Achavanich: The Strange Horseshoe of Stones by Loch Stemster

Why it matters

On a moorland rise above Loch Stemster in central Caithness, a long horseshoe of thin grey slabs stands in the heather. Achavanich is unlike almost any other prehistoric monument in Britain. It is not a circle; it is a U-shaped setting, open at the south-east end, and it seems never to have been closed. Even stranger, its stones are set with their broad faces across the line of the setting rather than along it, the opposite of the usual practice. Only one similar monument is known, a ruined U-shaped setting at Broubster, elsewhere in Caithness.

The setting

Canmore describes it as a truncated oval about 225 feet (68 metres) long by 100 feet (30 metres) wide. About 36 stones or stumps survive in position; the original number may have been around 54 to 60, with about a third lost to weathering or removal. They are thick slabs of Caithness flagstone, averaging about 1.5 metres high, the tallest around 2 metres. Nobody knows what it was for. A short distance to the south-east, on a low knoll, are the remains of an older Neolithic chambered cairn.

Ava, the woman from the rock

In 1987, quarrying for road improvements near Achavanich uncovered a burial cut into the solid bedrock: the skeleton of a young woman, buried with a beaker pot, a cow’s shoulder blade and flint tools. Graves cut straight into rock are very unusual. Radiocarbon dating places her death around 2400–2100 BC, about 4,250 years ago. In 2016 the archaeologist Maya Hoole, who named her Ava, commissioned a facial reconstruction by the forensic artist Hew Morrison that made headlines around the world. Ancient DNA later showed she had dark hair, brown eyes and a darker complexion than first imagined, and that her family had probably come from the continent. Her remains are held in Caithness.

Visiting

The stones are beside a minor road just off the A9 at Achavanich, north of Latheron, by Loch Stemster. There is space to park by the road and the stones are a few steps away. They are free to visit; the ground can be wet.

Around Achavanich

East on the coast, the Whaligoe Steps drop 365 stairs down a cliff to a hidden herring harbour, and further north the town of Wick is home to Old Pulteney whisky. Beyond Wick the clifftop ruin of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, seat of the Earls of Caithness, and Keiss Castle look out over the sea. The Sinclairs fought the last clan battle in Scotland in 1680 at Altimarlach, near Wick. On the north coast at Thurso, Wolfburn is the northernmost distillery on the British mainland. For the whole county see our guide to Caithness, and for more stones with a story see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.

Sources

• Canmore — Achkinloch / Achavanich stone setting (site 8271).
• Highland Historic Environment Record — Stone Setting, Achavanich (MHG1315).
• Maya Hoole, Achavanich Beaker Burial Project; Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.