Archives - Page 10
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Excavations at Maybury Park, Edinburgh (1990–2)
Vol. 23 (2006)Excavations at Maybury Park, Edinburgh (1990–2)
Contributors: Daniel Johnson, Alan Saville, Alison Sheridan, Catherine McGill, Mhairi Hastie and Valerie Dean
Summary: This paper presents the results of a series of excavations carried out by the City of Edinburgh Council Archaeology Service between 1990 and 1992 in advance of the Edinburgh Park development (NGR: NT 178 720). Following a programme of test excavations, seven areas were opened up for excavation. Three of these contained significant archaeology dating to the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The main findings included a Neolithic trackway, evidence for Bronze Age settlement and a large stone-built structure dating to the beginning of the 1st millennium AD.
Keywords: Trackway, Stonebuilt Structure, Settlement, Pit, Postholes, Ring Ditch
Periods: Neolithic, Bronze Age
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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Archaeological excavations in St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh, 1981–93
Vol. 22 (2006)Archaeological excavations in St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh, 1981–93
Contributors: David Henderson, Roderick P McCullagh, Derek Hall, George Haggarty, Julie Franklin, Thomas Addyman, Robin Murdoch and Pamela Graves
Summary: The report describes the results of excavations in 1981, ahead of development within the South Choir Aisle of St Giles' Cathedral (NGR: NT 25727 73590), and subsequent archaeological investigations within the kirk in the 1980s and 1990s. Three main phases of activity from the 12th to the mid-16th centuries were identified, with only limited evidence for the post-Reformation period. Fragmentary evidence of earlier structural remains was recorded below extensive landscaping of the natural steep slope, in the form of a substantial clay platform constructed for the 12th-century church. The remains of a substantial ditch in the upper surface of this platform are identified as the boundary ditch of the early ecclesiastical enclosure. A total of 113 in situ burials were excavated; the earliest of these formed part of the external graveyard around the early church. In the late 14th century the church was extended to the south and east over this graveyard, and further burials and structural evidence relating to the development of the kirk until the 16th century were excavated, including evidence for substantive reconstruction of the east end of the church in the mid-15th century. Evidence for medieval slat-bottomed coffins of pine and spruce was recovered, and two iron objects, which may be ferrules from pilgrims' staffs or batons, were found in 13th/14th-century burials.
Keywords: Boundary Ditch, Ditch, Ecclesiastical Enclosure, Iron, Graveyard, Pine, Church, Slatbottomed Coffins, Burials
Period: Medieval
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
Vol. 21 (2006)Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
Contributors: Torben Bjarke Ballin, Andrew Heald and Fraser Hunter
Summary: Report on the excavation of a roundhouse and related structures at Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire (NGR: NJ 773 181) dated by 14C to the 1st–2nd century AD. Internal details and building repairs allow some assessment of the structure of the building. The site also provides a well-dated context for a Guido class 13 glass bead, a type more common in isolated finds.
Keywords: Glass, Roundhouse, Hearths, Drainage System, Ploughing
Period: Roman
Location: Aberdeeshire, Scotland, UK
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Cramond Roman fort: evidence from excavations at Cramond Kirk Hall, 1998 and 2001
Vol. 20 (2006)Cramond Roman Fort: evidence from excavations at Cramond Kirk Hall, 1998 and 2001
Contributors: Jeremy Evans, Mhairi Hastie, Fraser Hunter
Summary: Excavation on the site of an extension to Cramond Kirk Hall (NGR: NT 1907 7685) has provided new evidence for the layout of the defences of the Roman fort, the route of the road immediately beyond it and for the phases of Roman military occupation at Cramond postulated by previous excavators. The features encountered included a broad right-angled ditch, possibly part of the outer defences, turning at this point to run parallel with the road into the fort. Three much slighter parallel ditches or gullies at the south end of the site are tentatively identified as drainage features beside the Roman road which, on this interpretation, would lie just beyond the limit of excavation. At a later date, the ditch had been allowed to silt up and features including pits and a stone box-drain were cut on a different alignment, through the fill of the earlier ditch; a well was also cut across two of the roadside ditches. These later features appear to represent encroachment of extramural settlement on the defences during the Severan occupation, at a time when a large defended annexe had been constructed to the east of the fort.
Keywords: Ditch, Stone, Settlement, Gullies, Defences, Pits, Fort, Point
Period: Roman
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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Excavation of a Bronze Age wicker container, Gearraidh na h'Aibhne, Isle of Lewis
Vol. 19 (2006)Excavation of a Bronze Age wicker container, Gearraidh na h'Aibhne, Isle of Lewis
Contributors: Christopher Burgess, Mark Holmes, Jennifer Miller and Susan Ramsay
Summary: An archaeological excavation was carried out at Gearraidh na h'Aibhne near Calanais on the Isle of Lewis (NGR: NB 2333 3068) by Northamptonshire Archaeology, working for Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) as part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract. The site, initially interpreted as a cist potentially containing a bog body, was identified during annual peat cutting. Excavation demonstrated that the feature was in fact an oval pit containing a quantity of hazel branches, capped with a number of flat slabs of Lewisian Gneiss. Several similar stones had been placed in the base of the feature, overlying more hazel branches.
Keywords: Radiocarbon, Wood Growthring Analysis, Sphagnum, Pit, Hazel, Bog Body, Hazel Pieces, Basket, Lewisian Gneiss
Period: Bronze Age
Location: Western Isles, Scotland, UK
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The excavation of four caves in the Geodha Smoo near Durness, Sutherland
Vol. 18 (2005)The excavation of four caves in the Geodha Smoo near Durness, Sutherland
Contributors: D Alldritt, J H Barrett, E Photos-Jones, R Cerón-Cerrasco, C Smith, R Squair
Summary: In response to the threat posed by marine and river erosion, a series of deeply stratified midden deposits was excavated in caves leading off a narrow, rock-cut inlet known as the Geodha Smoo, near Durness, Sutherland. These included the famous Smoo Cave (NGR: NC 4136 6714), at the southern end of the inlet; two smaller caves cut into the western wall of the inlet (Glassknapper's Cave and Antler Cave); and a fourth cave (Wetweather Cave) in the eastern wall. The majority of excavated deposits from these caves appear to relate to Viking/Norse or post-Norse activity, with fish bones, marine shells and mammal and bird bones representing the processing and consumption of marine and terrestrial foods. Possible evidence for metalsmithing in the form of iron slag and boat nails could suggest that boats were repaired in the sheltered inlet. Four radiocarbon dates from Smoo Cave and Glassknapper's Cave provide evidence for use of these sites between the eighth and 11th centuries AD. Convincing evidence for pre-Norse activity, although unsupported by radiocarbon dates, was recovered from Glassknapper's Cave in the form of probable Iron Age pottery, while late Neolithic pottery came from floor deposits in the Wetweather Cave.
Keywords: Wall, Terrestrial, Floor, Pottery, Iron Slag, Fish Bones Marine Shells, Boat Nails, Midden, Radiocarbon Dates
Periods: Iron Age, Neolithic
Location: Highland, Scotland, UK
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Re-examination of the quartz artefacts from Scord of Brouster: a lithic assemblage from Shetland and its Neolithic context
Vol. 17 (2005)Re-examination of the quartz artefacts from Scord of Brouster: a lithic assemblage from Shetland and its Neolithic context
Summary: In the late 1970s, a substantial quartz assemblage was recovered from the Neolithic settlement at Scord of Brouster, Shetland (NGR: HU 2560 5165). At the time, bipolar technique (which is responsible for a substantial proportion of the assemblage), as well as quartz technology in general, were poorly understood, and it was not possible to fully make use of the assemblage in the interpretation of the site, the region, or the period. With our expanded understanding of bipolar approaches and quartz technology, this is now possible, and, in the present paper, the assemblage is re-examined, re-classified and re-interpreted. The quartz assemblage is used to gain a deeper insight into the site itself, and its lithic component and a first sketch of the territorial structure of Neolithic Scotland is presented.
Keywords: Flakes Indeterminate Pieces Blades, Microblades Cores Tools, Debitage, Tools Arrowheads Knives Scrapers Piercers, Fabricator, Cores, Lithics
Period: Neolithic
Location: Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
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The excavation of a mound and three cist burials at Ferndall, Rendall, Orkney
Vol. 16 (2005)The excavation of a mound and three cist burials at Ferndall, Rendall, Orkney
Contributors: Gavin MacGregor, Tony Pollard, Jennifer Miller, Robert Will, Caitlin Evans, Susan Ramsey, Gillian McSwan, Jill Seivewright
Summary: As part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract, Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) undertook an archaeological excavation of an artificial mound and associated cists containing human remains of mid-Bronze Age date, at Ferndale, Rendall, Orkney (NGR: HY 3836 2035). The excavation identified the presence of two cists containing cremation burials (cist 004 and cist 010), and a third that contained a poorly preserved inhumation (cist 003). Cists 004 and 010 would appear to be related to an artificially created mound, and parallel a number of similar 'barrow' sites from Orkney. Cist 004 contained an inhumation and was of differing construction. It would appear to relate to a different phase and tradition of cist burials. Analysis of skeletal material from cist 004 identified the remains of an older adult male, a female of between 18 and 30 years of age and an infant of 15 months. The adult male was found to have suffered from a bone infection of the femur and showed evidence of poor dental health. The female had suffered from iron deficiency anaemia. The preservation of skeletal material in cists 010 and 003 allowed only the identification of a single adult inhumation of unknown age and sex from each cist. The individuals from cists 004 and 010 had been cremated shortly after death, and analysis of associated soil residues suggests that their remains were subsequently picked from the pyre and washed. Radiocarbon dates from the cremated remains from cists 004 and 010 place the use of these two cists and construction of the associated mound in the first quarter of the second millennium BC. These dates are comparable to other dated cist burials in artificial mounds from Orkney, although it would appear to be one of the earlier sites in the currently available list of dates. Regrettably, a date could not be obtained from the poorly preserved inhumation from cist 003.
Keywords: Inhumation Cist, Mound, Cremation Burials Cist, Bone, Skeletal Material, Barrow, Excavation, Human Remains
Period: Bronze Age
Location: Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK
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Early land-use and landscape development in Arisaig
Vol. 15 (2005)Early land-use and landscape development in Arisaig
Contributor: Caroline Wickham-Jones
Summary: Re-alignment of a 6km section of the A830 road in Arisaig (NGR: NM 6714 9054) provided an opportunity to investigate the archaeology of this poorly understood area of the West Highlands. A combination of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental techniques were used to investigate the road corridor. Archaeological survey, followed up by selected excavations, identified a previously unrecorded Bronze Age kerb cairn and two areas of shieling huts. Investigation of the shielings obtained evidence for repeated reuse of sites and reconstruction of structures through the medieval and post-medieval periods. In both cases, Bronze Age deposits were also recorded at the base of the medieval sequence. Analysis of a long peat core from a basin close to one of the shielings revealed a history of continuous but gradual decline in woodland, starting in about 3200 BC and continuing to the present day. Collation of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from the present project and previous investigations in the area have allowed the creation of a tentative model of landscape evolution for Arisaig.
Keywords: Basin, Kerb Cairn, Palaeoenvironmental Data
Periods: Medieval, Bronze Age
Location: Highland, Scotland, UK
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People and their monuments in the Upper Clyde Valley: a programme of survey, field walking and trial excavation in the environs of the Blackshouse Burn Neolithic enclosure, South Lanarkshire, 1989–99
Vol. 14 (2005)People and their monuments in the Upper Clyde Valley: a programme of survey, field walking and trial excavation in the environs of the Blackshouse Burn Neolithic enclosure, South Lanarkshire, 1989–99
Contributors: Torben Bjarke Ballin, Caitlin Evans and John Arthur
Summary: This report sets out the results of a programme of topographic survey, geophysical survey, field walking and trial excavation, carried out in 1998–99 and funded by Historic Scotland, in and around an extensive upland prehistoric landscape in the Upper Clyde Valley. It was designed to build on the results of limited excavation of a large, late Neolithic enclosure at Blackshouse Burn, South Lanarkshire (NGR: NS 9528 4046) and preliminary survey of nearby monuments undertaken in the 1980s, and to identify and characterize prehistoric settlement in the adjacent valleys through field walking. Topographic survey of the enclosures at Blackshouse Burn, Meadowflatts and Chester Hill, and of hut circles, clearance cairns and a possible ring cairn on Cairngryffe and Swaites Hills, recorded a complex ritual and domestic landscape: evidence of the longstanding prehistoric occupation of the Pettinain Uplands. The geophysical survey of Chester Hill enclosure found traces of internal structures and quarry scoop, while geophysical survey of part of the large Blackshouse Burn monument and smaller adjacent enclosure found evidence for a curvilinear feature in the large enclosure and a possible screen in its entrance. The systematic examination of ploughed fields in the valleys to the west and south-west of the upland monument complex discovered several concentrations of lithics, most notably evidence of late Mesolithic tool production and late Neolithic to early Bronze Age tool production and domestic activity. Trial trenches excavated over a late Mesolithic cluster at Carmichael found a knapping floor and several structural features.
Keywords: Floor, Enclosures, Geophysical Survey, Cairns, Enclosure, Ritual, Settlement, Topographic Survey , Geophysical Survey
Periods: Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Prehistoric
Location: South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
