Excavation

Date September 1980

Event ID 1032727

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1032727

NS57SE 19 59500 72089

Excavation in 1980 revealed a banked and ditched sub-rectangular enclosure abutting the south side of the Wall and clearly post dating its construction. Vestiges of an internal bank not more than 2.5m wide reduced an internal area from 11.5m by 8.2m to approximately 6m square. The interior, which sloped down to the back of the Antonine rampart, had been levelled with layers of earth and turf, but no trace of a timber structure or occupation floor was found. The function of the enclosure is uncertain, but neither of the likely explanations - Watch Tower, or Beacon Stance - can be supported on the evidence found, and it seems unlikely that it was envisaged as a temporary work. Finds comprised a few fragments of black burnished ware.

W S Hanson and G S Maxwell 1981.