Balblair Quarry, Beauly

As a part of ongoing sand and gravel extraction at Balblair Quarry for Aggregate Industries Ltd an archaeological evaluation identified the presence of a number of locally significant archaeological sites.

The most important of these sites was the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn containing a cist  formed by three sandstone slabs with carved decoration.  There are no known direct parallels for the incised curvilinear design found on one of the slabs either from Scotland, or indeed, from any other recorded sites in the British Isles.  

The results of the excavation have been published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for 2007 and the archaeological planning condition discharged.