Carlungie I

Date 1949 - 1951

Event ID 1000219

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1000219

A souterrain (Carlungie I) was associated settlement discovered on 17th October 1949 in the same field as Carlungie II (NO53SW 24) and excavated by Wainwright in the summers of 1950 and 1951.

The excavation showed that the trench for the souterrain was dug out and that the surface huts were built on the upcast.

The souterrain, one of the longest known, is 140' long and had four separate entrances. The paved passages average about 7' in width, the corbelled walls being of boulders and split flags. The surviving walling suggested an internal height of at least 6', and when the roofing slabs were in place they must have protruded above ground for 2' or more, eliminating the theory of concealment. The excavation suggested, and scientific analysis of the soil went some way to proving, that this had been a byre for cattle or sheep.

A contemporary settlement consisting of at least 8 huts was identified. Seven of the huts were built of boulders and opened onto a well-paved courtyard partly fenced by upright flags. The 8th hut appeared to be timber built, five post-holes being identified. The evidence suggested that the souterrain had been deliberately and carefully dismantled and filled up as soon as it went out of use, with no break in time nor any change of inhabitants. A cup-and-ring marked stone was found in the filling. A change also took place in the settlement, the courtyard and part of the souterrain being overlaid with paving, and a paved building 18' long and 12' wide, possibly a byre, being built over part of the settlement and another hut being built over two of the earlier ones.

The only dateable find was a Roman amphora, lying in fragments on the paved floor of one of the earlier huts, but the accumulated evidence suggests that the occupation fell between 50 AD and 450 AD and that the souterrain was demolished a little later than 200 AD but before 250 AD.

F T Wainwright 1953; 1963