Anyone available to assist plotting the stones ? They are well exposed in parts again, and nearby stones have come to light not seen before. Low tide 16.40 hrs. Meet at Car Park by Estuary Bridge North of Newburgh at 3.00 pm. Bring wellies, spades, camera. Bags for stones and string to attach measuring tape to. Marking stick for lines at measured intervals. gridded paper and pen.

More of the stones have become visible, one certainly and possibly two, you can decide!  M1 and now newly coded N1 appear to be different stones but adjacent to one another in the circle.

 

One thing has become abundantly clear: in the wet sand the level/height of the stones shift in relation to one another.  N1, M3 and R2 appear to have lifted in relation to M2, M5 and M4 as they were in March 2011.

 

Discovery of a Coastal Bronze Age Recumbent Stone Circle – R. John Hughes B.Sc.

 

SUMMARY REPORT

 

It has long been known that there was a thriving Bronze Age coastal settlement on the Forvie Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Nature Reserve. A large hut circle can be seen from satellites, and many small hut circles are known about. Burial cairns are also present. Up until now no stone circle has been found and documented.

 

The sands of Forvie shift with time, both on land and offshore. In spring 2011, the sea swept a channel clear of a metre deep in sand. The circle came to light as shown above.

In addition other stone arrangements have appeared with the scouring of the sands along the beach to the north 1050 m away. When these were put in place is unclear. Neither is it clear what they may signify but one line of stones points to the stone circle, and another to 550-600m south of the Bronze Age settlement of huts easily visible to day.  The likely use was to do with the anchoring down of salmon fishing nets.  The practice went on here for centuries.

 

There is what appears to be a recumbent stone missing at the circle site. Excavation may bring one to light, but this is unknown. What is known is that 1050 m north is a stone that is exactly the right size and shape for it to have been used as a recumbent.

 

To conclude the detailed report that follows an explanation of who built the recumbent stone circles peculiar to the North East of Scotland is put forward as a hypothesis. It may be possible by DNA analysis of human bone and analysing bronze artefacts found at sites to deduce where the apparent influx of people came from. The spread pattern of settlements (a stone circle per settlement) pictured on the following page would suggest a landing on the east coast, at or near Forvie, Aberdeen and Peterhead that gained a foothold and then spread inland to good farming country.