Excavation

Date 1998

Event ID 547423

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/547423

NJ 782 203 Archaeological excavations were undertaken in advance of the construction of a new water treatment works, immediately to the S of the Bass of Inverurie (NJ72SE 13). The investigation identified a stratified sequence of water-lain deposits with associated pottery of medieval date which appeared to be contained within a series of intercutting channels aligned approximately E-W. These deposits are consistent with the sediments from a river bed, and the site may represent the course of the River Don in the medieval period.

The Stanners has been highlighted in the past as the most likely position for the original focus of the town of Inverurie. The results of the excavations confirmed human activity in this general area during the medieval period. However, no structural evidence of any kind was recovered, and it seems highly unlikely that a settlement was actually located on the Stanners in what was apparently the contemporary course of the River Don.

This new information regarding the position of the Don indicates that the most likely position of the original medieval burgh would have been the area immediately to the W of the old church. This is a confined but defensible site between the Rivers Don and Urie, offering little scope for expansion and susceptible to river erosion.

Sponsor: North of Scotland Water Authority.

S Carter 1998.