Excavation

Date 4 April 2016 - 6 April 2016

Event ID 1023789

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1023789

NX 3585 4328 (NX34SE 8) As part of the Celtic Crannogs Project, a small trial trench was excavated on the surface of White Loch of Myrton Crannog, 4–6 April 2016, to assess the character of surviving archaeological deposits and to provide context for a programme of lake sediment coring undertaken in the loch. The remains of a possible

ruinous wall were encountered in the upper deposits of the trench, beneath which was an ashy, charcoal-rich occupation deposit containing animal bone fragments. A surface of flat slabs, probably paving, was encountered at c1m below the surface of the crannog, approximately at the water table, which prevented further investigation. Environmental samples from the occupation deposit and organic-rich deposits below the paving produced a limited cereal assemblage including hulled barley (Hordeum Vulgare L), barley (Hordeum sp), emmer/spelt (T dicoccum/

Spelta sp) and a wheat (Triticum sp) caryopsis. Animal bone including a cattle molar and a small quantity of daub was recovered from the samples. Coring of the crannog mound identified six layers of non-oak timber interspersed with peaty soils beneath the paved surface identified in the

trench. Radiocarbon dating of wood samples from this core indicated that the lowest timbers were felled in the period 715–455 cal BC, while deposits from above the paving date to the period 393–206 cal BC. Core samples were also taken from lake deposits within the loch for multi-proxy

analysis as part of the Celtic Crannogs Project; this analysis is ongoing.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: University of Southampton, AHRC

Graeme Cavers, Anne Crone, Maarten van Hardenbroek and Tony Brown – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES, Volume 17)

OASIS ID: aocarcha1-253344