Summary

Pebble, probably an amulet, from Cist H, Holly Road, Leven, Fife

Accession Number

X.2005.27.3

Other references

Original description

[One of] Finds from excavations at Holly Road, Leven, Fife. IDENTIFICATION - Description: Finds from excavations at Holly Road, Leven, Fife. X.2005.27.3 (X.EQ 1115): Pebble, probably an amulet, from Cist H. Description (after published catalogue entry by Sheridan): Pebble with rounded, water-worn edges and a marked natural groove running along one surface, making it reminiscent of a cowrie shell. It is made of a hard, probably igneous stone (Dr Suzanne Miller). The only evidence of possible human modification is the high sheen on the pebble, which could have resulted from its being carried in a pouch or similar container, or from being rubbed. There is also what appears to be a coating of blackish-brown material over much of its surface. Compositional analysis of this material by Laurianne Robinet (NMS Conservation and Analytical Research Department), using x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), has revealed that the material is iron rich and is probably ochre. Dimensions: length: 26.2mm; width: 15.5mm; thickness: 12mm. Context: Cist H: retrieved from the lower fill. Date: The surviving skeletal remains produced a date of 2200-1910 cal BC (GrA-22812) (see published report for details). FIELD COLLECTION - Place: Holly Road, Leven , Scoonie (Kirkcaldy), Fife. Grid Reference: NO 3783 0213. Site Type: Cist cemetery. Period: Bronze Age. Method: Excavation. NMRS no: NO30SE 1. Circumstances of Discovery / Notes: Excavations were undertaken in advance of the development of an area to the N of Leven where a cist burial was discovered in 1944. The recent investigations revealed an enclosed cist cemetery, radiocarbon-dated to the first two centuries of the second millennium BC. The cemetery appears to have had a short period of use when it received inhumation burials inside the ditched enclosure. A number of cists of poorer construction were uncovered outside the enclosure and a Neolithic cremation deposit was retrieved from within the ditch (Author’s abstract). In addition to the fusiform bead from the 1944 investigations (already registered as NMS: EQ 944), the cemetery produced the following: in Cist A were a flint knife, a fossil crinoid that had been used as a bead, and a Vase Food Vessel; in Cists B, C and K, one Vase Food Vessel each (with parts of two others being found in disturbed positions); and in Cist H, an unusually-shaped pebble that had probably been used as an amulet. NOTES and DOCUMENTATION - Bibliographic Reference: Christie, R L 'Short cist at Durie, Scoonie, Fife', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 83 (1948-9), 230-1. Lewis, J and Terry, J ‘The excavation of an early Bronze Age cemetery at Holly Road, Leven, Fife’ Tayside & Fife Archaeological Journal 10 (2004). Registered / Completed By: Trevor Cowie. Date: 28.8.2006.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

2002

Method (e.g. excavation)

Excavated

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Leven, Fife, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

2005

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Unknown

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image

None