Excavation

Date 23 May 2022 - 27 May 2022

Event ID 1163428

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1163428

NO 21390 31670 As part of the Comparative Kingship project and PhD research at the University of Aberdeen an excavation was carried out at Dunsinane Hill, in May 2022. Two trenches targeted areas of probable antiquarian intervention on the NE side of the hill. Trench 1 was opened over the innermost ramparts at the entrance to the fort. Some evidence of antiquarian disturbance was identified, but was m inimal. The w all and c ore of the i nnermost rampart was identified in the southern part of Trench 1 and overall the rampart measured around 4m wide and at least 1.7m high. The wallface was around 1m wide enclosing a loose rubble core. A small sondage at the side of the wall identified animal bone and charcoal for dating, but the trench was not bottomed in this area due to the depth of deposits. The rampart immediately downslope was at least 2.5m wide and around 2m high, comprising an earth capping and a stone core sitting on two layers of compact clay. Charcoal was retrieved for dating from the wall core and clay layers. Trench 2 targeted the terminal of the outermost rampart of the citadel fort. This survived to only around 0.2m high. Charcoal was

found on the bedrock below the terminal of the rampart.

Trench 3 was placed over the wall of an annexe enclosure on a lower terrace of the hill to the S of the citadel fort. This trench identified an annexe wall around 2.2m wide and 1m high, composed of large basalt boulders up to 0.5m across. A wallface was identified downslope, while in the interior of the annexe a narrow wall, probably of a roundhouse, was found abutting the annexe wall. This contained a possible floor layer. Samples from the floor layer and within the annexe wall were retrieved for dating. Archive: University of Aberdeen

Funder: The Leverhulm Trust

Gordon Noble – University of Aberdeen

(Source: DES Volume 23)