LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO55NW0032 (None)
NMR: NO 55 NW 32 (34813)
SM: 139
NGR: NO 5069 5566
X: 350697 Y: 755666 (OSGB36)
This fort is situated on a local summits that stands forward from of the ridge that makes up the Hill of Finavon and thus occupying a vantage point with a commanding outlook NE, NW and SW across Strathmore. The fort itself is notable for the massive vitrification of its walls, which first led Gordon Childe to excavate here in 1933-35 (1935; 1936), followed 30 years later in 1966 by Euan MacKie (1966; 1967), the latter to recover charcoal samples for some of the first radiocarbon dates returned form a Scottish fort (MacKie 1969). The vitrified wall, which has been reduced to a bank of heavily-quarried rubble up to 15m thick by 4m high, forms an elongated lozenge-shape enclosure, measuring about 135m from ENE to WSW by little more than 25m transversely (0.35ha). The mouth of a dug well can be seen within the ENE end of the interior, while at the WSW end the walls span the head of a deep natural gully that may well have provided another source of water; what may be the entrance also utilises the topography of this gully on the SSE, though this is the line taken by a later trackway cutting across the fort. The arrangement of the defences at the WSW end of the fort, however, is probably the result of a secondary reconstruction, and what has otherwise been described by some writers as an outer bailey on the SE quarter (Cotton 1954, 66) is the remains of an earlier circuit. At the ENE end, this circuit appears to form an outer rampart separated from the vitrified wall by a broad ditch, but it too has been heavily quarried, both in antiquity and more recently, and no more than a low band of rubble can be traced along the lip of the summit above the cliffs along the SSE flank of the hill. If this interpretation of the remains is correct, the original fort was oval on plan, measuring about 95m from ENE to WSW by as much as 50m transversely (0.45ha). Childe found evidence of occupation in the interior, finds including a large assemblage of coarse pottery, a whole crucible and fragments of others, an iron ring and blade, flint tools, flakes and microliths, six spindle whorls, a single upper stone from a rotary quern and several other coarse stone tools; a shale ring and crushed fragments of a human skull were recovered from the fill of the well, which was 6.4m deep. MacKie opened trenches against the walls on both the N and the S (1969), but only at the latter was able to locate the deep charcoal-rich deposits found by Childe behind the line of the wall; their relationship to the wall itself, however, rests upon Childe's observations of the stratigraphy. Modern calibration renders the three radiocarbon dates obtained useless for chronological analysis, but there is any case a possibility that Childe misunderstood both the structure of the wall here and its relationship to the deposits he too be fallen rubble. While the faces that he found appear to be those of a wall 6m thick, and still standing in places 2.7m high, it is also possible that this rubble was part of the core of a much thicker wall, and that the deposits beneath it relate to an earlier phase of occupation, and perhaps the earlier fort that has already been postulated above.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -312421 Y: 7697054 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.806523345315882 Latitude: 56.690171714985674 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Angus
Historic County: Angus
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Oathlaw
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 205.0m
N/A
While the c14 dates are now useless, and the thermoluminescence dates unreliable, It is perhaps worth noting that Childe recovered a rotary quernstone from high up in the rubble of the wall on the S.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | None distinctive |
| C14: | Three old radiocarbon dates with wide standard errors |
| Other: | TL dates in the mid 1st millennium AD (Sanderson et al 1988) |
RCAHMS holds an extensive archive of ground photography, some from the excavations, others by Helen Nisbet in 1968, and aerial photogrpahy
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1777): | Description by John Williams (1777, 39-44) |
| Other (1791): | Description (Stat Acct i, 1791, 465-6) |
| Other (1822): | Description (Jamieson 1822; 1834, 242-6) |
| Other (1835): | Description (NSA xi, Forfar, 295-7) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1861): | Annotated Fort (Vitrified) on 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Forfar 1865, sheet 33.9) |
| Earthwork Survey (1899): | Sketch-plan and description by David Christison (1899, 98-100, fig 50) |
| Excavation (1933): | Directed by Gordon Childe (1935) |
| Excavation (1934): | Directed by Gordon Childe (1935) |
| Earthwork Survey (1934): | Plan surveyed for Childe by Horace Fairhurst and Major Deedes (Childe 1935, 50, fig 2) |
| Excavation (1935): | Directed by Gordon Childe (1936) |
| Other (1954): | Scheduled |
| Other (1958): | Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Excavation (1966): | Directed by Euan MacKie (1966; 1967; 1969) |
| Other (1994): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
| Other (1996): | Re-Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1999): | Plan and description by Derek Alexander (1999; 2002; RCAHMS MS726/174 by CFA Ltd) |
| Earthwork Survey (2014): | Plan (RCAHMS DC57639 & SC1408294; GV005436 & SC1462627) |
Featureless apart from the mouth of the well and evidence of later stone robbing
None
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
Well
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Deep deposits with a linear gully and hearths
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
A large assemblage of coarse pottery, a whole crucible and fragments of others, an iron ring and blade, flint tools, flakes and microliths, six spindle whorls, a single upper stone from a rotary quern and several other coarse stone tools; a shale ring and crushed fragments of a human skull came from the well. There was also a large assemblage of animal bone.
| 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 | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | One gap punched by a later trackway through the NNW side, and another by stone robbing in the SSE side, subsequently exploited by Childe |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | At the WSW end of the SSE side |
Single wall in both phases, the second phase possibly with an external ditch and an outer rampart at the ENE end
| Area 1: | 0.35ha. |
| Area 2: | 0.45ha. |
| Total: | 0.45ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✓ | The fort appears to have been extended WSW |
| ✓ | The second rampart on the SE represents an earlier phase |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✓ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✓ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✓ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Across the ENE end |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | The subsidiary enclosure on the SE is almost certainly an earlier fort rather than an annexe |
Alexander, D. (2002) An oblong fort at Finavon, Angus: an example of the over-reliance on the appliance of science'. 45-54 in Ballin Smith, B and Banks, I, (eds) In the shadow of the brochs: the Iron Age in Scotland, A celebration of the work of Dr. Euan MacKie on the Iron Age of Scotland. Tempus: Stroud
Alexander, D. (1999) Finavon Hill (Oathlaw parish), hillfort survey'. Disc Exc Scot (1999), 14
Childe, V G. (1935) Excavations of the vitrified fort of Finavon, Angus' Proc Soc Antiq Scot 69 (1934-5), 49-80.
Childe, V G. (1936) (1) Carminnow Fort; (2) Supplementary excavations at the vitrified fort of Finavon, Angus; and (3) some Bronze Age vessels from Angus'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 70 (1935-6), 341-56.
Christison, D (1900) 'The forts, "camps", and other field-works of Perth, Forfar and Kincardine'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34 (1899-1900), 43-120
Cotton, M A. (1954) British camps with timbered-laced ramparts'. Archaeol J 111 (1954), 26-105
Feachem, R. (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London
Jamieson, J (1822) 'An account of some remains of antiquity in Forfarshire. Archaeologia Scotica 2 (1822, 14-30)
Jamieson, J. (1834) 'On the vitrified forts of Scotland'. Trans Roy Soc Literature 2 (1834), 227-51
MacKie, E W (1966) Finavon vitrified fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1966), 2-3.
MacKie, E W. (1967) Oathlaw: Finavon vitrified fort'. Disc Exc Scot (1967), 4.
MacKie, E W. (1969) Radiocarbon dates and the Scottish Iron Age'. Antiquity 43 (1969), 15-26.
MacKie, E W (1976) 'The vitrified forts of Scotland', in Harding, D W (ed) Hillforts: later prehistoric earthworks in Britain and Ireland. Academic Press: London, New York & San Francisco, 205-35
NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy. Edinburgh.
Sanderson, Placido and Tate, D C W, F and J O. (1988) Scottish vitrified forts: TL results from six study sites'. Nuclear Tracks Radiation Measurements 14, 1/2 (1988), 307-16
Stat Acct (date) Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (Sinclair, J ed), 1791-99
Williams, J. (1777) An account of some remarkable ancient ruins, lately discovered in the highlands and northern parts of Scotland: in a series of letters to G.C.M. Esq. Edinburgh
Atlas of Hillforts:
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This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
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