Excavation

Date 24 April 2017 - 28 April 2017

Event ID 1038459

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1038459

NJ 5991 2004 (NJ52SE 8) As part of the Northern Picts project surveys and excavations have been undertaken on a number of enclosed settlements in Moray and Aberdeenshire to help construct regional datasets on the dating of fortified settlement.

A five day evaluation was undertaken, 24–28 April 2017, at the bivallate fort lying on the summit of the Hill of Airlie. The monument consists of a very denuded inner rampart around 25–31m in diameter surrounded by a much more substantial stone wall c8m in diameter which encloses the central area of c45m diameter. An outer entrance c4m wide survives on the SE side of the outer wall.

Scheduled monument consent was obtained to open a 2 x 2m trench in the interior and a 3 x 1m trench across the exterior stone wall to obtain dating evidence for the site. The interior trench identified a possible low stone wall and associated floor layer or old ground surface. A possible pit was found associated with the possible floor layer. The outer enclosure wall was shown to be constructed straight on the bedrock in this area of the fort. The wall survives to c3m wide and up to 0.5m in height. A section through part of the wall showed facing stones and a rubble core. Radiocarbon dating on samples from the interior trench is under way.

Archive: University of Aberdeen

Funder: University of Aberdeen and Historic Environment Scotland

Gordon Noble and Oskar Sveinbjarnarson – University of Aberdeen

(Source: DES, Volume 18)