Excavation

Date 27 July 2015 - 28 July 2015

Event ID 1026968

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1026968

NJ 55057 02983 This work was carried out, 27–28 July 2015, as part of a wider project investigating crannogs in NE Scotland and forms a large part of the author’s PhD research. The Houff is a mound, c45 x 32m, located within a wide basin formerly occupied by Loch Auchlossan. The loch was partially drained in the late 17th century with final drainage of the loch coming in 1868. The shore of the former loch can be postulated at c145m ODN based on historical accounts of the former extent of the loch. This is supported by the recorded archaeology here, where no site within this proposed shoreline dates to before the 18th century, with the exception of The Houff and another site (NJ50SE 21), interpreted as a trackway at the margin of the former loch c200m away (DES 1989).

The site was surveyed using a DGPS to take random individual points with associated height data across The Houff and surrounding fields. A digital elevation model was then created using this data. The survey collected 1100 data points and shows that the top of The Houff is at 146m ODN, making it a small island prior to the lowering and subsequent drainage of Loch Auchlossan.

It was suspected on the basis that The Houff was a small island within the former loch that it may be an artificial island, rather than a fort or motte as recorded in the Canmore database and the Aberdeenshire SMR. To test if the mound was artificial, a single 2.8 x 1m trench was opened on the N side of the mound. This trench revealed that the mound is indeed artificial, composed entirely of an anthropogenic soil, probably best described as a dark earth with sub-angular cobbles throughout. This deposit was sitting atop a sterile deposit of coarse sand which has been interpreted as being the hard geology under the former loch. Charcoal samples from the excavation have been analysed and show that charred wood fragments from lower reaches of mound are almost entirely alder.

The result of the excavation is a strong case for re-classifying The Houff as a crannog.

Archive: Aberdeenshire SMR (deposited) and National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE)

Funder: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

(Source: DES, Volume 16)