Monument record MHG54308 - Cremation urn burial, Ness Gap, Fortrose

During archaeological investigations in October 2010 a patch containing small shards of pottery and fragments of burnt bone was discovered. Upon further investigation this proved to be a badly truncated cremation urn burial. The urn itself had a diameter of 0.2m and due to disturbance from past ploughing activity, the inverted base and most of the body of the urn had been destroyed, but a possible third remained in situ. It contained cremation material which was left contained within the urn when excavated. The urn was block lifted and is being stored under stable environmental conditions pending full post-excavation analysis.
After the urn was lifted, a collection of loose, varied size stones were uncovered on which the urn appeared to have deliberately been placed. An indistinct cut for the cremation urn was visible but this only appeared as a slight difference in the colour of the sand deposit around the cremation urn edges. Since the boundary between the fill and the subsoil was very indistinct, a cut for the cremation to be placed in could not be convincingly recorded. This is probably due to the surrounding sand fill representing subsoil dug out and almost immediately redeposited when the urn was buried. Samples of contexts associated with this urned cremation produced, as might be expected, abundant fragments of burnt bone and some charcoal as well as fragments of prehistoric pottery. <1>

Only the upper third of the vessel is present, the rest having been truncated at some point in antiquity, most likely by ploughing. It appears to have a single cordon and has been provisionally identified as a collared urn dating to the early Bronze Age, between c.1900-1500 BC. A flint flake discovered 0.5m from the cordoned urn may have been ploughed out from the cremation. <2>

<1> Marshall, N C et al, 02/2011, Ness Gap, Fortrose: Results of an Archaeological Evaluation (Areas B-G) (Text/Report/Fieldwork Report). SHG25197.

<2> Lochrie, J, 02/2011, '4. Finds Assessment' in Ness Gap, Fortrose: Results of an Archaeological Evaluation (Areas B-G) (Text/Report). SHG25198.