A recumbent slab broken in two lies within a well-preserved circle west of Echt. Sunhoney is a recumbent stone circle, a Grampian-region monument type with a horizontal slab, flanking stones, and a ring of other uprights.
The site is notable for its internal ring cairn, cup-marked recumbent, cremation evidence, and long sequence of archaeoastronomical assessments by researchers from Norman Lockyer to Clive Ruggles.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
Sunhoney stands west of Echt in Aberdeenshire, near Cullerlie and Midmar stone circles. The circle consists of the recumbent, two flankers, and nine other stones. The recumbent has broken into two parts.
Cup marks on the recumbent have been counted variously as 28, 30, or 31. A ring cairn stands inside the circle. Charles Dalrymple excavated in 1865 and found remains of cremations.
Norman Lockyer was the first to assess the site for archaeoastronomy. George Browne assessed the site in 1906 and 1920. Alexander Thom, Aubrey Burl, and Clive Ruggles also worked on the site.
A geological survey was carried out in 2006.
People
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Charles Dalrymple
excavated the site in 1865.
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Portrait: not indicated / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain Norman Lockyer
early archaeoastronomical assessor of the circle.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 57.1413°N · 2.4711°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Easy going
Opening & admission
The source pack does not provide reliable current admission details; verify before travelling.
- The scheduled circle is a known visitor monument west of Echt; verify local access and parking.
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Questions people ask
- What is Sunhoney?
- It is a scheduled recumbent stone circle west of Echt in Aberdeenshire.
- What survives inside the circle?
- The pack says a ring cairn survives inside the stone circle.
- What are cup marks?
- Cup marks are small carved hollows; the recumbent at Sunhoney has a number of them.
- What did excavation find?
- Charles Dalrymple’s 1865 excavation discovered remains of cremations.
Sources
Explore more: Tomb or burial places · Prehistoric · Aberdeenshire
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