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MHG63066 - Hut circle - Aultcraggie 'C'

Summary

One of four hut circles at Aultcraggie.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

One of four hut circles at Aultcraggie. First recorded by the OS as hut circle 'C'.

Enclosures (NR) OS 6" map, (1964)

A settlement of four huts ('A'-'D') situated within a well-preserved associated field system discovered during field investigation and surveyed at 1:2500 in 1961.
All huts are obscured by peat growth with their entrance in the E or SE arc. Measurements in each case are between wall centres.
'A' is 9.0m in diameter, 'B' and 'C' are 13.0m in diameter and 'D' is oval, 10.0m E-W by 8.0m N-S.
The cultivation plots of the field system are delineated mainly by stone clearance heaps with occasional field walks and lynchets.
Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (E G C) 17 July 1961 and (J B) 4 December 1975.

The hut circle is clearly visible in Environment Agency LiDAR data from 2012. <1>

This hut circle (referred to as HC2 - see MHG63065 for HC1) was one of two investigated as part of a community project in 2023 by the Clyne Heritage Society and directed by GUARD Archaeology. Following an initial strip of upper vegetation and turf using a tracked excavator equipped with a smooth-edged bucket under archaeological supervision, all excavation was by hand and undertaken by volunteers under the constant supervision of the GUARD Archaeologist at all times.

The two hut circles investigated at Aultcraggie were very similar in plan and both contained evidence of flint knapping and the use of quartzite for tool production, and the walls appeared to have been built in a similar way with the walls widening towards the terminals creating a long entrance passage. Although both structures enclosed a similar space internally (HC1 94 m² and HC2 95 m²), the variation in construction and use between the two buildings was notable. HC2 may have had a second floor laid down with the thin trample layer sealed below it which may have accumulated during the building’s construction. There was scant evidence of post-holes and no sign of a hearth. The building’s north end had been built onto part of a natural slope which may have negated the need to build a substantial and taller wall, but it did reduce the useable internal space of the structure. This method of construction is highly unusual compared to the more traditional practice of terracing into the slope and using the quarried material to form a level platform onto which the hut circle is built.

As with HC1, HC2 may also have seen domestic use, although built in a different style. Despite the lack of the presence of a hearth in HC2, which if built from stone may have been removed, no pottery fragments were recovered from HC2, but there was evidence of lithic knapping taking place inside the building. Lithic debitage was found in both buildings including flakes of a honey-coloured flint which may have been sourced locally from the beach in pebble form. Alternatively, the flint may have derived from anthropogenic exploitation of the Buchan ridge gravels that produce cobbles of a honey-coloured flint; the Buchan ridge is located to the south-west of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. A single flint artefact SF HC2018, a possible burin or point, was recovered from HC2. The presence of honey coloured flint flakes in both buildings would indicate a possible contemporaneity between the two buildings but does not guarantee it. If sufficient charcoal has been recovered within soil samples taken from HC2 and HC1, radiocarbon dating would provide a more reliable method of testing whether the two buildings were contemporary. <1>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 8774 0537 (27m by 28m)
Map sheet	NC80NE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	CLYNE

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