Droughduil Mote

Photograph by andyturner

The mound was assumed to be a medieval mote for a castle, but is different in structure and location to the motes in the surrounding area. In 2002, excavation and optically stimulated luminescence dating showed that the site was prehistoric. It was probably placed within the date range associated with the Dunragit complex of monuments to the north.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzgrBiGOjZM&ab_channel=BeforeCaledonia

A feature of these sites, missing from Droughdool, is a ditch surrounding the mounds which was often filled with water. However, during the Neolithic, sea level was considerably higher than it is today, and at high tide, an area between the mound and the Dunragit enclosure (the Whitecrook Basin) would have been inundated. This may have obviated the need for a ditch at this site. Sites linked by water are well known from the Neolithic. The most famous of these is the connection between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge linked by the River Avon. In the case of Dunragit and Droughduil, passing out of the enclosure along the entrance passage, and walking down into the Whitecrook Basin and then through the water before climbing the mound might have been understood as a journey of transition or transformation.