Excavation

Date 5 March 2018 - 20 March 2018

Event ID 1106077

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1106077

NH 57526 52548 An excavation was carried out, 5 – 20 March 2018, at Mullans Wood, Kilcoy, after woodland felling operations damaged remnants of a prehistoric field system and a roundhouse. Significant damage had been caused to the northern half of the roundhouse structure and internal archaeological deposits, as well as the loss of numerous clearance cairns in the surrounding landscape. Rescue excavation focused on the northern half of the structure where archaeological material had been exposed by machine tracking.

The work revealed that the roundhouse survived as a stone rubble-built circular bank with sunken footings. Some evidence for an internal ring of postholes, which included one definite timber posthole, was identified below a shallow sequence of significantly damaged interior archaeological deposits. A small stone artefact, representing a possible bead or spindle whorl, was recovered from inside the roundhouse.

The remnants of clearance cairns and fragmentary boundary walls that formed the field system enclosing the roundhouse were assessed after the felling. Exposed clearance cairns were stripped back using a mechanical excavator. This did not reveal further archaeological material.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Galbraith

Mary Peteranna – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Volume 19)