Carlungie and Ardestie earthhouses

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Carlungie and Ardestie earthhouses are ancient underground buildings (souterrains) in farmland north of Monifieth and Carnoustie, Scotland. They date to the late Iron Age, roughly the 1st–2nd centuries AD, and are thought to have been used for food storage. Ardestie was discovered in the 1940s just north of Mains of Ardestie farm and excavated in 1949–1950 by F.T. Wainwright, who suggested it may have been an underground cow byre, though grain storage and ritual use have also been proposed; the structure incorporates reused stones with cup-and-ring marks from the Neolithic or Bronze Age. Carlungie was excavated in 1950–1951 by Wainwright and is similar in date and possible use. The site lies at about 56°30′48″N 2°47′45″W.