SC3111: Dunnicaer |
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HER: Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record NO88SE0001
NMR: NO 88 SE 2 (37001)
SM: ✗
NGR: NO 8821 8464
X: 388210 Y: 784640 (EPSG:27700)
Boundary: ✗
Dinnicaer is a rock stack detached from the cliffs in the bay N of the large headland known as Bowduns. Very difficult of access, there is little to see in the deep tussocky grass clothing the summit, which measures about 55m in overall length and expands from a narrow spine at the SW end to a maximum breadth of 16m at the NE end (0.03ha). Nevertheless, five Pictish symbol stones now at Banchory House (NJ 91561 02468) were found here, one in 1819 and four in 1832, the latter in 'a wall' on the summit and thrown down into the sea (Thomson 1860; Stuart 1856, 14, pl xll; 1867, 9, pl xv). While a few stones were visible around the margins of the stack when scaled by an RCAHMS investigator in 1982, there was no trace of a wall, but in April 2015 excavations directed by Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen uncovered the remains of a timber-framed rampart at least 2m in thickness on the NW and SE margins; a hearth was also found (Noble 2015).
| Citizen Science: | ✗ |
| Reliability of Data: | Confirmed |
| Reliability of Interpretation: | Confirmed: | Falls well below the 0.2ha threshold, but demonstrated to be a fortified coastal stack, perhaps at one time linked to the mainland |
X: -244396 Y: 7750502 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.195443 Latitude: 56.952922 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Aberdeenshire
Historic County: Kincardineshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dunnottar
| Extant: | ✓ |
| Cropmark: | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed: | ✗ |
| Woodland: | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation: | ✗ |
| Parkland: | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing): | ✗ |
| Arable: | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken: | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland: | ✗ |
| Heath: | ✗ |
| Built-up: | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland: | ✓ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort: | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort: | ✓ |
| Hillslope Fort: | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort: | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort: | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort: | ✗ |
| Hilltop: | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory: | ✓ |
| Inland Promontory: | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom: | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop: | ✗ |
| Ridge: | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp: | ✗ |
| Hillslope: | ✗ |
| Lowland: | ✗ |
| Spur: | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: ✗
| North: | ✗ |
| Northeast: | ✗ |
| East: | ✗ |
| Southeast: | ✗ |
| South: | ✗ |
| Southwest: | ✗ |
| West: | ✗ |
| Northwest: | ✗ |
| Level: | ✓ |
Altitude: 10.0m
| Boundary Type: | ✗ |
Second HER: ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority: ✗
Second Historic County: ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: ✗
The incorporation of stones bearing Pictish symbols into the wall suggests that this small fortification is early medieval. Unpublished radiocarbon dates in the 3rd-4th centuries AD (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/geosciences/departments/archaeology/the-northern-picts-project-259.php)
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC: | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50: | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400: | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800: | ✓ |
| Post AD800: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Post Hillfort Activity: | ✗ |
| Artefactual: | Five Pictish symbol stones found |
| Other (1819): | Pictish symbol stone found (Thomson 1859) |
| Other (1832): | Four Pictish Symbol stones found in a wall (Thomson 1859) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1865): | Sculptured stones noted on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Kincardine 1868, sheet 17.8) |
| Other (1965): | Inaccessible to OS visit |
| Other (1977): | Scaled by Ian Ralston (1977) |
| Other (1982): | Scaled by S Halliday for RCAHMS description |
| Excavation (2015): | Directed by Gordon Noble (2015) |
Hearth discovered by excavation
| None: | ✓ |
| Spring: | ✗ |
| Stream: | ✗ |
| Pool: | ✗ |
| Flush: | ✗ |
| Well: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| No Known Features: | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures: | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms: | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
Hearth
| No Known Excavation: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✓ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Geophysics: | ✓ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Nothing Found: | ✗ |
| No Known Finds: | ✓ |
| Pottery: | ✗ |
| Metal: | ✗ |
| Metalworking: | ✗ |
| Human Bones: | ✗ |
| Animal Bones: | ✗ |
| Lithics: | ✗ |
| Environmental: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked: | ✗ |
| None: | ✓ |
| Roundhouses: | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures: | ✗ |
| Pits: | ✗ |
| Postholes: | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
None known
| Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts: | 0 |
| Number of Possible Original Entrances: | 0: | None known |
Guard Chambers: ✗
| Chevaux de Frise: | ✗ |
Wall located on the margins of the stack
| Enclosed Area 1: | 0.03ha. |
| Enclosed Area 2: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 3: | ✗ |
| Enclosed Area 4: | ✗ |
| Total Enclosed Area: | 0.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area: ✗
| Multi-period Enclosure System: | ✗ |
| Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant: | ✗ |
| Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate: | ✓ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Unknown: | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate: | ✗ |
| Univallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Bivallate: | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate: | ✗ |
| Multivallate: | ✗ |
| None: | ✓ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✗ |
| Rubble: | ✗ |
| Wall-walk: | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| None: | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank: | ✗ |
| Stone Wall: | ✓ |
| Murus Duplex: | ✗ |
| Timber-framed: | ✓ |
| Timber-laced: | ✗ |
| Vitrification: | ✗ |
| Other Burning: | ✗ |
| Palisade: | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank: | ✗ |
| Berm: | ✗ |
| Unfinished: | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation: | ✗ |
| Other: | ✗ |
| Gang Working: | ✗ |
Ditches: ✗
| Number of Ditches: |
| Annex: | ✗ |
Anon. 2015. Earliest Pictish fort found at Dunnicaer. Current Archaeol, 307, 6.
Noble, G (2015) NORTHERN PICTS: DUNNICAER SEA STACK EVALUATION 2015: DATA STRUCTURE REPORT. Aberdeen
Ralston, I B M (1977) 'Dunnottar: Dunnicaer'. Disc Exc Scot (1977), 19
Stuart, J (1856) Sculptured stones of Scotland. Aberdeen
Stuart, J. (1867) Sculptured Stones of Scotland: vol 2. Edinburgh
Thomson, A (1859) 'Notice of Sculptured Stones found at 'Dinnacair', near Stonehaven'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 3 (1857-59), 69-75
Atlas of Hillforts: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C3111
Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31084403
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.