The starting point for dowsing Stone Circles was with those that had stood up to the ravages of time and were intact. Some of these had been untouched throughout the centuries while others, whose stones had fallen in the past, had been restored to their former glory by those who were concerned about this ancient legacy.
Loanhead of Daviot (O.S. Map Reference NJ 747288).
This is a circle composed of a massive recumbent, two flankers and eight stones as shown in Fig. 16A with an internal ring cairn having kerb-stones round its outer circumference but none round its inner.
The recumbent, which weighs 12 tons, had been fractured lengthways by frost and is set West-North-West and East-North-East. While flankers are usually self-supporting with their long and straight sides adjacent to the recumbent, here they have short or “curved” sides adjacent to the recumbent but they are leaning on it. The apices of both flankers have been removed. The stone beside the east flanker has a vertical line of 12 cup-marks on the side facing the inner centre of the circle. Around each standing stone (other than the flankers) are small stone cuttings, some containing charcoal and pottery sherds; these were also round the recumbent.
The circle dates from the centuries after 3000 B.C. Its diameter is 68 feet and those of the ring cairn and the open centre are 54 feet and 13 feet 6 inches respectively.
Excavations have shown the stone circle to have been used initially for cremation burials. The area within the circle had then been heavily burnt; this probably cleared the area before human burials and the construction of the ring cairn over them. Five pounds weight of burnt bone, including 50 skull fragments of young children), were found within potholes in the central space. The circle, cairn, and central space have three different centres with a variance of a few feet between each other and this suggests different periods of laying-out.
The movement of the moon through the southern sky was framed by the recumbent and its flankers. The outlier stones may have been used for stellar observations associated with the ritual and life of the people who built the circle.
This stone circle fell out of use about 2000 B.C.
The Cremation Cemetery (Fig. 16B), a few yards to the south-east of the circle, was probably in use about 1500 B.C. It is the first of its type and the first to be found adjacent to a stone circle. Circular cemeteries could have been a transition, as the Bronze Age progressed, from the round cairn where the dead were buried, to a flat burial ground.
It was bounded by a small ditch (now marked by small stones) which was interrupted in two places to provide entry to the cemetery within and on the North side to avoid the cist and its covering cairn which originally was there (the arc is now filled with stones). In the central pit were the partially cremated remains of a man clutching a stone pendant. The cremated remains of a further 31 were also discovered, 8 of them young children. This cemetery would have been used for a few generations for the interment of a small family group of individuals.
The results of the dowsing of the stone circle are shown in Fig. 17A. The rod showed two circles enclosing all the stones with responses indicating the length and breadth of each stone and its location. From each stone a line was detected going towards the centre of the circle. The recumbent had a triangle of energy going from its length to the circle’s centre. Outside the stone circle was another larger circle (not shown on Fig. 17A) which was 20 feet from the recumbent and as near as 6 feet from the stones on the opposite side.
The rest of the area, excluding the cemetery, was dowsed and nothing was detected, even from the outliers.
On dowsing the cemetery, the pattern shown in Fig. 17B was found. It could be that the enclosed centre which had no response within from the rod, roughly coincided with the central pit enclosing the partially cremated body, or it might have been the crematory pyre. The straight lines shown may have been the places used for storing bodies before cremation on the adjacent pyre. All this is conjecture and as this circular cemetery is uncommon in the North East of Scotland, there are few opportunities to compare it with another.
However, the stone circle pattern can be compared, and this will now be done.
Dyce (Tyrebagger) (O.S. Map Reference NJ 860133).
Dyce (or Tyrebagger) Recumbent Stone Circle stands on a low stony bank on the shoulder of a hill with a panoramic view of the valley of the river Don, the coast and the sea. It consists of ten stones of red granite quarried locally and a massive recumbent stone, 10 feet long and rising to a point 10 feet 6 inches high, made of dark grey granite and weighing 24 tons. The stones are graded in height from 4 feet 4 inches in the north up to the tall flankers 9 feet 6 inches and ii feet high.
The diameter of the circle is 60 feet across and within it is a fragmentary ring cairn 38 feet in diameter. It dates from the 3rd - 2nd millennium B.C.
On dowsing the circle a pattern was found in Fig. 18 which was the same as that of Loanhead of Daviot except that the lines from each stone did not go to the centre of the circle but terminated in an elliptical shape as shown. Perhaps this was the area of a funeral pyre, the ashes being buried underneath the ring cairn.
The other difference from that of Loanhead of Daviot is that there were two outer circles as shown instead of one. The reason for this is unknown.
Easter Aquorthies (O.S. Map Reference NJ 732208).
Easter Aquorthies Recumbent Stone Circle stands on a hillside and is composed of a recumbent, two flankers and nine other stones with two massive blocks set at right angles to the recumbent making a “reserved” area in front; this latter feature is sometimes known as a “platform” but which may be a representation of a passage in a chambered tomb, the lowering of the recumbent into its position being a ritualistic way of closing the passage.
The recumbent is 12 feet 6 inches long and 4 feet 6 inches high of red granite veined with quartz brought from the nearby hill of Bennachie. The flankers are of grey granite and stand 7 feet 6 inches high. The other nine stones are of pinkish porphyry except the stone to the east of the east flanker which is of red jasper. The stones are graded in height from the tall flankers to the 5 feet 5 inches high stones on the circumference opposite. The second stone west of the recumbent has the same shape as that of the Mither Tap of Bennachie Hill.
The ring is not quite circular measuring 60 feet 6 inches by 59 feet 6 inches and this makes it early in the series of recumbent stone circles and in the third millennium B.C.
In the interior of the circle is a mound hollowed at its centre; this is all that remains of a central cairn; the smaller kerbs and the stones of the kerb are gone. A cist was discovered within the cairn in 1934.
Fig. 19 shows the pattern found by dowsing which conforms to the previous pattern except that the lines from all stones but two ended in an elliptical shape, the two others terminating in an ovoid shape (4 feet 7 inches by 4 feet 11 inches) which had an opening 2 feet 2 inches wide. The ellipse may indicate a funeral pyre, the ovoid shape could be a small structure built to hold something connected with the ceremonies performed there. There was no opportunity to find if there were any large circles surrounding the ring.
Sunhoney (O.S. Map Reference NJ 715056).
This Recumbent Stone Circle dates from the third or second millennium and is composed of a recumbent, two flankers and nine other stones (similar to Easter Aquorthies) on a low rubble bank up to 3 feet 3 inches high. The recumbent is composed of grey granite and has fallen over on its inner side, bring partly broken; it is 14 feet 9 inches long and weighs over 12 tons. This stone contains 31 cup-marks of the usual plain type without encircling rings mainly on the eastern side of the stone which makes it one of the three most heavily-marked stones in Aberdeenshire. The rings have been confirmed as man-made. The recumbent is aligned towards the minimum full mid-summer moon.
The other stones are of reddish granite or gneiss. Within them are traces of a low ring cairn.
Fig. 20 shows the dowsing pattern obtained, a feature being that lines were detected going from all the stones to a point at the centre where there was a very strong reaction by the rod. In 1875, when this central space was excavated, eight deposits of burnt bones were found, most of the small stones unearthed were fire marked. It was noticeable that the triangular area between the flankers and recumbent and the centre of the circle gave a continuous reaction (similar to the recumbent stone circles at Loanhead of Daviot, Dyce and Easter Aquorthies).
So far the circles considered are recumbent stone circles which possessed a similar energy pattern by dowsing. The next circle is not a recumbent stone circle - how would this affect the pattern.
Cullerlie (O.S. Map Reference NJ 785043).
The circle at Cullerlie is set on a ridge of gravel running into the plain of Leuchar Moss. This area was originally levelled before the stones were erected and then the ground was burnt, perhaps as a method of ritual purification. Eight tall stones of course-grained pinkish granite are placed round the circle increasing in height to the north. The highest stone on the north side is 6 feet high and the smallest is only 3 feet 7 inches high. The diameter of the circle is 33 feet 5 inches and the average distance between the stones is 9 feet 6 inches.
There is a large kerb cairn in the centre with a double row, each of 11 kerb stones round its circumference. Around it there are 7 small kerb cairns each, except one, (at the south-south-west), having 11 kerb stones on its perimeter, the exception having only 9. A pit had been dug in the centre of the central ring and used as a fire pit; calcined human bones were found here in addition to oak charcoal.
Six of the surrounding cairns contained cremated bone deposits. The fact that oak charcoal was found in 5 cairns and hazel charcoal found in one other cairn could indicate that not all the deposits were made at the same time. The cairn to the west of the central cairn contained a fire pit covered by a capstone as indeed was the central cairn.
There had been an outlying stone 3 or 4 yards from the west of the circle and was 5 feet high but this had been taken away. None other stones of similar dimensions to that of the circle were reputed to have been to the south-west, but no trace remains of these.
This restored circle is seen as a later development of the recumbent stone tradition in central Aberdeenshire and dated from the second millennium B.C.
On dowsing the circle the pattern was found with almost circular “tram lines” and reactions found from each stone. Lines were detected from each stone to the centre of the circle ending in a small circular shape of 4 feet 3 inches in diameter as shown in Fig. 21. Each line passed through one ring cairn round the central cairn except two on the east which passed through the same ring cairn. There was a strong response from the centre of the circle.
The area of the previous outlying stone was dowsed with no reaction. However, when the area to the south-west was covered there were responses from the rod which indicated 3 stones in the positions shown in Fig. 21.
Perhaps if a wider area had been dowsed more would have been found.
Backhill of Dracklaw East (O.S. Map Reference NJ 672463).
The small complete circle of large stones at Backhill of Dracklaw East has stones graded to the south-west. The two smallest stones are at the north and south and if these were removed a good 4-poster would be left. Three stones fill up the north arc and three the south arc. The stones are of whinstone with veins and pebbles of quartz in them, the largest stone with a band of quartz encircling it like a “rope of crystal”. The stone on the east is broken. An unusual feature is that not all the broadest faces of the stones face the centre of the circle.The dowsing pattern was found as in Fig. 22. The small elliptical area in the centre had no reaction within it to the rod and possibly was used for the interment of cremated bones.
Although every stone had a line from it to the ellipse, only two of them - the stone lying outside the “tram lines” on the north and the stone on the east - showed a response from the rod. Does this mean that the other stones were not the originals? It is known that in recent times a stone had been placed in the circle.
A much larger concentric circle of response was obtained by dowsing as shown.
Craighead, Badentoy (O.S. Map Reference NO 911977).
On a dyked mound (60 feet across by 2 feet 6 high) stands this small stone setting of 4 stones of local reddish granite which stands near to the cardinal points of the compass. The stones reduce in height from 7 feet 5 inches in the south clockwise to 4 feet in the east which is typical of 4-posters. Their rectangle measures about 28 feet north-south by 24 feet east-west.
There has been considerable change in this circle through the years. Prior to 1850 the stones appear to have been taken down for the use of the land and later re-erected. In 1858 there were only 3 stones. In 1875 one observer noted 6 stones with a gap in the south-east quadrant and a central stone. The iron rings for a flagpole’s guy ropes were still attached to the stones in 1899.
In spite of these changes the dowsing pattern in Fig. 23 fits the position of the stones as original. All of the stones are within the “tram lines” and lines were found to go from each of them to an ellipse in the centre which may indicate the location of a funeral pyre or interment of ashes. The larger concentric circle was found as shown.
The examination of these complete stone circles by dowsing shows a common pattern with stones in the “tram lines”, lines from each stone to the centre of the circle or to a circular shape in the centre which may indicate a small building or a specific use (e.g. interment of ashes) and one or two larger concentric circles.
The recumbent stone circles have the segment between the flankers and recumbent and the centre giving a response from the rod which points to an important purpose for it.
Would incomplete stone circles show any response from the rod to the missing stones? In the next chapter we examine this possibility.
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and southwards through the six-stone circle A. Within this line were circular and rectangular shapes near the circles (not shown in Fig. 57) and these are presumed to have been prehistoric dwelling. The site of St. John’s Chapel is noted at C (this is not shown in Fig. 57 but the foundations were discovered by dowsing). This is another instance of an ecclesiastical building being built in close proximity to a stone circle as at Midmar Kirk, Daviot and Culsalmond. The water veins shows were about 21 feet deep. A curious feature of three of the grid lines (D.E and F) is that they terminate in an arrowhead shape at a point.
