EHG534 - Excavation - kerb cairn, Stoneyfield, Raigmore

A rescue excavation was undertaken under the direction of D D A Simpson on behalf of the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (Scotland) in 1972-3 of a kerbed cairn at Stoneyfield, Inverness, in advance of a major road scheme. The results suggested that this multi-period monument could be divided broadly into three major phases of construction. In Phase 1 a series of pits were dug in the early third millennium BC, one containing Grooved Ware and a second a cup-marked stone. In Phase 2 further pits were dug, again some with Grooved Ware. Two of these antedated a central rectangular post setting, thought to be a timber building, 9.5m long with a central stone hearth, but the recovery of sherds, similar to those from the pits, suggest the structure belonged to the same general period. To this phase also belonged the construction of a massive kerb of graded stones, the tallest to the south-west enclosing a platform cairn in the Clava tradition. Finally, Phase 3 involved the construction of a series of cists, one with a Food Vessel, and the digging of a pit through the platform cairn containing a cremation beneath an inverted Cordoned Urn. There was also evidence of Iron Age and early medieval activity on the site in the form of a 2nd century Roman brooch, and a sherd of coarse ware. <1>