Borehole Survey
Date August 2001 - August 2001
Event ID 545562
Category Recording
Type Borehole Survey
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/545562
NF 9753 9123 During August 2001 fieldwork was undertaken at the prehistoric settlement site of Northton on the Toe Head Peninsula on Harris. Two seasons of excavation had previously been carried out at the site during the summers of 1965 and 1966, under the direction of Prof Derek Simpson. The results of Simpson's excavations at Northton are currently being prepared for publication, and the objective of the new programme of fieldwork was to clarify a number of outstanding issues concerning the nature and condition of the site.
There were three main facets to the programme of fieldwork: the preparation of an EDM-based topographical survey of the site; the implementation of a programme of coring for the purposes of identifying the limits of the site; and the recording of any sections of archaeological significance along the shoreline that were exposed and under threat from coastal erosion.
Reconnaissance boreholes were taken at 5m intervals along a 40m transect, and major soil horizons were noted and related along the section. Cored material was carefully checked for artefacts and ecofacts before being replaced into the borehole and turf reinstated.
The shoreline at Toe Head Peninsula is under continuing threat from coastal erosion, and was therefore studied to identify any areas of archaeological significance being destroyed by erosion. This work identified two sections (termed the 'Small Section' and the 'Large Section' during fieldwork), which were subsequently cleaned and recorded. The Small Section had a length of 1.6m and proved to contain a sequence of natural deposits of Late Glacial to probable mid-Holocene date. The Large Section measured 6m across and contained evidence for occupation layers and a stone setting, which may represent the remains of a wall. The main occupation horizons are considered to be contemporary with the earliest of the Neolithic levels identified during Simpson's excavations at the site. A rigorous soil sampling strategy was adopted, with bulk and routine soil samples taken from every major context encountered during the cleaning of the profile, including all of the soil excavated from the occupation levels. Processing of the soil samples has revealed that they contained a substantial amount of animal bone, in addition to charred grain, hazelnut shells and fragments of flint and quartz.
A Data Structure Report for the fieldwork has been deposited in the NMRS. In addition, the project results will be incorporated into a monograph which documents the results of Simpson's 1960s excavations at the site.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
E Murphy, M Church and D Simpson 2001
