Round cairn on Pye Rigg 600m SSE of Pye Rigg Howe

Reasons for Designation

Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials may be placed within the mound in stone-lined compartments called cists. In some cases the cairn was surrounded by a ditch. Often occupying prominent locations, cairns are a major visual element in the modern landscape. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are the stone equivalent of the earthen round barrows of the lowlands. Their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite disturbance by forestry ploughing, the round cairn on Pye Rigg, 600m SSE of Pye Rigg Howe has surviving archaeological deposits which will preserve information about the original form of the cairn and the burials placed within it. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also survive beneath the cairn. The cairn is the only one of a group of nine distributed along Pye Rigg to survive forestry ploughing. It is situated within an area which includes other burial monuments as well as field systems and clearance cairns. Associated groups of monuments such as these offer important scope for the study of the distribution of prehistoric activity across the landscape.

Details

The monument includes a round cairn which is situated on Middle Jurassic sandstone at the eastern edge of the North York Moors, on a gentle south-facing slope. The cairn has a stone mound which stands 0.3m high and measures up to 8m in diameter. In the centre of the mound there is a modern disturbance which has left a small hollow. Stones from the excavation of the hollow have been piled together with others from the surrounding area to form a heap 0.6m high next to the hollow. The barrow lies in an area where there are many other prehistoric monuments, including further barrows as well as field systems and clearance cairns.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

34567

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Title: Forestry Commission Areas North York Moors Archaeological Survey Source Date: 1992 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: Site 5.2

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