Bronze Age pastoral practices in the Clyde Valley

excavations at West Acres, Newton Mearns

Abstract

In November 2002, AOC Archaeology Group carried out the archaeological excavation of a roundhouse and associated palisades prior to a housing development at West Acres, Newton Mearns. The excavation revealed a ring-groove roundhouse, bounded on the south by a curvilinear palisade trench and on the north by another two curvilinear palisade trenches, one that preceded the roundhouse and another that succeeded the roundhouse. It is proposed that these palisades represent evidence of stock management practices. Charcoal recovered from the roundhouse and the palisade features date this settlement to the second millennium BC. A considerable quantity of pottery sherds was recovered from within the roundhouse and supports a Bronze Age date for the occupation of the site.