Archaeological Evaluation

Date 18 June 2007 - 29 June 2007

Event ID 556011

Category Recording

Type Archaeological Evaluation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/556011

NJ 6942 2435 The RCAHMS volume on Strathdon identifies six types of hillforts based on size and defensive systems. However, none of the sites has been dated. The Hillforts of Strathdon Project aims to recover dating evidence from one of each of the six classes of hillfort.

The initial season (18-29 June 2007) focused on Maiden Castle. The castle consists of a small bank (Bank 1) and ditched (Ditch 1) enclosure within which was a stone-built roundhouse (Wall 1). A series of trenches were excavated across the site. These revealed a complex sequence that included a previously unknown backfilled inner ditch (Ditch 2) and bank (Bank 2), which was capped by a cobbled surface running around the roundhouse. The roundhouse wall had collapsed and a smaller circular structure had been constructed, revetting the primary structure's collapse (Wall 2). In additional, there was a build-up of around a 0.8m depth of sequenced cobbled surfaces and midden material between the outer face of the roundhouse and the inner bank. Finally, a fragmentary furnace appeared to have been cut into the upper surface of the inner bank.

Archive to be deposited with RCAHMS.

Funder: AOC Archaeology Group, The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, The Mackichan Trust, The Hunter Archaeological Trust, Glasgow Archaeological Society and the CBA.

Murray Cook, Lindsay Dunbar and Rob Engl, 2007.