Loanhead of Daviot Recumbent Stone Circle | Neolithic | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | Before Caledonia

'Before Caledonia' A Journey Through 'Scotland's Ancient Sites'.
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Loanhead of Daviot Recumbent Stone Circle | Daviot | Aberdeenshire | Scotland

About five miles north of Inverurie is Loanhead of Daviot recumbent stone circle, like Easter Aquhorthies this is another must visit site in Aberdeenshire and one of the best known.

Our neolithic ancestors constructed this beautiful ring in three thousand BC. Loanhead of Daviot is a complex site with activity spanning a long period from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. It is likely fertility rituals, funeral ceremonies and astronomical observations took place here. The stone circle encloses a ring cairn and just a few paces from the circle is a cremation cemetery.

The standing stones are made of local granite and are evenly spaced out over a diameter of 20m. The ring has eleven stones, five of these were re-erected after excavation in 1934.

From the east flanker to the north-east arc, the stones may be female as they are diamond or triangular shaped. Three of these stones are cup marked and increase in size from north to south. The four stones from the opposite west flanker may be male stones.

An outlier stone can be found just outside the ring, this may be the second half of the short dumpy stone in the north-west section.

Mither Tap would likely have been visible from the circle but trees now surround most of the ring with only the northern arc horizon now visible, a good eye will make out ‘Newcraig’ another recumbent site, half a mile away.

Taking up most of the inside of the circle is a sixteen and a half meter diameter ring cairn with a prominent kerb. The cairn has been reconstructed. The open central court has a diameter of 3.65m.

The ring cairn was built over a layer of burnt material, four shallow holes were found in the central space, this may have been a small timber rectangular mortuary house, a hearth has also been found in the cairn.

The recumbent megalith is orientated south-south-west, it is 2m high by 3.5m long and weighs in at twelve tonnes. The stone is split in two length wise on a natural plane of weakness, the cause of this was supposedly frost.

The top of the recumbent has an even summit and rises gently at the west towards the male flanker. The neolithic people may have had the winter solstice sunset or midsummer moon in mind with the south-south-west orientation.

The west flanker at just over 2m high resembles a male stone just like at Easter Aquhorthies. There seems to be male and female symbolism with some of the stones, fertility may also have been important to the neolithic people. The east flanker is the same height as the recumbent however the top looks damaged and this stone is also cup-marked.

Excavation revealed that each standing stone stood in a small cairn, over a pit containing charcoal and pottery fragments and in some cases evidence of burial.

Workmen who cleaned out the circle around 1863 found a cup sized stone ladel. An excavation in 1934 found a large pit cairn in the centre and uncovered a clay sword mould which was likely bronze age, pottery from the iron age, flint scrapers, beaker and burials.

Robert Shepherd was the first person to have recorded Loanhead of Daviot in 1793. Professor Alexander Thom who discovered the ‘Megalithic Yard’ measured the ring and found a true circle.

Aubrey Burl stated ‘Just to the west of south at one hundred and ninety six degrees, where the full midsummer moon would have begun to sink in the night sky, passing behind the silhouetted flankers before disappearing in the southern mountains’.

Five meters from the stone circle is a cremation cemetery. This was excavated in the 1930s. Over thirty human cremated remains were found, eight of these being children between the ages of three and six. The remains were contained among thirteen pits and twelve urns from around two thousand BC.

Two urns containing cremated bone were closed up with animal skin or wood and placed in a shallow pit upside down. At the centre of the cairn was a male burial who was part cremated and seemed to be holding a pendant.

The cremation cemetery was likely in use after the circle around 3500 years ago and is similar to cremation cemeteries in south Scotland. 2500 years ago the area was used for metal working.

Loanhead of Daviot is located near the village of Daviot and just off the A920 road, the site is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland with public access and signposted with a carpark.
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