Pict's Knowe () is a

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

monument in the parish of

Troqueer Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a sub ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

. It is one of a small group of henge monuments around

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

which includes Broadlea henge near Annan. Pict's Knowe is located 4 km SW of Dumfries on a small sandy bank in the peat covered valley of the Crooks Pow stream. The site has been badly damaged by livestock, rabbit burrowing and tree rooting. The area around the monument had been occupied since the early

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

, but the henge itself appears to date to the early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, based on radiocarbon analysis. The monument has one entrance, making it a Class I henge. It enclosed an area of 20-25m in diameter. In the entrance to the henge, sherds of a carinated urn were found, and fragments of cremated bone, which may have been animal rather than human. During the Iron Age the henge's bank was added to and the ditch recut, with a timber platform built over it. The site was scheduled in 1928 as a prehistoric fort. Richard Bradley identified the monument as a henge in 1990. Although the site had been recognised as a henge some decades before, this information did not make its way into official records, and Pict's Knowe was classed as an 'earthwork' by the

National Monuments Record of Scotland The National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) was the term used for the archive of the sites, monuments and buildings of Scotland's past maintained by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The Commission was ...

. The site was excavated by

Julian Thomas Julian Stewart Thomas (born 1959) is a British archaeologist, publishing on the Neolithic and Bronze Age prehistory of Britain and north-west Europe. Thomas has been vice president of the Royal Anthropological Institute since 2007, has been Prof ...

between 1994 and 1998.{{Cite book, title=Place and Memory: Excavations at The Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries and Galloway, 1994-8, publisher=Oxbow Books, year=2007, isbn=978-1-84217-247-6, editor-last=Thomas, editor-first=Julian, editor-link=Julian Thomas, location=Oxford

References

Henges Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway