Trial Trench

Date September 2006

Event ID 550371

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/550371

NG 2441 0593 In September 2006 an NTS Archaeological Thistle Camp investigated a rabbit-infested site where sherds of Neolithic pottery had been collected in the 1980s and 1990s. Trenches 4 x 1m and 4 x 2m were located on the slopes below a terrace where any structure might be expected to have been sited.

Rabbit damage was extensive throughout the layers in both trenches, with over 60% of all of the deposits being burrowed. Nevertheless, it was clear that although the lazy bed cultivation that was visible across the area had also affected the stratigraphy to a depth of 0.4m, there were some surviving deposits below these soils. These consisted of a thick layer of orange-red clay-silt, some 0.1m thick, overlying a brown clay-silt, some 0.2m thick. Both of these layers contained significant quantities of large sherds of Neolithic pottery, as well as some worked flake tools and debitage of bloodstone, quartz and other stone types. Under the brown clay-silt was what appeared to be an old ground surface, some 0.1m thick, which overlay the undisturbed natural grey-yellow clay-silt and broken bedrock. There were no finds within the dark brown-black OGS.

Archive lodged with NTS SMR and NMRS (intended).

Sponsor: The National Trust for Scotland.

J Harden 2006