Between approximately 3000 and 4000 years ago, during a period archaeologists call the Bronze Age, people buried their dead in cists, sometimes within cairns. A cist was discovered just west of Lilburn Tower farm in 1954 by Mr J Robertson. The cist contained burnt bones, charcoal and broken pottery. The next day, he found the remains of another burial nearby, consisting of pottery sherds and flint tools. The objects are now in the Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne.