Excavation
Date 5 June 2017 - 15 June 2017
Event ID 1038412
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1038412
NO 88224 84644 (NO88SE 2) As part of the Northern Picts project surveys and excavations have been undertaken in an area stretching from Aberdeenshire to Shetland targeting sites that can help contextualize the character of society in the early medieval period in northern Pictland.
During a ten day field season, 5–15 June 2017, a 10 x 5m trench was excavated on the upper terrace of the sea stack. This was targeted to expand upon previous work at the site in 2015 and 2016 (DES 17, 2016), which had identified a spread of pits, postholes and other cut features related to structures, plus several hearth settings and timber palisade
slots. The 2017 trench identified further features related to the settlement and confirmed that many areas of the stack had collapsed, truncating the remains of the archaeology. At least two hearth settings were situated next to cliffs and indicated a number of structures have been lost to erosion.
The excavation examined the upper terrace in more detail and identified the remains of many cut features including pits and postholes, a series of hearths and truncated floor deposits, a stone wall-base and some cobbled surfaces. These remains represented multiple structures and several
phases of building on the upper terrace of the stack, several of which have already been dated to the 3rd – 4th centuries AD. The 2017 excavation fully recorded these and revealed that the stack had been the focus of intense occupation in this period with several phases of rebuilding and reworking.
Finds of samian ware, glass, local hand-made prehistoric pot, a rotary quern fragment and a spindle whorl combined with the structural evidence and the Class 1 symbol stones found in the 19th century all point towards this site being a fortified settlement active in the 3rd – 4th centuries AD,
spanning the late prehistoric/early medieval transition period.
Archive: University of Aberdeen
Funder: University of Aberdeen
Gordon Noble and Cathy MacIver – University of Aberdeen
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
