Excavation

Date 2004

Event ID 1015492

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1015492

NT 582 746 Following a devastating fire on Traprain Law in late summer 2003 and subsequent assessment work (DES 2003, 62) a series of remedial excavations was carried out on various parts of the hill. During spring and summer 2004 work focused on a damaged part of the S fringe of the summit area, with additional trenches excavated in burnt areas on the upper slopes on the S, E and W sides of the hill. The aim was to recover archaeological evidence from areas damaged and left vulnerable by the recent fire, and to provide additional information to aid the future management

of the site.

The main focus of the 2004 excavations on the S edge of the summit was the W half of the medieval building S of the pond, the E half having been dug in 1997 (PSAS 130, 413-40). From the earlier work it was known that the building was constructed partly of massive stone wall footings (along its S wall), and partly utilised bedrock (for its N and E walls), but partial excavation had not clarified the character of the occupation. Much additional information was recovered from the 2004 excavations. The massive foundation stones along the S side of the building had supported a turf superstructure, with individual turfs recognisable among the collapsed material. Two successive floor surfaces, incorporating paving and other internal features, were identified in the W half of the building, confirming that it had undergone a complex sequence of occupation. Interpretation in the building, and indeed across the site as a whole, was severely hindered by rabbit burrowing which has caused (and continues to cause) tremendous damage to the archaeological deposits on the Law.

Although there were numerous finds from the medieval building, most were clearly residual and added little to the 14th-century abandonment date suggested by pottery from the previous excavations. One intriguing find is a small stone fragment recovered from the turf wall core, which bears a series of distinctive linear carvings apparently from a rock art panel similar in style to those on the NE side of the hill which were destroyed during quarrying operations in the 1930s. The context of the fragment could be interpreted either as residual (in redeposited turf) or placed (as a wall foundation deposit).

Immediately N of the medieval building and just S of the pond, which forms one of the major visible features of the summit, an area of metalled flooring was identified. From the dense concentrations of cannel coal waste (mainly restricted to primary processing debris) above this surface, it has been interpreted as the remains of a specialised cannel coal working area of later prehistoric date. A further surface and wall underlay this but were not fully

excavated.

On the edge of the summit, just S of the medieval building, trenches were excavated over a terrace newly revealed by the fire. A series of stone wall footings and metalled surfaces associated with a hearth were identified; the walls did not survive well, but the structure(s) appeared to be sub-rectangular. Finds (including later prehistoric pottery, a stone ball and a whetstone) suggest a broadly Iron Age date. A flat area of outcropping bedrock, which had been used as part of a floor in the Iron Age, bore a series of earlier rock carvings. The motifs were dominated by pecked cupand- ring marks, with multiple rings and connecting radial grooves. However, there were also lozenge, chevron and other motifs of

unusual character. In form and condition, the cup-and-ring marks parallel those found on the NE of the hill (see above) but without the linear motifs which predominate in the latter area.

A second major focus of investigation was a trench just below the extreme E end of the summit area, where the fire had exposed stone features below an entrance through the late Roman period Cruden Wall. Excavation revealed a terraced construction forming a sloping path or ramp leading towards this entrance. Construction varied along the course of the ramp, with at least one area of resurfacing. The structure was exposed for a stretch of c 25m. Its projected lower course would have run through the area removed by quarrying on the NE side of the hill. The path seems both to permit and control access to the E entrance through the Cruden Wall. Associated finds were few, but include a fragment of a sheet bronze vessel.

The Cruden Wall was also examined where it terminated against the bedrock on the SW corner of the hill. Here the structure had been partly undermined by fire, exposing a construction similar to that seen in previous excavations, of substantial stone facing with a core of rubble and earth. The Cruden Wall here, however, was very poorly preserved and no deposits survived beneath it.

One further area of excavation was of particular note. On a small and precipitous ledge towards the top of the cliffs which fringe the S face of the Law, a hoard of four socketed and looped Late Bronze Age axeheads was found. These had been placed in a small shallow crack in the near-vertically sloping bedrock at the rear of the ledge. The sediments on the ledge had been burnt to a bright orange ash by the recent fire and any associated layers had been homogenised; the burning had also caused some damage to the bronzes themselves.

A series of other trenches were opened on terraces, principally on the W slopes of the hill. Most produced evidence for in situ archaeological deposits, and these terraces clearly formed the focus for human occupation at various points in the site's history. Finds include Roman pottery, Iron Age beads and bangles of glass, shale and cannel coal, and a small fragment of sheet gold.

Overall, the work in 2004 once again highlighted the importance of Traprain Law throughout prehistory and into the medieval period.

It has further shown how exposed and vulnerable the enormously rich archaeological deposits on the site remain to a range of threats, most importantly rabbit and fire.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsors: HS , NMS.

I Armit, S Badger, F Hunter, E Nelis 2005