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Excavation

Date 11 September 2007 - 22 September 2007

Event ID 558640

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/558640

NO 0550 1740 Excavation was undertaken between 11–22 September 2007 over the site of the Pictish Cemetery to the S of Forteviot village in September as part of the SERF project. The field lies to the SE of the village, two fields E of the Neolithic cropmark complex. The cemetery is represented by an extensive range of cropmark features including a large square enclosure, a series of round and square barrows, a number of dug graves, linear features and pit settings. Transcriptions of these features by RCAHMS guided the location of the excavation. The excavation targeted the location of two conjoined square barrows at the southern end of the cropmark distribution. The barrows were overlain by a variety of ploughmarks, probable furrows and more modern ploughmarks. A 17th-century coin and more modern finds were found in a buried ploughsoil overlying

the eastern barrow and the flat graves in the eastern side of the trench. The two barrows were defined by seven linear ditches and shared a common N–S ditch. The ditches were up to 0.3m in depth and contained two fills. The ditches had rounded ends with small gaps at the corners of the barrows.

The layout of the barrows was not entirely regular and suggests that the western barrow was primary with the eastern being added at a later date. In the western barrow there were two large postholes towards the middle of the W side, which were packed with large quartz nodules. The W ditch of the W barrow also contained a possible posthole setting. The W barrow had a central W/E grave, which was set in a square setting defined

by four small postholes on a similar orientation to the barrow ditches. The only human remains were teeth which were found at the W end of the grave.

The eastern barrow also had a central W/E grave with four postholes arranged around the grave. A group of human teeth was found at the W end of the burial.

To the NE of the barrows at least eight W/E graves were identified. These were oriented on the barrows and appeared to be organised into rows. Among these graves were two small, presumably child, graves. Five were excavated, two of which had human teeth surviving in the W ends.

At the end of the excavation coloured gravel was placed in backfilled features to monitor the impact of ploughing on the site.

www.gla.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/serf

Archive currently deposited with the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow.

Funder: British Academy, Historic Scotland, Department of Archaeology University of Glasgow, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

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