Pict's_Knowe
Pict's Knowe
Prehistoric monument in Scotland
Pict's Knowe (grid reference NX 9538 7213) is a henge monument in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway.[1] It is one of a small group of henge monuments around Dumfries which includes Broadlea henge near Annan.[2] Pict's Knowe is located 4 km SW of Dumfries on a small sandy bank in the peat covered valley of the Crooks Pow stream.[3]
The site has been badly damaged by livestock, rabbit burrowing and tree rooting.[1] The area around the monument had been occupied since the early Neolithic,[4] but the henge itself appears to date to the early Bronze Age, based on radiocarbon analysis.[5]
The monument has one entrance, making it a Class I henge.[6] It enclosed an area of 20-25m in diameter.[7] In the entrance to the henge, sherds of a carinated urn were found, and fragments of cremated bone, which may have been animal rather than human.[8]
During the Iron Age the henge's bank was added to and the ditch recut, with a timber platform built over it.[9]
The site was scheduled in 1928 as a prehistoric fort.[10][11] Richard Bradley identified the monument as a henge in 1990.[3] Although the site had been recognised as a henge some decades before, this information did not make its way into official records, and Pict's Knowe was classed as an 'earthwork' by the National Monuments Record of Scotland.[10] The site was excavated by Julian Thomas between 1994 and 1998.[12]