Excavation

Date 17 September 1999 - 16 December 1999

Event ID 1084910

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1084910

NR 743 208 (centre)

Archaeological monitoring was undertaken during topsoil stripping for the construction of a new waste water treatment works, and an associated access road, on the N side of Campbeltown Loch. A previous assessment (DES 1997, 18) identified the sites to be affected by the development, which range in date from possible prehistoric features to WW2 structures.

Excavation in the upper field revealed a system of modern field drains. The homogenous nature of the topsoil, along with its slope-related variable depth, and scatter of 19th/20th-century artefacts (presumably derived from manuring), show this to be a relatively recent ploughsoil.

The excavations across a fossil cliff line showed this area to have been heavily disturbed during the construction of the WW2 huts. The existing trackway sat in a cut (as the buildings themselves appear to), and a series of concrete steps shows that provision was made for rapid foot access to the shore. The insubstantial nature of the track surface suggests that there was little vehicular traffic. Middens at the base of the slope demonstrate a somewhat expedient attitude to waste disposal. The make-up of one of the huts (demolished during the works) –poorly fired bricks and concrete with rounded pebbles – implies rapid construction, using at least partly local materials.

Discoveries in Slaty Farlan field were mostly geomorphological in nature. Two worked wooden objects recovered from a peat deposit are of unknown date, although they probably derive from fence posts.

D Murray 2000

Sponsor: Biwater Treatment Ltd

Kirkdale Archaeology