Excavation

Date 6 June 2014 - 28 June 2014

Event ID 1013992

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1013992

NO 1387 6376 The third field season of fieldwork, 6–28 June 2014, saw the excavation of the SE half of a turf longhouse located directly beside a kerb cairn, the other half of which was excavated in 2013 (DES 2013, 157). This confirmed that the SE gable of the building had borrowed stone from the kerb of the cairn, probably in two phases. Very good preservation of turf

material was also identified here, likely due to limited ploughing around the large reused kerb stones. In addition, two smaller buildings, downslope of the kerb cairn, were explored along with their associated enclosures. The buildings were shown to have relatively well preserved low lying stone walls on top of which turf courses would have sat. A third possible building

was also investigated which had been heavily disturbed by a trackway, still currently in use for vehicle access. A series of further samples for radiocarbon dating have been recovered which will improve our understanding of early medieval turf longhouses in the area. In addition, the environmental context to the site has been revealed through a pollen study of nearby peat (University of Stirling).

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, Cairngorms National Park, Heritage Lottery Fund, the Gannochy Trust, the Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust and Historic Scotland

David Strachan and David Sneddon – Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and Northlight Heritage

(Source: DES)