PREHISTORIC ARCH/EOLOGY IN ABERDEEN DISTRICT 73 
on stones which form part of stone circles, being especially present on 
the recumbent stone or stones near it. They are found also on solitary 
standing stones, boulders and rock surfaces. 
No explanation of what was intended by these markings seems to have 
been able to secure general acceptance. 
A cup-marked boulder which was found a short distance from the site 
of the cist at Kinneff described on p. 69 may be seen in the Museum. 
Cairns —These structures are of all sizes, from about ro ft. in diameter 
up to about roo ft.. The great majority are circular and the height of the 
pile varies from 1 to 2 ft. to about as high as 40 ft. As to their position 
it has been noted that they are more commonly found at or above 700 ft. 
above sea-level than below. 
Compared with these circular cairns, long cairns are much fewer in 
number, but from the records available regarding them it is unsafe to 
assign them to any particular age, as none of them seem to have been 
examined by excavation. Examples of these long cairns are seen at 
Gourdon, Kincardineshire ; Newhills, Aberdeenshire ; Longmanhill, 
Gamrie, Banffshire. 
Considerable uncertainty attaches also to those of circular shape. It 
has of course been definitely ascertained in many cases that human 
interments took place within them in the Bronze Age, but others have 
often been found to yield nothing. It is not necessary to suppose that 
they always served the same purpose. Some may have been beacons or 
memorials of events, etc. 
No enumeration of cairns is available for the whole district, but general 
inspection shows that they are present more or less everywhere. Cromar 
district in upper Deeside, measuring about eight miles from east to west 
and six miles from north to south, most of it being more than 600 ft. above 
sea-level, has been particularly examined, and many hundreds have been 
recorded. 
Hut circles—These are commonly found in the neighbourhood of 
cairns, or definitely associated with them. They consist of loose stones, 
rather larger in size than those used in cairns, the rings rising as a rule 
not more than 2 ft. above the present ground surface. The diameter is 
often about 12 to 20 ft. In most cases the natural ground forms the 
floor of the circle, but sometimes a paved surface is present. 
The general appearance of these structures, along with the fact that 
they often occur in clusters and that there has been discovered within 
them such objects as flint arrow-heads, stone discs, charcoal and ashes, 
suggests that they are the remains of prehistoric habitations. 
In the Kinnord and Dinnet area of Aberdeenshire many examples of 
these circles, along with other prehistoric remains, can be seen. A group 
of eight circles exists at Skene’s Wood, Fintray, Aberdeenshire. 
Sporadic finds —Besides the artifacts mentioned as occurring in graves 
or associated with other structures, by far the greater number of such 
objects are single ‘ finds ’ casually picked up on the surface of the ground. 
As regards implements in flint, arrow-heads of various forms—leaf, 
lozenge, barbed and tanged—have been found abundantly. ‘They were 
used not only in Neolithic times, but since no bronze arrow-head has ever 
