Excavation

Date 7 December 2018

Event ID 1126627

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1126627

NS 03133 32222 (centred) An excavation was undertaken, 7 December 2018, prior to the commencement of the Lamlash Cemetery extension on land to the SW of St Bride’s Chapel. The excavation was required after an initial evaluation of the site in November 2016 uncovered archaeological features in four of the evaluation trenches and two fragments of pitchstone were recovered one of which was worked. A total area amounting to 4354m2 was stripped of topsoil to establish the extent of any archaeological features prior to developing the site. Beneath the topsoil numerous pits and postholes were uncovered, the remnants of a destroyed standing stone, the remains of part of a putative stone circle, three ditches, a stone-built culvert, an extensive occupation layer comprising a black earth containing abundant lithic artefacts, fragments of worked pitchstone and occasional fragments of flint. Beneath the occupation layer further pits, shallow gullies and an oval segmented curvilinear gully were found. A large deep curvilinear feature with a short spur off the main body of the feature, again containing frequent lithic artefacts, around which further pits were recorded, was located in the SW corner of the site. The archaeology uncovered likely spans from the Mesolithic through to the medieval period.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: North Ayrshire Council

Alan Hunter Blair – GUARD Archaeology Ltd

(Source: DES Volume 21)