Balbridie is the site of a
Neolithic long house in
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
, Scotland, situated on the south bank of the
River Dee, east of
Banchory
Banchory (, , ) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, historically in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee.
Prehistory and archaeology
In 2009, a farmer discovered a short ...
. The site is one of the earliest known permanent
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
settlements in Scotland, dating from 3400 to 4000 BC. This is the largest Neolithic long house to be excavated in Britain. In a European context, Whittle said such large Neolithic timber houses are rare, citing Balbridie, a hall in
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
, and
Fengate as a small set of such finds.
Neolithic features found in a later excavation at
Dreghorn included post holes indicating a large rectangular structure comparable to Balbridie.
In 2022, a study of nitrogen content ancient grain at the site by the
University of Stavanger and
Durham University
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
published in the journal
''Antiquity'' revealed details of Neolithic farming techniques at the site suggesting that manure was not used in the area because of the quality of its soil.
Discovery
The Balbridie site was discovered in 1976 by
aerial photography
Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography.
Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...
carried out by the
. The unusually dry summer revealed previously undetected
cropmarks suggesting a very large structure.
Subsequent archaeological work on site allowed the conceptual reconstruction of an enormous timber structure including the identification of large timber
postholes.
Relationship to other very early features
The vicinity of Balbridie includes a number of other notable archaeological features including the Neolithic site of
Bucharn. Watt has pointed out that this local area attracted an unusual density of very early settlement in Scotland. Balbridie is not only close to the
River Dee but also to the
Elsick Mounth trackway
Historic roads (or historic trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient track ...
, the route of early crossings inland through the lower Grampian Mountains.
See also
*
Coy Burn
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
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4th-millennium BC architecture in Scotland
Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC
Neolithic Scotland
Neolithic settlements
Former populated places in Scotland
1976 in Scotland
Scheduled monuments in Aberdeenshire
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