Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire

Abstract

NO 627673. A long barrow built of turf and gravel was revetted laterally by stone walling and flanked by small ditches; an unbroken crescentic drystone façade was found at the E end, and a mortuary structure lay eccentric to the façade and to the axis of the barrow. The primary timber phase of the mortuary structure probably antedated the barrow, but its Phase II remodelling in timber and stone was certainly an integral part of the barrow design. Phase II was associated with a cup-marked stone (the earliest on record), a plano-convex flint knife and 14C dates in the earlier half of the 3rd millennium bc. The construction of the barrow was under way throughout the life-span of the Phase II mortuary structure until the latter was covered over and an elaborate stone setting, Phase III, was built over it. Secondary burials included a short cist with cremation and beaker. A R