Donnely, M., Barrowman, C. S., Hammer, J., Lelong, O. and Sharpe, L. (2005). People and their monuments in the Upper Clyde Valley:. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. https://doi.org/10.5284/1017938.

This report sets out the results of a programme of topographic survey, geophysical survey, field walking and trial excavation, carried out in 1998-99 and funded by Historic Scotland, in and around an extensive upland prehistoric landscape in the Upper Clyde Valley. It was designed to build on the results of limited excavation of a large, late Neolithic enclosure at Blackshouse Burn, South Lanarkshire (centred at NGR NS 9528 4046) and preliminary survey of nearby monuments undertaken in the 1980s, and to identify and characterize prehistoric settlement in the adjacent valleys through field walking. Topographic survey of the enclosures at Blackshouse Burn, Meadowflatts and Chester Hill, and of hut circles, clearance cairns and a possible ring cairn on Cairngryffe and Swaites Hills, recorded a complex ritual and domestic landscape: evidence of the longstanding prehistoric occupation of the Pettinain Uplands. The geophysical survey of Chester Hill enclosure found traces of internal structures and quarry scoop, while geophysical survey of part of the large Blackshouse Burn monument and smaller adjacent enclosure found evidence for a curvilinear feature in the large enclosure and a possible screen in its entrance. The systematic examination of ploughed fields in the valleys to the west and south-west of the upland monument complex discovered several concentrations of lithics, most notably evidence of late Mesolithic tool production and late Neolithic to early Bronze Age tool production and domestic activity. Trial trenches excavated over a late Mesolithic cluster at Carmichael found a knapping floor and several structural features.

This section presents details of location, topography, geology and archaeological background.

The topographical and geophysical survey of the uplands included sites at Blackshouse burn and Meadowflatts, earthworks at Chester Hill, and prehistoric landscapes at Cairngryffe Hill and Swaites Hill. Fieldwalking in the lower slopes and valleys revealed hundreds of lithics, including pitchstone while trial excavation at Carmichael uncovered a late Mesolithic knapping floor, a hearth, a possible post-built structure and a possible ring ditch.

The results, in tandem with other recent work including the excavations on Biggar Common and that of the Upper Clyde Valley Landscape Project, have shown the enormous potential of the valley's landscape for yielding evidence of its early prehistoric occupation. The evidence so far indicates that activity may have taken place continuously or intermittently over several phases, spanning millennia, at the same sites. The fieldwork has demonstrated the great value of lithic scatters in the area as indicators of the presence of sub-surface, multi-phased archaeological remains.