Excavation
Date July 2006 - August 2006
Event ID 550024
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/550024
NM 547 707 A small-scale evaluative survey of Swordle Bay was undertaken during July and August 2006 by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project, including detailed survey at the site of Cladh Aindreis, and excavation of the tomb forecourt, outside the scheduled area. This work was undertaken for two reasons: to assist in developing a detailed excavation strategy for future seasons and to provide a preliminary contribution towards the wider project aims of establishing the date, form and chronological sequence of the cairn and chamber. An additional objective was to begin to define the boundaries of the monument, its relation to other sites within a 2km radius, and to record the palaeoenvironmental setting of the site. At Cladh Aindreis, we removed all vegetation from the cairn and surrounding area, planned the cairn and photographed relevant parts of the structure. In the forecourt of the tomb, outside the scheduled area, we opened a trench (Trench 1) in which robbed material from the cairn was identified in the upper subsoils. Beneath these upper deposits we found a stained gravel surface into which two pits were cut. One was amorphous in shape, and possibly represented two pits. It disappeared into the trench edge towards the scheduled area, and so its extent was not established. Another was sub-oval and had been repeatedly recut and subjected to burning activity. A compact stained and humic layer at the base of this pit suggested that it may have been lined with turf or other organic matter. A sample of carbonised wood was recovered from this pit and has been sent away for radiocarbon dating. No diagnostic finds were noted within Trench 1, although a broken flint blade was found in the upper subsoils, with retouch on both sides of its proximal end. Large quantities of quartzite, both in chipped form and as river-rolled pebbles, were found within all contexts. Some tiny flint waste flakes possibly representing debitage were also found.
We opened another trench to the WNW of the cairn, on a lower terrace of the Swordle River. Here a small area of rig and furrow field system was observed to be respecting a discrete circular stone structure, which appeared to be artificially raised above the natural lay of the land on its western (river-facing) side. Excavation suggested that this was a small circular structure set into the beach gravels, and respected by the rig and furrow. However, only _ of the structure was revealed in an area that may have been subject to more recent robbing activity.
A report has been lodged with the NMRS and Highland SMR. The archive is intended for deposition in the NMRS.
Sponsor: The Prehistoric Society; the Council for British Archaeology Challenge Fund; the University of
Manchester Students as Partners Fund; the School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle; the University of Manchester.
P Richardson and H Cobb 2006
