Monument record MHG8342 - Possible Neolithic Cremation, Kilcoy

NH55SE 21 5831 5194

Monitoring of the Inverness-Dingwall gas pipeline revealed a bowl-shaped pit 1.2m in diameter by 250mm deep containing calcined bone, coarseware pottery, charcoal and a leaf-shaped arrowhead.
J Wordsworth, 1992. <1>

A series of pits were observed at this location, along the route of the Inverness to Dingwall pipeline. One contained charcoal, prehistoric pottery and a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead.

The finds material shows these to be probably neolithic in date, perhaps contemporary with the better known cairns to the E. The function of the pits is uncertain, but the secondary fills and the stones within pit 25 show they were dug with some care rather than being stone clearance holes. It is possible to argue the finds were deliberately deposited, as flint arrowheads are unlikely to be discarded. However the pottery was non‐descript and not very large fragments, more typical of domestic debris.

The dating of the pottery given in the site gazetteer, but on the context description it is noted as Bronze Age; therefore the date of this record must remain tentative. <2>