page_title: Tomnaverie stone circle
section_title: General description of Tomnaverie
hierarchical_section_title: Tomnaverie stone circle / General description of Tomnaverie
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking towards Pressendye from near Stonyford Early morning sunshine and a lowering sky emphasize the colour of the ripe barley in this view near Tarland. Pressendye is the highest point on the skyline, and the lower summit to its left is Brown Hill.
context_page_description: Tomnaverie stone circle is a recumbent stone circle set on the top of a small hill in lowland northeast Scotland. Construction started from about 2500 BC, in the Bronze Age, to produce a monument of thirteen granite stones including a massive 6.5-ton recumbent stone lying on its side along the southwest of the circle's perimeter. Within the 17-metre circle are kerb stones encircling a low 15-metre ring cairn but the cairn itself no longer exists.
  By 1930 Tomnaverie had fallen into a very dilapidated state, in good measure because it had been encroached on by a neighbouring quarry. Only four stones were still standing and many of the others were missing. In that year the monument was put into state guardianship but this merely stopped the destruction and made for no improvements. In 1999 an archaeological excavation commenced investigating how the circle had been constructed. Also, so far as possible, the monument would be returned closer to its original condition. This was very successful and the stone circle is now only missing two standing stones.
context_section_description: This recumbent stone circle is situated at the top of a small hill about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) south of Tarland in Aberdeenshire. There is a visitors' car park from where it is a short uphill walk to the monument. The 178-metre (584 ft) hill is of granite, barely covered by thin soil. The area, called the Howe of Cromar, is surrounded by hills and mountains, most notably Lochnagar about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the southwest, and Morven and Clachnaben. The circle is 17 metres (56 ft) across with the recumbent stone and its adjacent flankers looking southwest. The recumbent is a granite block 3.2 by 1 by 1.15 metres (10.5 ft × 3.3 ft × 3.8 ft) (length x thickness x height) and weighing 6.5 metric tons (7.2 short tons). The granite is intruded with quartz so as a whole this massive stone has a lighter colour than its attendant stones. It has two cup marks, one on its top and the other on its outer face. Depending on how it is measured, the orientation of the recumbent stone, looking out of the circle, is 236°–240° (southwest by west).
  Regarding the flankers, the eastern one is 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) high and weighs 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons) and the western is 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) high and weighs 3.5 metric tons (3.9 short tons). Apart from the recumbent and flankers, originally there were ten other stones but two of these, both to the northwest, are now missing. A stone to the southeast is light grey in colour whereas the others, and the flankers, are pale red. The ring reduces in height from the flankers to those at the opposite side of the ring and the spaces between the stones also become reduced. The shortest stone is at the north-northeast, not quite opposite the recumbent, but it appears as if its top has been broken off.
  The circle is located on a constructed platform of stones up to 24 metres (79 ft) across and 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in) high. On top of this there is a 15-metre (49 ft) polygonal cairn surrounded by a granite kerb of  slabs and blocks. In the southwest, rather than continuing as a rough circle, the kerb turns outwards so as to meet the sides of the recumbent setting.
caption: Howe of Cromar
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