Plant Remains

Date October 2000

Event ID 1046174

Category Recording

Type Plant Remains

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1046174

Large quantities of carbonised hazelnut shell were recovered from Mesolithic from Mesolithic deposits discovered at Crammond, near Edinburgh. The hazelnut shell was concentrated in and around the fills of two pits discovered in Trench D.

The distribution of hazelnut shell in and surrounding the two pits does suggest an association between the pits and the hazelnut shell and it is clear that at some point the pits have filled with nutshell-rich material. It is, however, unclear from the archaeological record whether this was a result of deliberate backfilling or the accumulation of material in the pits through natural processes.

Taking into account the ethnographical and archaeological evidence the closet parallels to the Cramond pits are the roasting pits or pit ovens that have been identified on other European Mesolithic sites.

Information from headland Archaeology Ltd.