A cremation pit at Howford, Strichen, Aberdeenshire

Abstract

A small emergency excavation was undertaken under extreme conditions in 1984 after receiving a report that a Bronze Age urn was visible in an eroded embankment after a heavy frost. Cremated remains of a female adult and infant, 11 burnt flints, a possible fragment of ivory and five pierced clay ornaments were subsequently recovered from the remains of a cremation pit, but no urn was recorded. A radiocarbon determination 3510 ± 30 BP (SUERC-33727) was obtained from birchwood charcoal within the pit and a date from oak charcoal of 3600 ± 30 BP (SUERC-33728). Unfortunately, a few of these artefacts have been mislaid since deposition in a museum so were unavailable for analysis. The same site produced two other cremation pits, one in 1970 and another later in 1986, which produced a date of 3460 ± 35 BP (GrA-28622), suggesting a larger cemetery exists.