Finavon, Angus | Hillforts Map

Location

Atlas number: SC3083 (3083)
Country: Scotland
Current county or unitary authority: Angus
Historic county: Angus
Parish, community, or townland: Oathlaw
National Grid reference: NO 5069 5566
Latitude: 56.69017
Longitude: -2.80652
Altitude: 205 m

Form and condition

Type: contour fort and multiple enclosure
Condition: Extant
Morphology: partial univallate and partial bivallate
Complete rampart circuit: Yes
Number of ramparts: 2
Ramparts by quadrant: NE 1, SE 2, SW 1, NW 1
Number of ditches: 1
Possible original entrances: 1
Breaks through the ramparts: 3
Enclosed area: 0.45 ha
Enclosure areas: 0.35 ha, 0.45 ha
Enclosing works, as visible: stone wall, vitrification, and counterscarp bank
Enclosing works, excavated: stone wall and vitrification
Also recorded: multi-period enclosure system and ditches
Entrance forms: Simple Gap (South west)

Landscape

Topographic position: hilltop
Aspect: level
Land use: pasture and heather moorland
Water source: well or cistern

Dating

Dating: 400 BC–AD 50
Dating evidence: Artefactual, C14, and Other
Dating reliability: D - None

Interior and investigation

Finds: pottery, metal, metalworking, human bones, animal bones, and lithics
Investigations: 1st Identified Written Reference (1777); Other (1791); Other (1822); Other (1835); 1st Identified Map Depiction (1861); Earthwork Survey (1899); Excavation (1933); Excavation (1934); Earthwork Survey (1934); Excavation (1935); Other (1954); Other (1958)

Identifiers

Scheduled monument number: 139
HER: Angus SMR per Aberdeenshire Council NO55NW0032
National record: record NO 55 NW 32; monument 34813
Wikidata: Q31095633

Sources

References

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