RCAHMS Afforestable Land Survey, Altyre, Forres
Date June 1991 - July 1991
Event ID 550861
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/550861
An area of 100km2 was surveyed between June and July 1991 to the south of Forres, on the east side of the River Findhorn. Intensive agricultural improvements and extensive afforestation have left little potential for discovery. Most of the unimproved land that does survive is covered in deep blanket peat at altitudes in excess of 350m and has produced no archaeological remains. Consequently, many of the sites recorded are farms that were occupied, or depicted as ruins, on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map. However, four pre-improvement farmsteads survived in pockets, mostly dislocated from any associated land-use remains by improvement and afforestation. Of the wide range of prehistoric sites, recorded by the OS by the 1960s, many have now been engulfed in forestry, although some individual structures, such as hut-circles or large cairns, have been preserved in clearings. Only one 'intact' area of prehistoric landscape appears to have survived, discovered at Rochuln during heather-burning and notified to the Regional Archaeologist by the landowner; this was mapped in detail.
RCAHMS (DES 1991, 79)
Project Code: n/a
Area: 100km2
Structures database: n/a
Linework: non-digital
