventually a simpler form of the template or one which |
| abandoned use of the recumbent stone altogether, as in stone circles of Perthshire, Inverness-shire, Badenoch |
| & Strathspey. Many early recumbent circles are decorated with cupmarks. |
|
| FORTUNATELY up to 600 sites in greater or lesser degree of preservation still exist in Northeast Scotland |
| today, in spite of farming improvement, disapproval of the 17th-18thCC Reformed Church and effects of |
| time and weather. |
|
| IN THE BRONZE Age (early 2nd to 1st Millennia BC) the introduction of metalworking and its apparently |
| magical qualities changed society radically. Monuments dating from this period show the influence of the N |
| European 'Beaker' culture with its use of precious metals and pots exquisitely decorated with flamboyant, |
| individual style. While the older Neolithic monuments appear to remain important as ancestral places of |
| reverence, a simpler banked enclosure, sometimes called a 'henge' (with single or double entrances) appears |
| as a ritual centre in the Bronze period. |
|
| INVARIABLY burials are associated with these enclosures and in many cases, paved ritual avenues led to |
| the site. The Druidsfield, Broomend of Crichie, Port Elphinstone NJ 779 196 had until the end of the AD |
| 19thC such a magnificent ritual avenue of 72 stones leading to its bank-ditched enclosure and to a tripe-ring |
| circle of stone, but all but three avenue stones and a skeletal stone setting within the Druidsfield enclosure |
| have been destroyed in successive development of rail, road, industry and, more recently, gravel extraction |
| and a business park. |
|
| OTHER destroyed paved routeways led to burial grounds from smaller ritual circles in the Howe of Alford |
| on Don at (another) Druidsfield, and at Crookmore and, in Clatt, at Hillhead on the Gartnach. |
|
| BRONZE AGE activity continued to be associated with the earlier Neolithic circles, and some, like the |
| Buchan circle of Berrybrae NK 027 571, had fine ritual deposits with a Beaker cultural connection. That |
| circle may itself have been a Beaker restructuring, as its alignment is clearly aimed at the Beltane full moon, |
| rather than the earlier Neolithic focus on solsticial and equinoctial sightings. |
|
| A FURTHER Bronze Age modification to many stone circles and recumbent monuments added a cairn- |
| building ritual to the structure in a frenzy of burnings and cremations; in Kincardineshire particularly, whole |
| ring cairns of substantial stones were tacked on to the recumbent, as at Raes of Clune NO 794 949. |
| The White Lady of Tillyfoure, near Alford NJ 643 135, is nearly submerged by its cairn. Other circle stones |
| are decorated by cup-and-ring carvings, thought to identify cycles of rising & setting sun- and moon-lines |
|
| FIRE FESTIVALS as seasonal signposts ensured ancient ritual circles survived well into the Christian era, |
| inspiring generations of Iron Age devotees, builders of great hilltop ramparted enclosures ('hillforts', e.g. Tap |
| o' North, Rhynie NJ 484 293). Early-Historic Picts carved their beautiful symbols on material used in circle- |
| building or on stones nearby. |
|
| THE PICTS embraced the ancient religious rites and adapted their own fire festivals, like the tradition of |
| burning the clavie (a human-sized torch) on the night of 'Aul' 'Eel' (old Yule, midwinter) on January 11th at |
| Burghead, Moray every year, confounding all attempts to suppress it. Many of the northern and eastern |
| ports held their own clavie burning, where the populace carried burning brands around the town and down |
| to the boats to mark the turning of the year from dark to light, and this festival can claim its roots in prehistory. |
| Sadly in Northeast Scotland all other fire festivals save Burghead clavie & swinging fireballs at Hogmanay in |
| Stonehaven have died out. |
|
| to read more about the Picts, please click here |
|
