Blackshouse Burn Geophysical Survey
Date 1998
Event ID 546713
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/546713
NS 953 396 As part of a survey of the prehistoric upland landscape around the large Late Neolithic enclosure at Blackshouse Burn, several concentrations of monuments were recorded by total station survey in October 1998. A survey was carried out of the circular, double-banked and ditched enclosure on Chester Hill (NS 953 396). Geophysical survey (including fluxgate gradiometer and electrical resistivity) was also carried out of the interior of the enclosure, and found evidence for an interior ditch or series of quarry scoops, as well as a possible former entrance on the S.
The large and small enclosures in the basin at Blackshouse Burn (NS 953 405) and at Meadowflatts (NS94SE 12) were surveyed by total station, along with small cairns and possible building platforms in the vicinity. Geophysical survey in the western part of the large Blackshouse Burn enclosure revealed a series of magnetic anomalies which may represent burning events or waterlogged posts used in the bank construction.
A concentration of archaeological remains on the SW-facing slope of Cairngryffe Hill, to the SE of Cloburn Quarry (NS 947 410), was also surveyed including several hut circles, many small clearance cairns, cultivation traces, hollow ways and a sub-rectangular scooped building. Archaeological remains surveyed on the NE facing slopes of Swaites Hill included clearance cairns, hollow ways, cultivation traces and, on the summit of Swaites Hill, what is probably a large ring-cairn.
A full report is lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
O Lelong and L Sharpe 1999
