Dalladies

Dalladies is a Neolithic long barrow near Fettercairn in Aberdeenshire. It once stood as a low earthen mound up to 2.3 metres high, stretching about 65 metres in length. The site was bordered by two narrow ditches on its north and south sides, with the eastern gap between them measuring about 24 metres. A trapezoidal dry-stone wall once enclosed the mound, its eastern edge curving outward. Before gravel extraction flattened the mound, it measured roughly 70 by 23 metres. The barrow contained a multi-period burial site beneath its northeastern corner. Radiocarbon dating of the remains places some burials around 3240 BC, others near 2710 BC and 2585 BC. Excavations led by archaeologist Stuart Piggott uncovered a flint knife, part of a child’s skull and a decorated stone with nine cup marks. Along the mound’s ridge were pits holding ash deposits, pottery fragments and three stone cists. Visitors today find a quiet field where the barrow once rose. The dry-stone enclosure’s outline remains faintly visible in the turf. The finds—flint tools, pottery shards and marked stones—are preserved elsewhere, but the site still conveys the scale of this 5,000-year-old monument. The surrounding landscape of rolling hills and farmland adds to the sense of ancient presence.