Cursus: Ian Hamilton’s expert guide

Site 1 is the footprint of the Broich Cursus, which is half a mile long. Most of the campus sits on top of it.

Site 2 is probably a late Bronze Age roundhouse or a structure associated to the cursus in its later years.

Site 3 is the timber circle reconstruction of the original monument, the site of which lies further east at Pittentian farm. The reconstruction is half the size of the original.

Site 4 is the location of the Stayt of Crieff, the parliament site of old Strathearn. It was levelled off in 1860 but there are reports of the burial cists and urn found in the process in contemporary issues of the Strathearn Herald. Such mounds are often called barrows.

Site 5 is the scene of the most recent finds from the area. Two early Bronze age cemeteries were excavated by CFA Archaeology in advance of building the new primary school. They contained cremation burials with a variety of funeral rituals, placing remains in pits, pottery urns or inside stone cists. Pieces of pottery and radiocarbon dating date the cemeteries to the period 2200-1500 BC. Objects found included bronze razors, bone pins, and flint arrowheads.

Site 6 is another timber circle cropmark site and is located in a break in the cursus earthwork. The chronological connection between the two, although interesting, is unclear.

Site 7 is two palisaded enclosures, probably settlements, dating from the Iron Age. Much of these monuments was destroyed by an extension to the local landfill site.

Site 8 is a rectilinear enclosure, understood to be a Neolithic mortuary. Two further cropmark enclosures exist on Pittentian farm, east of the site.