Excavation

Date 11 June 2016 - 26 June 2016

Event ID 1024415

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1024415

NH 7941 6722 (centred on) The Cromarty Medieval Burgh Community Archaeology Project was developed after winter storms and high tides in December 2012 revealed extensive medieval and post-medieval archaeological deposits on the E side of the town. The erosion from the storms also revealed a stone wall, post and stakeholes and a possible boundary ditch.

Following successful excavations in 2013, 2014 and 2015 (DES 2013, 97–98; 2014, 101; 2015, 98–99), a final season of fieldwork was carried out, 11–26 June 2016. This included the continuation of excavations in the main trenches opened in 2014 and 2015.

As in previous years the excavations achieved some excellent results. In most areas of the site we managed to get down to the natural sand, enabling us to investigate the complex sequence/phases of structures, including the major burnt horizon identified running across the site in 2015.

Intense areas of burning mirrored the locations of medieval wattle and daub structures, from which we identified and recovered carbonised structural timbers, including wattle and daub panel fragments, and iron fittings from the structures, including nails and door furniture. The burnt

horizon probably dates to somewhere between the early and late 14th century, and samples from this horizon have been submitted for radiocarbon dating. In one area of the site associated with the burning we also recovered large amounts of burnt grain (barley, wheat, oats and rye), which may have comprised a grain store within one of the buildings. Burnt

pottery sherds and other small finds were also recovered from this burnt horizon.

Evidence from the excavations has enabled us to identify a wide range of construction techniques for the various buildings on site. The earliest structures appear to have been manufactured from timber and turf, followed by wattle and daub panel construction (both of these phases

used a combination of cruck-frame and upright timber post construction). After these phases came stone foundations with wattle and daub/clay-bonded superstructures (during the 14th century), with some of these buildings reaching two or three-storeys in height. Finally, after the late 17th century, we see single storey buildings with clay-bonded stone walls.

At various times, the roof structures comprised turf, thatch, pan tile and slate. The excavations overall have provided a snapshot of the layout of the burgh in this part of the town, from the 13th to 19th centuries. Of particular interest is the manner in which building alignments have changed through time.

The medieval buildings were initially built parallel to their road access, with stone and gravel-surfaced vennels running between them. New buildings were then turned through 90° with their gable-ends addressing the street frontage. The individual structures were set within burgage plots defined

by boundary ditches, low boulder walls and fence lines, and were accessed from the road by stone-surfaced vennels which ran up the E side of the buildings to the doorways.

Within the late 17th to early 18th centuries, the buildings returned to their original alignments, parallel to the road. It is possible that these major shifts in the arrangement of the buildings between the 15th and 16th centuries relate to severe erosion of the adjacent coastline and loss of land, resulting in the re-alignment of the burgh to the E of the old High Street. However, it is most likely that the final changes seen in the 17th/18th centuries relates to radical changes in property boundaries and land holdings which came about due to the Royal Burgh losing its status during the middle of the 17th century. Whatever the case may be, we have a wealth of data to review regarding building alignments and property boundaries, which should allow us to reconstruct in some detail the overall layout of the town in this area.

A wide range of small finds was recovered during the 2016 excavations, including stone, lead and ceramic spindle whorls, coarse stone tools including a large number of stone discs of unknown function, coins, iron nails and fittings, a bronze strap-end, and a large assemblage of medieval

ceramics. The assemblage is dominated by what appears to be a locally produced redware industry, which includes jugs and a few cooking pots.

This season also produced 13 sherds of east coast white gritty ware, a small number of sherds of this diagnostic material when compared to assemblages of ceramics from other E coast burghs. Imported wares identified from this season’s assemblage are represented by Yorkshire types, both white and red glazed ware (37 sherds), Low Countries grey wares (2 sherds) and a number of sherds from an unidentified provenance.

From an industrial and economic aspect, the excavations recovered evidence for small-scale metalworking/smithing, weaving, and, of course, fishing. Midden deposits associated with the earlier phases of activity at the site include butchered domestic animal bone including cattle, sheep, goat, pig, horse, dog and cat, along with some wild species including hare, rabbit, seal, red and roe deer, and a small cetacean. A significant number of fish bones were also recovered, primarily representing marine species. In particular, the medieval fish assemblage is dominated by cod, while pollock, whiting and herring gain more prominence during the later medieval and post-medieval periods. Large shellfish middens were also sampled across the site relating to different phases of activity. The analysis of this material is currently taking place, but while smaller-scale oyster shell middens most likely relate to human consumption, the larger

deposits comprising mussel, cockle, limpet and periwinkle, most likely relate to bait for fishing.

In the earliest phases of settlement we uncovered two stone-lined pits, built into the sand. These may have been used for underground storage, similar to a souterrain. However, one of the most spectacular discoveries this year was a medieval well. When we first identified the outline of this structure we thought we had found another grain-drying kiln - the clay bonding covering the top course of stones displaying a roughly figure of eight outline. It took three-days to remove an homogeneous fill of brown soil containing some shell fragments and only one sherd of medieval pot, and some stone towards the base, to finally reveal a wonderful structure

around 3m deep. The stonework of the well chamber comprised the finest quality structural evidence from the whole site, while a well constructed flight of sturdy steps led down to the ‘cistern’. No exact parallels for this structure have yet been identified within the archaeological literature, with most wells having vertical walls, but the structure has a number of parallels in the Iron Age. In the base of the well, the sticky sediments produced little in the way of small finds. However, at some stage in its use, a small and complete/articulated pony had been deposited in the base of

the structure. Whether this represents deliberate poisoning of the well, or the final closure of the structure, is as yet unclear.

The well was an exciting find to make in the last week of the excavations, but also of great interest are the reuse and deposition of querns and millstones at the site – over 40 querns and quern fragments have now been recovered.

Some of the querns have been used as hearths in buildings – in one medieval building we uncovered two querns and a larger millstone representing different phases of use of the building; all in slightly different locations in the structure. However, the most unique discovery was a

stack of three upper rotary-type quern stones/small mill stones used as hearths (overlapping in their location in a medieval building), with slab-type hearths located below and above – a total of five hearths representing different phases of occupation and use within the building. Other querns have been used as post-pads, within paved areas such as vennels, and within the walls of medieval buildings – in fragments, but also as complete querns.

The use of querns stones at the site warrants further study: were the querns convenient raw materials to be reused in structures; or does their presence hold a more symbolic meaning, a factor that is now being increasingly recognised in prehistoric contexts?

Further post excavation analysis will be undertaken to assess the results from the four seasons of fieldwork, while research into primary documentary sources will continue. In particular, we hope to answer research questions relating to the earliest foundations of the Royal Burgh and the evidence for the wide-scale burning event identified across the site during the 14th century.

Report: 2013 and 2014 Cromarty Courthouse Museum, Highland

HER, NRHE and OASIS (intended). 2015/16 due for release February 2017

Website: www.medievalcromarty.org

Funder: National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, Highland Council, Cromarty Trust, Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust and ArtFund through the Headley Trust

Steven Birch and Mary Peteranna – Cromarty Medieval Burgh Community Archaeology Project

(Source: DES, Volume 17)