Report on the Excavation, in September 1913, of a Vitrified Fort at Rockcliffe, Dalbeattie, known as the Mote of Mark

Abstract

At each point where a section was made through the defences, the construction was the same. At the outer edge there appeared a kerb of boulders; behind this rose a structureless rampart of earth and stone, containing a roughly built wall, and firmly coagulated with vitrified matter from top to bottom. No vitrifaction\r\nappeared in the rampart either in front or in rear of this wall, and it is thus a fair assumption that the wall was built and vitrified previous to the erection of the rampart against it. Excavation in the interior revealed evidence of occupation and the recovery of substantial numbers of moulds and glass fragments. It is argued that the number and variety of the moulds suggest a founding factory, established for the purposes of trade. There is evidence of two phases of occupation, one in the Roman period followed by a second phase in the ninth or tenth century.