72 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 
This prominent block, which may weigh several tons, is placed between 
two large upright monoliths, and lies in the southern arc, opposite 
the northern aspect of the circle. The stones composing the circle 
diminish in size from the monoliths supporting the recumbent 
stone to those in the opposite arc of the circle. A remarkable fact in 
connection with this is that the recumbent stone is peculiar to the circles 
in Aberdeenshire and immediate neighbourhood. Other circles have 
within them one or two concentric circles, the stones of which are smaller 
in size. 
Sometimes a causeway or an avenue of large stones arranged in two 
parallel rows is found leading to or from the circle. An example of the 
latter is seen at Crichie, Aberdeenshire. 
The diameter of a standing stone circle varies from to ft. to more 
than roo ft., and the size of the stones has a wide range of variation. 
Some are no more than 2 ft. above ground, while the largest may be 
more than 10 ft. The individual stones are rough undressed boulders 
from the rock of the neighbourhood, orare ice-borne erratics. Inscriptions 
are totally absent from them, but ‘ cup markings’ are common. On one 
of the stones of a circle at Nether Corskie, Echt, Aberdeenshire, the well- 
known symbols of a mirror case, mirror and comb occur, which symbols 
are found elsewhere in abundance on stones not belonging to circles. 
It seems better to assign these Corskie sculpturings to a later date than the 
circle itself. 
There are approximately 145 sites of stone circles in Aberdeenshire 
alone. Examples of circles in a good state of preservation may be men- 
tioned at Sunhoney, with another near it in the Midmar graveyard ; at 
Dyce; and at Auquhorthies near Inverurie—all in Aberdeenshire A 
stone which is to be seen at the junction of Langstane Place and Dee 
Street on the left-hand side of Union Street, Aberdeen, is believed to 
have formed part of a circle. 
Upon looking at the district as a whole, the circles are mostly to be 
found in the river valleys, particularly in that of the Don, where no fewer 
than 52 sites are known, a fact which indicates that the weight of the 
population existed there owing to the superior fertility of the soil. 
Many theories have been advanced as to the origin and significance of 
these antiquities. It is, however, an ascertained fact that they were used 
for sepulchral purposes, as incinerated human remains of the Bronze 
Age period have been found within them. Apart from this, any use 
assigned to them is somewhat conjectural. 
Besides these circles of standing stones there are also examples of 
solitary monoliths concerning which there is no record of their having 
formed part of a circle, and which from their position are unlikely to have 
done so. Some of these are of great height. 
Cup-marked stones —The practice of inscribing small cups or hollows, 
or groups of them, on stones, which is familiar all over the British Isles, 
is also a well-represented feature of the prehistoric archeology here. 
These depressions vary in size from about 2 to 3 in. in diameter and in 
depth from $to1in. Insome cases the cup is surrounded by a concentric 
ring, rarely by two. In this district these markings occur most frequently 
